Interest Area
My interest area is within the fields of public health and social media technologies.
Focus Area
My interest area is utilizing what is said on social media sites to better understand the public’s view of the seasonal flu and H1N1 vaccine.
Problem
There are many people who are questioning the effectiveness of both the seasonal and H1N1 vaccines.
Research Question
What are the perceived benefits and barriers the public has in regards to the seasonal and H1N1 flu shots?
Plan of Action
The major limitation to my research is finding an affordable conversation tracking website. Sysomos and Radian6 are both wonderful products, however they are $1,000/mo. and $600/mo. respectively. There is a chance that Radian6 will be offering the program to students in the near future. So I am keeping my fingers crossed. I am also actively seeking out grants to cover the cost.
My literature review will consist of multiple Health Belief Model (HBM) studies in regards to vaccinations as well as social media tracking of illness research.
If I gain access to one of these programs, I will need to further focus my research question based on the capabilities of the program. For instance, I might be able to compare different cities and states based on their view of the flu shots. I can see how much positive and negative feedback there is out on social media sites, and try to find out the cause for these beliefs. I may be able to compare the thoughts and feeling of the public between the first and second wave.
I believe there is a lot of potential with this project because I personally receive many questions concerning the flu shots. Many people are not sure what to believe, and I would like to see what the general consensus is regarding this issue. If we know why people are [or are not] wanting to get a flu shot for themselves or their children, we can better improve public health messages to increase the perceived benefits and decrease the percieved barriers.
so, what you want to do is basically sentiment analysis around the H1N1 virus. Sounds good, and I can see the direct benefits for designing public health messages.
I do have a couple of questions we should discuss when we meet. One is: why Twitter? Are you assuming it is representative of any population?
The one concern I have is your dependence on third-party software. What if it doesn’t come through? We have to have a plan B. And we should start working on it (saving data) today.
I also want to post this here, it may or may not be useful later:
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/11872501/Empower-MediaMarketings-Twitter-Media-Critic-Popular-Opinion-Comparison-Study
The software I am looking into does not only look at Twitter, but a multitude of other social media sites.
I am going to meet with a my advisor and the director of PHSI on Friday to discuss my potential thesis projects. There is a chance I may be able to get some money through a grant. If things fall through… I will think of a plan B (saving data is a good starting point).
yes, you’re right – I don’t know why I’ve been thinking Twitter only?!
This sounds like a really interesting area to research. It would be interesting to see if there is a surge in Tweets about the flu or other similar outbreak if some people think or panic themselves into being sick. Kind of like a hypochondriac, but not exactly. I don’t know if there would be an actual way of measuring that. Or if people tend to trust say Twitter over an official CDC press release.
[...] So I’m really excited to announce that I was selected to be part of a new social media mentoring program at Purdue University (@mindofandre is my Twitter tag)! Thanks to the wonderful Dr. Mihaela Vorvoreanu, a professor focusing on new communication technologies, I will be partnering up with one of her graduate students to guide them along understanding the social media landscape. I have the honor of connecting with Jennifer Smock (@smocktweets on Twitter), a graduate student earning her Masters in Public Health (MPH). Jennifer’s interests focus on the use of new media to improve the field of public health, with her current research highlighting how the public feels about season flu and H1N1 vaccinations. [...]