In order to collect data that investigates the pathways to news for individuals living and working in rural areas of the country as a way to explore how individuals come to believe in and further spread misinformation and disinformation and conspiracy theories, a mixed methods approach is being adopted.
This will consist of an online survey and semi-structured, in-depth interviews.
The survey, which is built in Qualtrics, is anonymous and segmented into questions pertaining to media use, news trust and misinformation and disinformation, and social and civic engagement. Each question is either multiple choice or utilizes a Likert or Likert-type scale. The multiple-choice questions allow for only one response. When necessary, an “other” option will be presented, allowing the respondent to fill in his or her response if the provided options do not include the answer he or she wishes to provide. The Likert or Likert-type scales utilize a 1-to-5 scale. Some questions will be true Likert scales using the options range of “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree,” while others will use different descriptive labels, making them Likert-type scales. The final question of the survey will be the only question that does not fit into the multiple-choice or scaling categories. It is open-ended to provide respondents the opportunity to share any other thoughts or opinions they have that were not covered through the survey questions.
As for the interviews, volunteers will be identified by an assigned alias, title, general organizational affiliation, and other demographic information as applicable. In terms of the interviews, participants are asked a series of questions during a 30-to-90-minute session or series of sessions. They have the opportunity and choice to answer each question. Participants are expected to answer questions they choose to address with openness and honesty, understanding that they could decline to answer any question presented to them. Again, the interviews take place at a time and location agreed upon by all parties, which includes in-person meetings, video conferencing such as Zoom or Google Meet, or phone calls. Following the formal interview and administering of the questions, the interview is discussed, which serves as a debrief. During this debrief, participants are allowed to provide feedback on the questions and processes they experienced. The interviews are recorded using video and/or audio recording devices. The recordings are used to develop transcripts of the interviews that are coded and analyzed, but the raw recordings are not made public.
No one is being paid for participating, and the information collected might be used for future research without additional informed consent.
With these plans made, the next step is to apply for Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval. Upon receiving the green light, the survey will be launched and respondents will be solicited. This includes the recruitment of interview volunteers who fill out a Google Form that provides their contact information so arrangements can be made.