Approaches
The team’s work is based on three methodological frameworks used to analyze practices, social representations and behaviors within socio-hydrosystems
Characterise water use practices and the representations/perceptions that drive them to identify ways of transforming them.
The aim of our research is to characterise water use practices and the representations/perceptions that drive them in order to identify ways of transforming them for sustainable management.
They combine:
- Individual surveys on a representative sample of the population, to identify behaviours, attitudes and associated social representations;
- Individual semi-directive interviews and discussion groups to specify the components of social representations, the norms and values that drive them;
- Discussion groups to deliberate on options for regulating these behaviours, using a variety of media depending on the context and the issue at stake: forward-looking scenarios, collective role-playing, discussions with experts, etc;
- A restitution of individual and collective preferences on the regulations to be promoted.
Controlled experiments where participants’ behavior is observed to test hypotheses about the influence of the environment (endowments, monetary rewards that motivate exchanges, etc.) and rules on behavior.
Experimental economics consists of controlled experiences where the observed behaviour of the participants is a function of the environment (endowments, monetary rewards that motivate exchanges, etc.) and of an institution (instructions that describe the messages and the procedures of the exchanges). By controlling the variables representing the environments and the institution, the participants’ behaviour is observed when only one variable at time is changed (ceteris paribus condition). The clear advantage of this method is the possibility to isolate the factors that have an influence on the economic behaviour of agents and avoid the ‘noise’ provoked by other factors that coexist in the real life. Economic experiments are typically conducted in a laboratory, as this allows the control of environmental and institutional variables. Participants to these experiences are usually university students. More recently, lab-in-the-field experiences involving local actors and stakeholders in their respective zones become more and more common.
Experimental economics has been used for several goals. Roth (1988) identifies three main objectives:
1) test theories;
2) produce facts to identify regularities still unknown and that can integrate economic models;
3) help decision-making, by testing the consequences and implications of the adoption of a new policy tool. In the analysis of behaviour of actors in socio-hydro systems, the main goal of experimental economics is the third, looking for instance at the effectiveness or the acceptability of a local regulation tool for water allocation.
Moreover, and in a different register, an economic experience can be used to elicit the risk and time preferences of local farmers when faced with a decision to invest in an innovative irrigation technique.
Survey techniques where we ask respondents to choose among hypothetical contrasted alternatives and deduct their preferences for non-market googs or specific ecosystems services.
Behavioral experiments based on choices proposed to agri-environmental policy stakeholders improve our ability to assess the demand for technologies, for ecosystem services associated with land use scenarios or public policy modalities (e.g. Payments for Environmental Services PES, insurance, etc.). Discrete choice experiments (DCEs) are used to explain respondents’ economic behavior and obtain their preferences through controlled experiments based on hypothetical scenarios. Using a survey format, respondents are asked to make choices between different versions of policy instruments, or different features of socio-hydrosystems, which are described by their characteristics or attributes. The combinations of characteristics/attributes are proposed to respondents according to a predefined experimental design that maximizes the reliability of the calculations of trade-offs made by respondents between the different attributes. Variations on the DCE technique have been developed and observe various types of choices: most and least favored scenario choices (best-worst scaling), ranking of options, etc. The PRECOS team has developed numerous studies using DCEs. In particular, we have worked on preferences for various ecosystem services of hydro-ecosystems. In addition, we have also worked on farmers’ preferences for technological traits of techniques that preserve natural resources, and on some water-related policies.
Hybrid approaches associate different disciplines such as experimental economics and experimental psychology, social simulation (Agent Based Modelling), micro-economics, hydro-geology and agronomy, etc.
Hybrid approaches associate different disciplines such as experimental economics and experimental psychology, social simulation (Agent Based Modelling), micro-economics, hydro-geology and agronomy, etc. Our hybrid methods include multidisciplinary studies (referring to cases where several disciplines are used jointly but staying within the boundaries of each discipline), interdisciplinary studies (referring to analysis and synthesis coordinated in a coherent whole), and transdisciplinary studies (referring to cases where natural, social and health sciences are integrated in a context leading to trespassing their traditional boundaries).