Posted: August 4, 2020

NOTICE TO VISITORS

Initiative concludes with Summary Report

With the posting of our Survey Summary Report we have concluded our voluntary COVID-19 Coping Survey behavioural research initiative.

Please read our 5-page Summary Report at right which includes:

• Key findings from COVID-19 Coping Surveys 1 through 9,

• Our perspective on what it all means,

• Our observations and recommendations for leaders who want to help their stakeholders make well-informed decisions and take appropriate actions moving forward.

Why we launched this voluntary behavioural research study 

In the initial months of the pandemic, we thought it was important to gain insight into what people were thinking and doing that might be helpful to leaders in their decision making. We also wanted to provide an opportunity for people to stay connected, support each other, have a channel to share their thoughts and experiences, and consider their own decisions and behaviour.

What the Summary Report covers

This report summarizes our key findings across all the surveys and offers some insights and considerations to leaders from all sectors – government, public health, industry and businesses – about how their constituents, employees and customers are thinking about the pandemic and how they are adapting, coping, and making decisions about protecting their own health and safety, and that of their families, friends, and neighbours.

Fostering + sustaining behaviours to defeat the COVID-19 virus

In the pandemic context, understanding what people are thinking about, how they are making decisions, and what is influencing their behaviour – in short, their mental models* – will become increasingly important. We believe that proven, science-based risk communications fundamentals (outlined in report) should be followed to improve engagement and communications, and to help people make well-informed decisions and take appropriate actions.

As leading decision scientists and risk communicators, we’d be happy to discuss how we can provide support where we can add value.  

We hope you will all make thoughtful, well-informed decisions and stay safe as, together, we continue to cope and adjust to the challenges of the pandemic in the months ahead.

Sincerely,

Sarah Thorne, President, Decision Partners
Dan Kovacs, Senior Scientist, Decision Partners
Denise Carpenter, Senior Consultant, Decision Partners
Katherine Sousa, Research Associate, Decision Partners
Michael Dunn, President Dunn & Associates Communications and Public Affairs

Research questions: please contact Sarah Thorne or Dan Kovacs at Decision Partners, at dprc@decisionpartners.co

Media inquiries: please contact Michael Dunn, Dunn & Associates, at michael.dunn@dunnassociates.ca

*Mental models are the tacit webs of belief that guide learning, interpretation of information, and complex psychological processes of judgment, decision making and behaviour. See: Morgan, M.G., B. Fischhoff, A. Bostrom, and C.J. Atman. (2002). “Risk Communication: A Mental Models Approach”; and Wood, M. D., Thorne, S., Kovacs, D., Butte, G., & Linkov, I. (2017). “Mental Modeling Approach: Risk Management Application Case Studies.