A Social Network Analysis of Open Defecation Practices in India
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University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Master of Behavioral and Decision Sciences Capstones Behavioral and Decision Sciences Program 8-9-2019 A Social Network Analysis of Open Defecation Practices in India Kajal Patil University of Pennsylvania Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/mbds Part of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Patil, Kajal, "A Social Network Analysis of Open Defecation Practices in India" (2019). Master of Behavioral and Decision Sciences Capstones. 16. https://repository.upenn.edu/mbds/16 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/mbds/16 For more information, please contact [email protected]. A Social Network Analysis of Open Defecation Practices in India Abstract India faces a major public health issue as it has the highest rate of open defecation in the world. Open defecation is associated with significant negative effects such as diarrhea, parasitic worm infections and stunting. Over the past few decades, the Indian government launched multiple campaigns to tackle this issue. Unfortunately, the campaigns have achieved limited success in changing the population’s open defecation behaviour. In 2014, the Modi government launched the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Mission) with the aim of eliminating open defecation in five years. As of 2018, however, 44% of Indians still defecate in the open. As a result, it is increasingly important to understand the social and behavioral drivers that motivate open defecation behaviour. The aim of this paper is to study the effects of social networks and social interactions on an individual’s open defecation behaviour. The survey data used in this paper is from a three-year long research project conducted by Penn Social Norms Group (Penn SoNG) in association with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. A total of 3370 respondents were surveyed from two Indian states – Bihar and Tamil Nadu. The results of the regression analysis show that visiting religious sites as well as interacting with the village headman increases the likelihood of abstaining from open defecation by approximately 70%. Secondary analyses showed that television and billboard advertisements were particularly effective in reducing open defecation. Finally, this paper also attempts to identify potential trendsetters who can be leveraged in future behaviour change interventions. Hence, the results of the analysis suggest that by harnessing the power of social networks we can significantly influence people’s behaviour and ultimately alleviate the negative outcomes of open defecation in India. Disciplines Social and Behavioral Sciences This capstone is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/mbds/16 A SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS OF OPEN DEFECATION PRACTICES IN INDIA Kajal Patil Summer 2019 Reader: Alex Shpenev ABSTRACT A SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS OF OPEN DEFECATION PRACTICES IN INDIA Kajal Patil Reader: Alex Shpenev India faces a major public health issue as it has the highest rate of open defecation in the world. Open defecation is associated with significant negative effects such as diarrhea, parasitic worm infections and stunting. Over the past few decades, the Indian government launched multiple campaigns to tackle this issue. Unfortunately, the campaigns have achieved limited success in changing the population’s open defecation behaviour. In 2014, the Modi government launched the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Mission) with the aim of eliminating open defecation in five years. As of 2018, however, 44% of Indians still defecate in the open. As a result, it is increasingly important to understand the social and behavioral drivers that motivate open defecation behaviour. The aim of this paper is to study the effects of social networks and social interactions on an individual’s open defecation behaviour. The survey data used in this paper is from a three-year long research project conducted by Penn Social Norms Group (Penn SoNG) in association with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. A total of 3370 respondents were surveyed from two Indian states – Bihar and Tamil Nadu. The results of the regression analysis show that visiting religious sites as well as interacting with the village headman increases the likelihood of abstaining from open defecation by approximately 70%. Secondary analyses showed that television and billboard advertisements were particularly effective in reducing open defecation. Finally, this paper also attempts to identify potential trendsetters who can be leveraged in future behaviour change interventions. Hence, the results of the analysis suggest that by harnessing the power of social networks we can significantly influence people’s behaviour and ultimately alleviate the negative outcomes of open defecation in India. Acknowledgement I would like to express my gratitude to Penn SoNG for granting me access to their LENNS survey data. I would also like to thank Dr. Alex Shpenev for his patience and constant support along the way. His guidance and feedback were incredibly useful in the development of this paper. Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Masters in Behavioural and Decision Sciences faculty for their support. Index Motivation ........................................................................................................................................5 Background ......................................................................................................................................6 Understanding the Problem .............................................................................................................6 Traditional Policy Approach............................................................................................................9 Need for Behavioural Approach ..................................................................................................... 11 Problem Analysis through a Social Norms Lens ............................................................................. 13 Understanding Norms ................................................................................................................... 15 Understanding Networks ............................................................................................................... 16 Diagnosing Behaviour................................................................................................................... 18 Measurement of Behaviour ............................................................................................................ 20 Results and Analysis ....................................................................................................................... 21 Descriptive Statistics ..................................................................................................................... 21 Demographic Characteristics...................................................................................................... 21 Economic Factors ...................................................................................................................... 22 Latrine Ownership and Open Defecation..................................................................................... 22 Inferential Statistics ...................................................................................................................... 25 Analysing Location Based Networks .......................................................................................... 25 Analysing Number of Interactions .............................................................................................. 30 Analysing Intervention Data....................................................................................................... 32 Identifying Trendsetters ............................................................................................................. 35 Policy Implications.......................................................................................................................... 38 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 41 Motivation India accounts for nearly 60% (626 million) of the world’s population that still engages in open defecation, making it the country with the highest rate of open defecation in the world. (UNICEF, WHO, 2012). Given India’s 7.0% GDP growth rate and other well-performing economic indicators, this high rate of open defecation is surprising (World Bank, 2018). Many explanations have been put forth trying to explain why open defecation remains such a widespread problem in India. Economic constraints include both demand and supply factors such as lack of access to latrines, high construction and maintenance costs. Many socio-cultural factors like social norms, cultural beliefs, social relationships have been found to affect an individual’s decision to openly defecate and adopt latrines (Routray et al. 2015; Coffey et al., 2017). This paper focuses on understanding the relevant place-based networks as well as identifying the reference networks that are the most important to an individual’s decision to own, use a latrine and openly defecate. The survey data used in this paper is from research being done by Penn SoNG in association with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The motivation behind the research is the persistence of open defecation in India