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Rapid humanitarian assessments and rationality: a value‐of‐information study from Iraq, 2003‐04
Author(s) -
Benini Aldo,
Conley Charles
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
disasters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.744
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1467-7717
pISSN - 0361-3666
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-7717.2007.00338.x
Subject(s) - mine action , rationality , irrational number , human settlement , value (mathematics) , value of information , action (physics) , rational planning model , adaptability , operations research , computer security , computer science , psychology , engineering , political science , economics , civil engineering , law , mathematics , physics , quantum mechanics , management , geometry , machine learning , artificial intelligence , waste management
Rapid assessments are one of the standard informational tools in humanitarian response and are supposed to contribute to rational decision‐making. 1 The extent to which the assessment organisation itself behaves rationally, however, is an open question. This can be evaluated against multiple criteria, such as the cost and value of the information it collects and its ability to adapt flexibly design or samples when the survey environment changes unforeseeably. An unusual data constellation from two concurrent recent (2003–04) rapid assessments in northern Iraq permits us to model part of the actual assessment behaviour in terms of geographical, community and prior substantive information attributes. The model correctly predicts the decisions, in 79 per cent of the 2,425 local communities in focus, that data collector teams in the Emergency Mine Action Survey made to visit or not to visit. The analysis demonstrates variably rational behaviour under conditions of insecurity, repeated regrouping and incomplete sampling frames. A pronounced bias towards very small rural settlements is irrational for the overall results, but may be a rational strategy of individual survey workers seeking to prolong their employment. Implications for future assessments are sketched in the areas of tools for urban surveys, greater adaptability, including early feedback from users, and sensibility to value‐of‐information concepts.