Trust and the Internet…

I am currently pouring over about 60+ pages or so of interviews and focus group questions for my qualitative methods class on my relevant codes alone (4 very broad ones out of over 50 that go from broad to very specific). I am doing this so that I can then recode all of this information with more detailed and specific codes to make it easier to spot trends within the data my classmates and I have collected all semester long. This semester we are working with the Denton County Health Department to assess the general populations knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes concerning the seasonal, avian, and pandemic flu. My particular part of the assessment is on one of our major research questions, “What are the reasons why and ways in which the general population seeks out health information regarding seasonal, avian, and a possible pandemic flu, and which sources are considered most trusted?”. Though this doesn’t really sound like it has anything to do with cyber anthro, one interesting trend I see cropping up is how people view the Internet in terms of accessibility, health information, and trustworthiness.

I have to have my first round of analysis done by Wednesday night at midnight. I can imagine that the next three days I’ll be totally consumed with this research and will be posting anything relevant or interesting here. It’s hard to believe the end of the semester is only three weeks away, almost a disheartening revelation with the amount of work I have to get done!