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"This book, the first of its kind, provides market researchers and marketeers with the tools to better understand human behaviour by drawing upon social science theory from different schools of thought, including sociology, psychology and behavioural economics. It has practical examples throughout to help illustrate how to operationalise theory in market research and to underpin the way we understand how people think, behave, decide and make the choices. Each theory is explained in accessible terms to ensure that the content is relevant and useful to commercial market researchers. By considering different theoretical models of human behaviour from the outset, this book will open new avenues of investigation, develop more dynamic and challenging hypotheses to test during the research process, and ultimately result in more insightful outcomes. The book brings together theories that look at how society is shaped and formed, how this impacts on the individual, along with theories that focus on the mind and behaviour of the individual; these perspectives are equally important in market research but not usually considered within the same text. This book is not limited to theory alone, in each chapter, illustrative examples are used to help demonstrate how theory can be applied to real world market research projects. Additionally, throughout there are helpful suggestions in terms of question content to help operationalise theory. This book will appeal to the university graduates that have recently entered the field of market research and are interested in the theoretical underpinnings of human behaviour, undergraduates and post-graduates that are studying marketing, business studies or social science, where a core component of the course requirement is market research and finally those that are users of market research data and want a working knowledge of key theories of human behaviour"--

Climate Indices for Use in Social and Behavioural Research

Abstract
Similarly to other domains of the social sciences, behavioural science has grappled with a crisis concerning the effect sizes of research findings. Different solutions have been provided to answer this challenge. This paper will discuss analytical strategies developed in the context of computational social science, namely causal tree and forest, that will benefit behavioural scientists in harnessing heterogeneity of treatment effects in RCTs. As a mixture of theoretical and data-driven approaches, these techniques are well suited to exploit the rich information provided by large studies conducted using RCTs. We discuss the characteristics of these methods and their methodological rationale and provide simulations to illustrate their use. We simulate two scenarios of RCTs-generated data and explore the heterogeneity of treatment effects using causal tree and causal forest methods. Furthermore, we outlined a potential theoretical use of these techniques to enrich behavioural science ecological validity by introducing the notion of behavioural niche.

Behavioural economics is helping illuminate the limits of rational individual choice. At the same time, even as research identifies failures in rationality, policy must inquire about the possibility and legitimacy of government intervention. In 'Nudging' Healthy Lifestyles: The UK Experiments with the Behavioural Alternative to Regulation and the Market, Adam Burgess critically describes the introduction of behavioural approaches into UK policy making. In particular, Burgess is concerned with the wholesale adoption of nudge-style programmes to promote healthier living among citizens. Unsurprisingly, the UK developments find equivalent developments in the United States. In January 2009, President Barack Obama suggested that "the principles governing regulation … be revisited." Envisioning a 'behavioural dream team' of economists and psychologists to help lead the way, President Obama appointed Cass Sunstein, the co-author of Nudge, as Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.1 President Obama further ordered the US Office of Management and Budget to "clarify the role of the behavioral sciences in formulating regulatory policy." The parallels between the countries are striking. The new UK leadership has consulted with Nudge's other co-author, Richard Thaler. The new leadership has guided top administrators to read behavioural research and a "Behavioural Insight Team" has been newly formed within the Prime Minister's Cabinet Office. More operationally, each of the governments has adopted initiatives to nudge citizens to better behaviour, physically and financially.