Ethnographic Decision Models
Ethnographic decision models (EDMs) predict how people behave under specific circumstances. EDMs often take the form of tree diagrams or charts listing different choices that people make. Click the example of an EDM on the topic “Whether students attend an Adult English as a Second Language (ESL) class or not.”
Process
When anthropologists build EDMs, they ask people questions and find logical rules that direct people’s behavior. This exhibit shows the process of making an EDM using the above picture.
- Think of possible alternatives within a topic under study. In this example, the topic is “to attend adult ESL class or not.” The simplest alternatives are “yes” and “no.”
- Ask ESL students, “Did you attend class today?” When they answer, ask them the reason why they came or did not come to class.
- Try to get various types of decisions, reasons, and constraints from students. When finished getting new information, build a model that includes at least 80% of all answers given by students. Try to keep the model simple with the fewest numbers of rules.
- Confirm the validity of the model by testing it on a new sample of students. Ask them all the questions contained with the model. Being able to predict whether they attended class from their answers will demonstrate whether or not the models works.
Well-developed EDMs may lead to correct predictions with 80-90% accuracy rates (Bernard 2002: 490). EDMs are useful in predicting people’s behavior in order to create effective policies. According to Bernard (2002: 490), studies using EDMs have included: how fishermen decide where to fish (Gatewood 1983), what price to place on their products (Gladwin 1971; Quinn 1978), and how people decide on which treatment to use for an illness (Young and Garro 1994 [1981]).
This page was created by a Minnesota State University, Mankato student. Last updated 11/14/04.