RAPID: Trade-Offs Between Public Health Promotion and Legal Restrictions During the COVID-19 Pandemic

  • Funded by National Science Foundation (NSF)
  • Total publications:0 publications

Grant number: unknown

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Key facts

  • Disease

    COVID-19
  • Start & end year

    2020
    2021
  • Known Financial Commitments (USD)

    $199,251
  • Funder

    National Science Foundation (NSF)
  • Principal Investigator

    Rebecca Sanders
  • Research Location

    United States of America
  • Lead Research Institution

    University of Cincinnati Main Campus
  • Research Priority Alignment

    N/A
  • Research Category

    Policies for public health, disease control & community resilience

  • Research Subcategory

    Communication

  • Special Interest Tags

    N/A

  • Study Type

    Non-Clinical

  • Clinical Trial Details

    N/A

  • Broad Policy Alignment

    Pending

  • Age Group

    Unspecified

  • Vulnerable Population

    Unspecified

  • Occupations of Interest

    Unspecified

Abstract

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, emergency laws and powers on a scale not seen since the 9/11/2001 terrorist attacks have been enacted, with implications for the everyday lives of Americans. Building on research on public perceptions of trade-offs between security protections and restrictions on personal freedoms in the post-9/11 environment, this project will use surveys that explore COVID-19 pandemic mitigation efforts that potentially constrain legal freedoms. As a result, this research will determine popular tolerance for perceived public health protections versus legal restrictions.

Employing several waves of survey analyses of a nationally representative sample of the US population, this project will explore public views on government actions taken during the COVID-19 pandemic. Econometric models and machine learning techniques will be utilized to analyze the survey data. Findings will have implications on several theoretical literatures across disciplines, which will inform policy makers, scholars, and the public of the balance between competing public health imperatives and legal protections.

This project is jointly supported by the Law and Science Program (LS) and the Office of Multidisciplinary Activities (SMA) in the Directorate for Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences (SBE).

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.