Evaluating Flood-Related Decision-Making and the Role of Information Technologies

The proposed research consists of an innovative research design and piloting to compare traditional and contemporary approaches to loss-related decisions, concerning flooding risk in particular. By developing and implementing the integration of multiple methods, the proposed research aims to provide detailed and compelling evidence of how disaster-related decisions can be evaluated using an out-of-frame (capacity) and out-of-sample (occurrence) criterion, i.e. instead of taking a more reductive approach to real world problems. Together with other research being conducted around the world, the current initiative will address the contemporary scientific problem of whether traditionally axiomatic or ecological rationality should be used for evaluating disaster-related decisions. Where ecological rationality is found to be more effective, the same research will inform how ecologically rational approaches to flood risk can be improved through promoting particular areas of an information display or interface under particular conditions.