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Social and behavioural science

Social and behavioural science studies how individuals, groups and institutions think, act and organise. It explains vulnerability, risk perception, compliance and collective response to shocks. Society and Human Development stewards this page for the Nexus Consortium.

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01Register

Social and behavioural science on the record.

The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation
  1. 01InstitutionThe Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI)
  2. 02The methodWhat social and behavioural science covers
  3. 03Reference practiceSocial science evidence follows survey, ethics and reporting standards
  4. 04In systemic risk workPeople decide how a shock unfolds
  5. 05Applied inPlatforms that apply this method
  6. 06StewardshipWho maintains this page
  7. 07SourcesWhere this page’s references lead
02The method

What social and behavioural science covers.

  1. 01

    Core methods

    survey research; qualitative interviewing; behavioural experiments; ethnographic observation; social vulnerability indexing; mixed-methods evaluation.

  2. 02

    Data and instruments

    household and opinion surveys; census microdata; administrative records; interview transcripts; digital trace data.

  3. 03

    Validation

    Findings are tested through replication, triangulation of methods and pre-registered designs. Measurement instruments are checked for reliability and validity.

  4. 04

    Limits

    Behaviour is context dependent and may change under stress. Self-reported data carry recall and social desirability biases.

  5. 05

    Use in risk decisions

    Social science identifies who is exposed and less able to cope, and why warnings are or are not acted upon. It informs equitable design of policies and interventions across interconnected risks.

03Reference practice

Social science evidence follows survey, ethics and reporting standards.

ReferenceWhat it sets
UN fundamental principles for national statistics (resolution 68/261)Independence and quality of published data
Research ethics review and informed consentProtection of participants, especially in crises
CARE principlesIndigenous data governance
INFORM Risk IndexComposite vulnerability and coping capacity indicators
04Process

How the process runs.

Process

Social and behavioural science: PRISMA 2020 review reporting

PRISMA 2020 is a reporting guideline for systematic reviews; the steps follow its checklist, not a mandated sequence, and no Nexus document adopts it.

  1. 01 Plan

    1. 01Registration and protocolRecord · The review teamThe guideline asks for registration details, access to the protocol and any amendments.
    2. 02Eligibility criteriaRecord · The review teamThe guideline asks for the inclusion and exclusion criteria and how studies were grouped.

  2. 02 Find and select

    1. 03Search: sources and strategiesStep · The review teamThe guideline asks for the information sources and the full search strategies. It does not fix which sources are used.
    2. 04Selection of studiesStep · The review teamThe guideline asks how studies were judged eligible, including how many reviewers screened. It does not fix the number of reviewers.
    3. 05Flow diagramRecordThe flow diagram shows the number of records found, the number of studies included and the reasons for exclusion.

  3. 03 Analyse

    1. 06Data collectionStep · The review teamThe guideline asks how data were collected from reports and which data items were sought.
    2. 07Risk of biasStep · The review teamThe guideline asks for the methods and tools used to assess risk of bias.
    3. 08SynthesisModel · The review teamThe guideline asks for the effect measures and the synthesis methods. It does not prescribe meta-analysis.
    4. 09Certainty of evidenceStep · The review teamThe guideline asks for the methods used to assess certainty, and reports the result per outcome. It does not name a grading scale.

  4. 04 Report

    1. 10Review reportRecordThe guideline helps authors report why the review was done, what they did and what they found.

ReportsOutline of an externally published reporting guideline, not a Nexus process and not a record of operation. PRISMA 2020 mainly covers reviews of intervention effects. No Nexus page names it. Every programme is at service level R0.

05In systemic risk work

People decide how a shock unfolds.

Evacuation decisions, vaccine uptake, panic buying and trust in warnings change the course of events. Social science provides measurement of these behaviours and of vulnerability, and causal analysis of what changes them. Systemic models that represent people as fixed exposure miss the feedback that often decides outcomes.

  • Composite indices hide trade-offs; report components.
  • Surveys after disasters suffer survivor and access bias.
  • Behavioural parameters transfer poorly between cultures and contexts.
  • Applications on Human Development and Campaigns.
06Applied in

Platforms that apply this method.

07Stewardship

Who maintains this page.

Society and Human Development stewards social and behavioural science: it keeps this description current and reviews how the method is applied across the platforms.

08Sources

Where this page’s references lead.

The bodies and documents this page is read against. Status and editions change; each link goes to the issuing body.

09Questions

Questions and answers.

Why does one institution host every method page?
GCRI hosts the STEM Commons so that each method has one canonical description. Platforms link to it rather than repeat it, which keeps definitions consistent.
How do I suggest a correction to a method page?
Write to the integrity concern form with the passage and the reason.
ReportsContribute

Contribute evidence from this page.

Reports is the Consortium’s quarterly publication. What you know about this subject can become evidence, a case or a correction in the next edition, credited to you and published under CC BY 4.0 where it is your own work.

GCRI

Never send personal data, sensitive infrastructure detail or anything you have no right to share. A contribution is reviewed before use; sending it confers no authorship or editorial rights, and sponsorship never buys a finding.

The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation

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