Grant Lenny, Hausman Bernice L, Cashion Margaret, Lucchesi Nicholas, Patel Kelsey, Roberts Jonathan
Vaccination Research Group, Department of English, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, United States.
J Med Internet Res. 2015 May 29;17(5):e133. doi: 10.2196/jmir.4153.
Current concerns about vaccination resistance often cite the Internet as a source of vaccine controversy. Most academic studies of vaccine resistance online use quantitative methods to describe misinformation on vaccine-skeptical websites. Findings from these studies are useful for categorizing the generic features of these websites, but they do not provide insights into why these websites successfully persuade their viewers. To date, there have been few attempts to understand, qualitatively, the persuasive features of provaccine or vaccine-skeptical websites.
The purpose of this research was to examine the persuasive features of provaccine and vaccine-skeptical websites. The qualitative analysis was conducted to generate hypotheses concerning what features of these websites are persuasive to people seeking information about vaccination and vaccine-related practices.
This study employed a fully qualitative case study methodology that used the anthropological method of thick description to detail and carefully review the rhetorical features of 1 provaccine government website, 1 provaccine hospital website, 1 vaccine-skeptical information website focused on general vaccine safety, and 1 vaccine-skeptical website focused on a specific vaccine. The data gathered were organized into 5 domains: website ownership, visual and textual content, user experience, hyperlinking, and social interactivity.
The study found that the 2 provaccine websites analyzed functioned as encyclopedias of vaccine information. Both of the websites had relatively small digital ecologies because they only linked to government websites or websites that endorsed vaccination and evidence-based medicine. Neither of these websites offered visitors interactive features or made extensive use of the affordances of Web 2.0. The study also found that the 2 vaccine-skeptical websites had larger digital ecologies because they linked to a variety of vaccine-related websites, including government websites. They leveraged the affordances of Web 2.0 with their interactive features and digital media.
By employing a rhetorical framework, this study found that the provaccine websites analyzed concentrate on the accurate transmission of evidence-based scientific research about vaccines and government-endorsed vaccination-related practices, whereas the vaccine-skeptical websites focus on creating communities of people affected by vaccines and vaccine-related practices. From this personal framework, these websites then challenge the information presented in scientific literature and government documents. At the same time, the vaccine-skeptical websites in this study are repositories of vaccine information and vaccination-related resources. Future studies on vaccination and the Internet should take into consideration the rhetorical features of provaccine and vaccine-skeptical websites and further investigate the influence of Web 2.0 community-building features on people seeking information about vaccine-related practices.
当前对疫苗接种抵触情绪的担忧常常将互联网视为疫苗争议的源头。大多数关于网上疫苗接种抵触情绪的学术研究采用定量方法来描述对疫苗持怀疑态度的网站上的错误信息。这些研究结果有助于对这些网站的一般特征进行分类，但无法深入了解这些网站为何能成功说服其浏览者。迄今为止，几乎没有人尝试从定性角度去理解支持疫苗接种或对疫苗持怀疑态度的网站的说服特征。
本研究旨在探究支持疫苗接种和对疫苗持怀疑态度的网站的说服特征。进行定性分析，以提出关于这些网站的哪些特征对寻求疫苗接种及疫苗相关做法信息的人具有说服力的假设。
本研究采用完全定性的案例研究方法，运用人类学的深度描述方法，详细并仔细审查1个支持疫苗接种的政府网站、1个支持疫苗接种的医院网站、1个关注一般疫苗安全性的对疫苗持怀疑态度的信息网站以及1个关注特定疫苗的对疫苗持怀疑态度的网站的修辞特征。收集到的数据被整理成5个领域：网站所有权、视觉和文本内容、用户体验、超链接以及社交互动性。
研究发现，所分析的2个支持疫苗接种的网站发挥着疫苗信息百科全书的作用。这两个网站的数字生态相对较小，因为它们仅链接到政府网站或支持疫苗接种及循证医学的网站。这两个网站都未为访问者提供互动功能，也未广泛利用Web 2.0的特性。研究还发现，2个对疫苗持怀疑态度的网站拥有更大的数字生态，因为它们链接到各种与疫苗相关的网站，包括政府网站。它们通过互动功能和数字媒体利用了Web 2.0的特性。
通过运用修辞框架，本研究发现，所分析的支持疫苗接种的网站专注于准确传播关于疫苗的循证科学研究以及政府认可的疫苗接种相关做法，而对疫苗持怀疑态度的网站则专注于创建受疫苗及疫苗相关做法影响的人群社区。基于此个人框架，这些网站随后对科学文献和政府文件中呈现的信息提出质疑。同时，本研究中的对疫苗持怀疑态度的网站是疫苗信息和疫苗接种相关资源的存储库。未来关于疫苗接种与互联网的研究应考虑支持疫苗接种和对疫苗持怀疑态度的网站的修辞特征，并进一步调查Web 2.0社区建设功能对寻求疫苗相关做法信息的人的影响。
