Just published: Using smartphones to study vaccination decisions in the wild
Abstract
One of the most important tools available to limit the spread and impact of infectious diseases is vaccination. It is therefore important to understand what factors determine people’s vaccination decisions. To this end, previous behavioural research made use of, (i) controlled but often abstract or hypothetical studies (e.g., vignettes) or, (ii) realistic but typically less flexible studies that make it difficult to understand individual decision processes (e.g., clinical trials). Combining the best of these approaches, we propose integrating real-world Bluetooth contacts via smartphones in several rounds of a game scenario, as a novel methodology to study vaccination decisions and disease spread. In our 12-week proof-of-concept study conducted with N = 494 students, we found that participants strongly responded to some of the information provided to them during or after each decision round, particularly those related to their individual health outcomes. In contrast, information related to others’ decisions and outcomes (e.g., the number of vaccinated or infected individuals) appeared to be less important. We discuss the potential of this novel method and point to fruitful areas for future research.
We are pleased to share our latest research findings with the community. Recently, we have developed an innovative method in cooperation with the DTU to study how people make vaccination decisions in everyday life. For this purpose, we used a specially designed smartphone app that captures real interactions and allows us to analyze the impact of these interactions on vaccination decisions. Our findings show that people in real decision-making situations rely more heavily on their personal experiences or personal risk assessments than on what they hear or see from others. This method allows us to better understand decision-making behavior in a real-world context. We are confident that these new insights will provide valuable input for shaping future vaccination campaigns.
You can find the detailed paper here:
PLOS Digital Health 3(8): e0000550 (2024).
