Project Details
Projekt
Understanding Non-Compliance with Prevention Measures against COVID-19 Infections in Germany [U-COMPLY]
Subject Area
Empirical Social Research
Term
from 2021 to 2023
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 466311467
To prevent the further spread of COVID-19 infections and fatal disease outcomes, a deeper understanding of the causes of violations of current COVID-19 prevention measures is needed. This understanding will facilitate informed assessment, adaptation, and communication of pandemic response measures. This requires two aspects: 1) identifying populations that are not complying with such measures; and 2) examining the action-generating mechanisms that lead to non-compliance.Therefore, this project aims to provide an inventory of the extent to which different populations violate prescribed behaviors (e.g., wearing masks, restricting contact and movement radii, testing after travel to high-risk areas, or complying with quarantine). Building on this, the main goal of this project is to explain the violations of preventive measures by analyzing the influence of personal and situational characteristics in the context of the national and local state of the pandemic. To better understand the action-generating mechanisms behind such violations, we use current theories that explain human behavior through the interplay of personal and situational characteristics (such as psychological Dual-Process Theories, the sociological Model of Frame Selection, the criminological Situational Action Theory, and the Cultural-Behavioral Model from medical sociology).The empirical basis of the project will be provided by the collection and analysis of various data sources. First, person-level panel data will provide information on actual behaviors, personal characteristics, and their changes over time – reflecting people's adaptations to the pandemic. Second, factorial vignette experiments will be conducted to manipulate situational characteristics, which would otherwise be challenging due to ethical and practical concerns. This experimental method is particularly useful for testing causal hypotheses and investigating action-generating mechanisms. Third, regional information on the local and temporal status of the pandemic (e.g., the incidence of infections or deaths) will be linked to the survey data. This allows for the study of individual responses to the evolution of the pandemic.Combining these different data sources will yield a better understanding of the causes of behavioral breaches in order to develop interventions against COVID-19 for different populations. The project's findings will be used to derive recommendations on how to induce behavioral change and alter underlying social norms, e.g., by adapting guidelines and communicating them to specific groups (e.g., parents, at-risk groups, those living alone).
DFG Programme
Research Grants
