Ethnographic Decision Modeling

Ethnographic decision tree modeling is a method for building a formal, qualitative model of how people actually make a specific recurring decision — such as whether to plant a crop, seek treatment, or adopt a practice. Developed by Christina Gladwin and set out in her 1989 Sage monograph, it elicits the criteria and rules people use through ethnographic interviews, represents them as an if-then decision tree, and then tests the tree's ability to predict the choices of a fresh sample of decision-makers.