An Analysis of Health-related Questions on Social Q&A

• Main Authors: Chi-Chuan Wu, 吳寂絹
• Other Authors: Ming-Hsin Phoebe Chiu
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2014
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/05100150076390827884

博士 === 國立臺灣師範大學 === 圖書資訊學研究所 === 102 === With the popularity of Internet, searching for health information on the web becomes popular. However, general consumers, often without medical training, tend to have difficulties in formulating their requests in few terms when finding health-related information online. Social Q&A services allow people to ask questions in their own language and receive answers from others. The anonymous nature of Social Q&A communication encourages health information consumers to “ask for answers”, instead of seeking health information on search engines. Questioning behavior of health information consumers is a kind of information seeking behavior with the theoretical insights of Speech Act Theory. Each question was seen as an information seeking activity, and content of the query was considered health information needs. In order to explore the characteristics of health information seeking behavior on Social Q&A, a total of 1,150 health-related questions solicited from Yahoo! Answers Taiwan were first pre-identified and pre-categorized into eight stages of health information seeking and randomly selected from 15 categories in Health. With confirmation by pilot study, this study was to content analyze questions in information seeking behavior dimension (questioning strategy, action, cognition, and emotion), semantic expression and structural dimension (the nature of clarity, urgency, and length of information needs articulation), and questioning needs dimension (self-disclosure and question types). To take account of comprehensiveness and coherence, study design was separated into two phases and each had two stages. The first stage was to take qualitative research orientation with the procedures of Grounded Theory to construct coding categories and create new dimensions. The second stage was to assign codes of each question with the coding typologies and quantify the significance of the statistical analysis. The results indicated that either eight health information seeking stages or fifteen health information types have the characteristics of time-sensitive or categories differences. It also presented that behaviors of seeking health information encompass numerous characteristics. In cases when health information is needed, users not only raise question, but also describe their symptoms, feelings, and background information. This reflects that current Internet search engines cannot meet the needs of consumers for health information, which therefore increased the popularity of social Q&A services where consumers can freely express themselves to obtain information. The results demonstrated that health information consumers have a large amount of information needs about disease and medical treatment. The highest ratio of question types was the treatment of diseases, followed by surgical treatment. Besides, it also presented that question expressions on Social Q&A were clearly, less urgency, and self-questioning. The result explained that most health information consumers realize the importance of clarity of expression and immediate questions can’t get response soon due to inability of timeliness. The anonymity that allows the obtaining answers from embarrassing medical situations urges health information consumers to speak freely on social Q&A site. In conclusion, in addition to construct analytical framework for health information seeking behavior of Social Q&A consumers, this study discovered the characteristics of health information seeking stages and health information types. It offers suggestions for health information consumers and makes implications in designing an interactive consumer health information system and improving physician-patient relationship.