Public health scholars have previously explored the impact of culture upon various aspects of infectious disease policy. Similarly, regime type, while less studied, has been suggested as a possible explanation for varying rates of efficacy in infection vulnerability, mitigation, and abatement. The COVID‐19 pandemic offers an intriguing opportunity to test whether culture or level of societal freedom affects how different societies manage a serious pandemic challenge. We examine whether societies that are more free or have different cultures are more or less effective at managing the spread of COVID‐19. To examine possible correlational pathways, we conduct a country‐level regression analysis. After controlling for population size, income, stringency of government policies, population density, and age dispersion, we find that the level of freedom in a political system is unrelated to rates of COVID‐19 infection, at least in the time period under study. By contrast, two cultural families seemed to show at least temporary superiority in disease response: Confucian and South Asian culturally affiliated nations. While our results may be artifacts of aspects of the disease not yet revealed by science, if they are sustained by future research, they potentially offer insights into unusual intersections of culture and public health.
This paper provides qualitative student-centered research from an online Research Methodology course taught partly within the immersive, 3-D environment of Second Life with fifty-eight graduate psychology students for the purpose of suggesting a constructivist-based instruction model for immersive environments. A qualitative method approach was applied through open ended questions, a satisfaction survey, the capturing of graphical images, student recorded perceptions and authors observations. Although the data was mixed on students' perception of Second Life as an effective medium for learning, the study showed that slightly more than half of participants (53%) found the experience positive and a large number (81%) felt that being part of a constructivist group in-world aided in the individual learning of research method concepts. With this in mind, a new teaching model for immersive environments is proposed.
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