
Ask HN: How would you design a study to see if Covid-19 makes us more sociable? - thinkingemote
Rabies, toxoplasma and a range of other things are known to cause behavioural changes in humans and other animals. These changes help the things to spread.<p>There has been one study that looked at behaviour after the flu vaccine that suggests that the virus may also change our behaviour to spread [1,2].<p>Given the wide amount of testing and monitoring of people with Covid-19 we have the ability to design a study to see if this Coronavirus makes us more sociable in the asymptomatic stage. One potential is that people who are infected may be more likely to break quarantine rules, another idea is that by noticing when you are feeling a new urge to be more sociable than normal, perhaps that might be a common pre-symptom. And perhaps the virus makes no change on human behaviour. Lets find out.<p>So, how would you do it? Online survey? In person interviews?<p>I can imagine that people may have considerable guilt about socialising or going out when they were infectious but feeling well and may not tell the truth. Memories may be vague, and lockdowns might well complicate things. Could it only be done after the fact, or before? Maybe social media or Tinder data could be used?<p>How could we control for this?<p>[1] Reiber, C., E.C. Shattuck, S. Fiore, V. David, P. van Goozen, and J. Moore. 2010. Change in human social behavior in response to a common vaccine. Annals of Epidemiology 20(10): 729-733. DOI: 10.1016&#x2F;j.annepidem.2010.06.014<p>[2] https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.psychologytoday.com&#x2F;us&#x2F;blog&#x2F;darwins-subterranean-world&#x2F;201801&#x2F;does-the-flu-trick-people-being-sociable
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oldsklgdfth
1) I would start by attempting to define sociable.

2) Then find potential factors that may affect sociable. Determine a way to
negate these effects.

My opinion is point 1 is a fool's errand. Point 2 is basically impossible. Ex.
Someone that is used to interacting with people all day, may be more likely to
break a social isolation, whether they are infected or not.

You are trying to fit a narrative to the world. Start by observing what is
going on and deducing practices first.

~~~
oldsklgdfth
I guess if you could show a cause-effect relationship between covid19 and some
neurochemistry, maybe it's more believable.

