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Haoran Chris Chu thinks effective health communication can contribute to the well-being of people, and his research is backing that up.
“Health is one particular area in which people are the most important decision-makers, and the process to improve their well-being can be impacted,” Chu said. “Communication, particularly as it relates to persuasion research, is an effective way to help people or facilitate informed decision-making. Since people are ultimately responsible for their health, it would be meaningful to use communication research as a way to contribute to that process.”
That’s one of the biggest drivers in this area of research, he said. But there’s more.
“The social impact that could be generated from this line of research interests me a lot, and that motivates me to conduct research that could have practical social implications.”
Chu has conducted several types of social scientific research, including surveys and experiments – testing the effects of different messages that could be used to promote positive health outcomes. He often will administer different messages to people assigned to random groups to determine which ones work the best.
Then, there are more sophisticated, conjoint experiments that ask people to choose one of two or more options in real-life settings. Conjoint analysis is a form of statistical analysis that firms use in market research to understand how customers value different components or features of their products or services. “When you’re buying a product, you consider multiple attributes – you don’t buy based on one thing like whether it tastes good or not or whether it’s cheaper or more expensive.”
He used discrete-choice conjoint experiments when he wanted to find out the drivers behind people’s health choices. In one, he showed participants different vaccines and asked them what was most important between characteristics like whether it was approved for emergency use or received full FDA approval and who endorsed the vaccine.
“That allows me to extract what is the most important characteristic that influences people’s decisions,” he said.