Social and behavioural science explains why people and institutions prepare or do not, act on warnings or ignore them, and recover unequally. In this field it supplies the survey, qualitative and participatory methods that bring people's experience into disaster evidence.
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. In disaster and crisis and climate and hazards, 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. The canonical description is on the STEM Commons.
Warning response surveys
Households in warned areas are surveyed after events about whether they received warnings, understood them and acted, with sampling designed to reach marginalised groups.
Participatory risk assessment
Communities map their own hazards, assets and vulnerable people in facilitated sessions, and the results are recorded with consent and returned to participants.
Social vulnerability analysis
Census and survey variables describing income, age, disability, housing and access are combined to show who is most likely to be harmed and least able to recover.
03Monitor
Survey analysis.
The screen a team would use to follow this method: its measures, states and decisions. Names are examples and values are illustrative.
Survey analysis
Disaster resilience · Social science of disasters · Run R-5078
Estimates stableGCRI · Disaster Resilience and Recovery
Estimates
robust standard errors
Deaths per 100,000 (Sendai A)
−0.34
0.09
[−0.3, 0.4]
Yes
Affected people (Sendai B)
0.50
0.11
[−0.4, 0.9]
Yes
Direct economic loss (Sendai C)
−0.27
0.19
[−0.5, 0.7]
No
Damage to critical infrastructure (Sendai D)
−0.25
0.14
[0.1, 0.8]
No
Method card
Method
Social and behavioural science
Sample
1755 obs
Design
stratified, weighted
Label
MODELLED
Residuals by group
Survey analysis: the screen's structure, terms and states for Disaster resilience.Example names and illustrative values; a design, not a record or a live system.
04Data
What the method consumes.
Datasets and records used by social and behavioural science on this platform, with the role each plays and the label its values carry. Sources are listed in the source register.
Data
Role
Label
Post-event household surveys
Warning and response behaviour
REPORTED
Census microdata
Population characteristics
Published statistics
Participatory mapping records
Local hazards and capacities
DECLARED
Key informant interviews
Institutional practice
REPORTED
05Methods and evidence
How social science of disasters is modelled, measured and tested.
The model, its assumptions, its data and its uncertainty, in the form a scientist or engineer would check. Structures follow published methods. The values drawn are illustrative, not findings.
Uncertainty bands
How far the outlook for social science of disasters could spread, shown as ranges rather than a single line.
Central estimate
median of the ensemble
Ranges
likely and very likely, in IPCC calibrated language
Ensemble
members, scenarios and initial conditions stated
Read with
the sensitivity of the result to each input
Illustrative ensemble spread on an index scale; the form follows IPCC uncertainty guidance. Not a projection.
FAIR guiding principles · GO FAIR and FORCE11W3C PROV · World Wide Web ConsortiumGuidance on consistent treatment of uncertainties · IPCCCEOS Analysis Ready Data · Committee on Earth Observation Satellites
06Validation
How results are checked.
Findings are tested through replication, triangulation of methods and pre-registered designs. Measurement instruments are checked for reliability and validity.
Check
How it is done
Sampling design review
Survey samples are checked for coverage of hard-to-reach groups
Ethics and consent
Research follows ethics review and informed consent procedures
Triangulation
Survey, interview and administrative evidence are compared before conclusions are drawn
Behaviour is context dependent and may change under stress. Self-reported data carry recall and social desirability biases.
07Process
How the process runs.
Process explorer · Process
Social science of disasters: PRISMA 2020 review reporting
10 steps·4 stages
Process
Social science of disasters: 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.
01 Plan
01Registration and protocolRecord · The review teamThe guideline asks for registration details, access to the protocol and any amendments.
02Eligibility criteriaRecord · The review teamThe guideline asks for the inclusion and exclusion criteria and how studies were grouped.
02 Find and select
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.
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.
05Flow diagramRecordThe flow diagram shows the number of records found, the number of studies included and the reasons for exclusion.
03 Analyse
06Data collectionStep · The review teamThe guideline asks how data were collected from reports and which data items were sought.
07Risk of biasStep · The review teamThe guideline asks for the methods and tools used to assess risk of bias.
08SynthesisModel · The review teamThe guideline asks for the effect measures and the synthesis methods. It does not prescribe meta-analysis.
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.
04 Report
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.
What are the limits of social and behavioural science in this field?
Behaviour is context dependent and may change under stress. Self-reported data carry recall and social desirability biases.
How are results checked?
Findings are tested through replication, triangulation of methods and pre-registered designs. Measurement instruments are checked for reliability and validity.
Are the values on this page real?
The data names, roles and checks are real descriptions of practice. The canvas shows a design of the method's use, not a run; no result is reported here.
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.
GCRIDisaster Resilience and RecoveryCountry Systems Risk and ResilienceEvidence Brief
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.
Disaster Resilience and Recovery
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Maps, data and figures on this site are shown for context and general information. They are not advice, forecasts or warnings; the limits of the information are set out in the Disclaimers and Data Notices.
Editors and the expert reviewers named on each article decide what we publish. Funders and partners do not review or approve articles before publication.
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