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Eating Disorder Questions in Yahoo! Answers: Information, Conversation, or Reflection?

Bowler, Leanne and Oh, Jung Sun and He, Daqing and Mattern, Eleanor and Jeng, Wei (2012) Eating Disorder Questions in Yahoo! Answers: Information, Conversation, or Reflection? In: ASIS&T Annual Meeting: Information, Interaction, Innovation, 26 October 2012 - 30 October 2012, Baltimore, Maryland.

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Abstract

This study investigated a particular form of social Q&A – Yahoo! Answers – and the nature of the questions posed by teens on the topic of eating disorders. The goals of this study were to identify the information needs of questioners in Yahoo! Answers vis á vis the topic of eating disorders, to create a taxonomy of question types in Yahoo! Answers on the topic of eating disorders, and finally, to contribute to broader models of question-asking in social Q&A. We achieved these goals through a content analysis of 2230 questions posed in Yahoo! Answers between December 2005 and April 2011. This resulted in a classification scheme with five overarching themes - Seeking Information, Seeking Emotional Support, Seeking Communication, Seeking Self-Expression, and Seeking Help to Complete a Task, and the sub-categories of factual, diagnosis, treatment or intervention, validation, seeking comfort, conversation starters, deep talk, confession, reflection, homework help, and manuscript ideas. Through the investigation of the socio-emotional aspects of social Q&A, this study enriches our understanding of the affective dimension of health information behavior.


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Details

Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Status: Published
Creators/Authors:
CreatorsEmailPitt UsernameORCID
Bowler, Leannelbowler@pitt.eduLBOWLER
Oh, Jung Sunjsoh@pitt.eduJSOH
He, Daqingdah44@pitt.eduDAH440000-0002-4645-8696
Mattern, EleanorEMM225@pitt.eduEMM2250000-0002-0421-0983
Jeng, Weiwej9@pitt.eduWEJ9
Date: 30 October 2012
Date Type: Publication
Access Restriction: No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately.
Event Title: ASIS&T Annual Meeting: Information, Interaction, Innovation
Event Dates: 26 October 2012 - 30 October 2012
Event Type: Conference
Institution: University of Pittsburgh
Schools and Programs: School of Information Sciences > Library and Information Science
Refereed: Yes
Uncontrolled Keywords: Social, Q&A, Yahoo!, Answers, Eating, Disorders, Health, Information, Behavior, Teens
Date Deposited: 12 Nov 2012 15:44
Last Modified: 02 Sep 2019 14:59
URI: http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/16246

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