| NSF Org: |
SES Division of Social and Economic Sciences |
| Recipient: |
|
| Initial Amendment Date: | April 20, 2020 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | April 20, 2020 |
| Award Number: | 2027745 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Frederick Kronz
SES Division of Social and Economic Sciences SBE Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences |
| Start Date: | May 1, 2020 |
| End Date: | April 30, 2023 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $100,000.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $100,000.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
|
| History of Investigator: |
|
| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
1109 GEDDES AVE STE 3300 ANN ARBOR MI US 48109-1015 (734)763-6438 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
|
| Primary Place of Performance: |
735 S State St Ann Arbor MI US 48109-3091 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
|
| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
|
| Parent UEI: |
|
| NSF Program(s): | Science & Technology Studies |
| Primary Program Source: |
|
| Program Reference Code(s): |
|
| Program Element Code(s): |
|
| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.075 |
ABSTRACT
The primary objective of this RAPID research project is to further our understanding of the role of political culture in shaping diagnostic testing regimes during the COVID-19 epidemic. The researcher will use qualitative case study methods in four geographical regions. The results of this project will serve to expand our understanding of how political culture shapes the development, implementation, and governance of diagnostic testing particularly during emergencies. It will also help us identify other aspects of political culture including whether citizen responses to and frustrations with emergency diagnostic testing systems take different form across the four regions. Project findings will be widely disseminated to academic, public, and policy audiences. The project will generate articles for academic audiences in the fields of STS, public health, political science, and public policy. Dissemination to the public will be via op-eds and podcast episodes. A white paper will be sent to relevant policymakers.
Research methods include conducting interviews, collecting documents, and doing ethnographic observation; when possible and relevant, ethnographic observation of press conferences and government hearings will also be conducted. Documents, interviews, and ethnographic field notes will comprise the data, which will be analyzed using a grounded theory approach. A ?snowball? sampling strategy will be used to select interview subjects; initial interview subjects will be asked to suggest others for interview. Initial subjects will be identified through the collected documents; important participants in each testing regime will be recorded. For each of the four case studies to be developed, this will likely include government officials involved in developing COVID-19 responses or regulating diagnostic testing regimes; organizations developing and offering testing; and civil society groups attempting to influence public, private, and non-profit sector action.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
Note:
When clicking on a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number, you will be taken to an external
site maintained by the publisher. Some full text articles may not yet be available without a
charge during the embargo (administrative interval).
Some links on this page may take you to non-federal websites. Their policies may differ from
this site.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
This project focused on the development and governance of diagnostic testing for COVID-19 in the United States, United Kingdom, South Korea, and Singapore. It focused on the following research questions: Why do countries adopt such different approaches to emergency diagnostic testing, for a virus circulating globally? How do citizen responses to these testing regimes compare? What can these national approaches tell us about the comparative politics of biomedical innovation and regulation? The PI analyzed the research questions using qualitative, interpretive research methods, including the analysis of policy, media, and industry documents, semi-structured interviews, and ethnographic observation. The project concluded that differences in political culture among the four countries, specifically in terms of how they understand the relative roles of the market and government for the purposes of innovation, shaped the testing regimes. This knowledge can help ensure more rapid development of diagnostic testing for future pandemics.
The output of this project includes multiple journal articles and presentations, and a book in progress. The PI also engaged a diverse research team of both undergraduate and graduate students from a range of disciplines, who learned about STS and qualitative (and comparative) research methods in addition to gaining substantive knowledge about the development and governance of COVID-19 diagnostic testing across multiple countries.
Last Modified: 06/04/2023
Modified by: Shobita Parthasarathy
Please report errors in award information by writing to: awardsearch@nsf.gov.
