Russel-Research-Method-in-Anthropology

530 Chapter 18
TABLE 18.3
Test Results of Young and Garro’s Decision Model of How Pichatareños
Choose a Treatment Method When They Are Ill
Treatment Method Chosen
Self-
Percentage
Table Rule Treatment Curer Practicante Physician Totals Correct
18.1 1 157 157
2 4 4
3 5 5
4 67 (1) 68
5 8 8
6 (2) 20 (7) 29
7 8 8
8 (2) 4 (2) 8
9 (2) 11 13
Subtotal
18.2 1 19 19
2 (1) 28 (6) 35
3 (3) 6 9
4 (2) 22 24
5 3 (1) 4
6 (2) (2) (1) 24 29
7 (1) 3 (2) 6
8 2 (1) 3
9 (1) 7 8
10 0
11 7 7
Subtotal
Total
300 94.7%
144 84.0%
444 91.2%
SOURCE: Reprinted by permission of Waveland Press, Inc., from J. C. Young and L. C. Garro, Medical Choice
in a Mexican Village, 1981 (reissued 1994), p. 154. All rights reserved.
rules 1 and 4 (which account for half the cases in the data, but which could be
dismissed as common-sense, routine decisions and not in need of any pretentious
‘‘analysis’’), their model still predicts almost 83% of reported behavior.
Even for the second stage, after first-stage decisions fail to result in a cure,
and decisions get more complex and tougher to predict, the model predicts an
impressive 84% of reported behavior.