Survey outline
This survey will collect your thoughts on the "right choice" in the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The COVID-19 Pandemic has caused a number of problems that are difficult to reach a social consensus on. This survey will serve as a basis for social decision-making in preparation for the next pandemic or other emergency situations, in preparation for a future in which AI may make social decisions on our behalf.
The results of the survey will be published on this website. Please note that this survey does not contain any serious questions.
Questionnaire form
Please use the link below to move to the survey page and answer.
Pilot Survey Explanatory Document
The Hardest Choice Study Group (formerly known as the Kyoto University "Hardest Choice" Research Light Unit) is dedicated to the study of social conundrums, such as the prioritization of vaccines and the prioritization of infection prevention versus economic activity in the wake of the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic. We are studying the "Hardest choice," which causes conflicts and is difficult to reach a social consensus on. People's ideas vary from person to person. Social consensus is not easy to achieve.
This survey is designed to gather what you consider to be the "right choice" in the COVID-19 Pandemic. The results will be used as a basis for social decision-making in preparation for the next pandemic, for other "Hardest choices," or for a future in which AI may make social decisions on our behalf.
1 Purpose and significance of the survey
The COVID-19 Pandemic is a common threat to humanity and an issue that affects all people. However, despite the fact that the COVID-19 Pandemic is a matter of life and death for all of us, we have had little opportunity to express our views on it.
This survey will collect each person's thoughts on the "right choice" in the COVID-19 Pandemic. We will use the survey results to explore solutions to the "Hardest choice," which is difficult to reach a social consensus on.
2 Background of the research
Confusion in the COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 Pandemic has brought about many difficult questions. In the medical field, the question is who should be treated first? Who should be inoculated with a limited number of vaccines? Should we continue the impoverishing lockdown, even for the purpose of preventing infection? There are no absolutely correct answers to these questions. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the differences and distribution of "correct choices" in society in order to make better decisions.
Frequent occurrence of the "Hardest choice
The "Hardest choice" does not occur only in the case of the COVID-19 Pandemic. The "Hardest choice" will occur in many areas, and similar confusion will also occur. Therefore, in order to deal with similar problems, it is necessary to understand people's thoughts on the "Hardest choice" that arose from the coronal disaster.
Emergence of AI
In recent years, the development of AI has been remarkable, and it is expected that AI will eventually be involved in social decision making. AI will not make decisions out of thin air; it will learn from human judgment data and make decisions based on that data. Therefore, if the human decision data is biased, the AI's decision will be biased. Hence, if AI machine-learns government decisions as they are, the measures that you complain about will be repeated as they are. Therefore, we need to collect what people think is the "right choice" in order to explore the ideal form and better way of collecting data for AI.
3 Survey Methodology
In this survey, you will be asked to answer a questionnaire regarding what you consider to be the "right thing to do. It takes approximately 3 minutes to fill out the questionnaire. The survey is anonymous.
There is no reward for completing the survey.
4 Survey period
The survey period will begin today, in late May, and end at the end of July.
5 Survey Participants
This survey is not limited in terms of nationality, number of respondents, or demographics. This survey will be conducted worldwide through open research using Google Forms.
The survey will be translated into various languages using translation software (Google Translate and DeepL) so that different language users can participate.
The research will be open to all interested parties.
6 Benefits and disadvantages to participants
- This survey will not be of immediate use to you, but we will endeavor to use the survey results to inform future social decision-making.
- No gratuities will be paid.
- Please take 3 minutes of your time.
- By taking this survey, you may recall painful events at COVID-19 Pandemic. If you find it difficult to answer the questionnaire, please do not hesitate to stop answering.
7 Personal Information
No personally identifiable information will be collected in this survey.
8 Freedom of Participation and Freedom to Withdraw Consent
Participation in this survey constitutes consent to participate by clicking the "submit" button. Once data has been submitted, the sender of the information cannot be identified, and the submitted data cannot be deleted.
9 Ethical Review
There is no appropriate ethical review system at the university to which the research director belongs. On the other hand, other universities have systems that do not require ethical review for ordinary social surveys.
Therefore, the research group deliberated on the content and methods of the research, such as "Are there any sensitive expressions?" and "Are there any invasive questions? As a result, the research group decided that ethical review was not required.
If you have any suggestions regarding inappropriate questions in this survey, please contact us at the address below. We will reply to you by e-mail. We will also publish your questions and answers on our website for reference purposes. (We will not disclose the information of the person who made the inquiry.)
10 Disclosure of information related to the research
The results of this survey and related research will be made public on our website.
The Hardest Choice Study Group's website:www.hardestchoice.org
11 Handling of the survey data
The results of this survey will be used for the research of the research group and may be provided to third parties such as other researchers.
12 Research funding and conflict of interest
This survey will be conducted with research funding from the Toyota Foundation. However, the Toyota Foundation is not involved in the content of the research itself and is committed to conducting this research in a fair and appropriate manner without being influenced by the interests or intentions of the funder or other parties.
We also clearly state that any problems that may arise from this research will be attributed to the conductor of the research, and not to the funders.
13 Research Implementation Structure
Research Director: Hirotsugu Ohba, Researcher, Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University
Research funding: Toyota Foundation, "Requirements for AI for Social Decision-Making: A Study of Good Data Sets and Desirable Outputs" (https://toyotafound.secure.force.com/psearch/JoseiDetail?name=D19-ST-0019)
14 Contact
Secretariat of the "Hardest Choice" Study Group:info@hardestchoice.org
