Social Media Outrage in Response to a School-Based Substance Use Survey: Qualitative Analysis

Abstract

Background School-based alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use (ATOD) surveys are a common epidemiological means of understanding youth risk behaviors. They can be used to monitor national trends and provide data, in aggregate, to schools, communities, and states for the purposes of funding allocation, prevention programming, and other supportive infrastructure. However, such surveys sometimes are targeted by public criticism, and even legal action, often in response to a lack of perceived appropriateness. The ubiquity of social media has added the risk of potential online firestorms, or digital outrage events, to the hazards to be considered when administering such a survey. Little research has investigated the influence of online firestorms on public health survey administration, and no research has analyzed the content of such an occurrence. Analyzing this content will facilitate insights as to how practitioners can minimize the risk of generating outrage when conducting such surveys. Objective This study aimed to identify common themes within social media comments comprising an online firestorm that erupted in response to a school-based ATOD survey in order to inform risk-reduction strategies. Methods Data were collected by archiving all public comments made in response to a news study about a school-based ATOD survey that was featured on a common social networking platform. Using the general inductive approach and elements of thematic analysis, two researchers followed a multi-step protocol to clean, categorize, and consolidate data, generating codes for all 207 responses. Results In total, 133 comments were coded as oppositional to the survey and 74 were coded as supportive. Among the former, comments tended to reflect government-related concerns, conspiratorial or irrational thinking, issues of parental autonomy and privacy, fear of child protective services or police, issues with survey mechanisms, and reasoned disagreement. Among the latter, responses showed that posters perceived the ability to prevent abuse and neglect and support holistic health, surmised that opponents were hiding something, expressed reasoned support, or made factual statements about the survey. Consistent with research on moral outrage and digital firestorms, few comments (<10%) contained factual information about the survey; nearly half of the comments, both supportive and oppositional, were coded in categories that presupposed misinformation. Conclusions The components of even a small online firestorm targeting a school-based ATOD survey are nuanced and complex. It is likely impossible to be fully insulated against the risk of outrage in response to this type of public health work; however, careful articulation of procedures, anticipating specific concerns, and two-way community-based interaction may reduce risk.

Effects of the ACT OUT! Social Issue Theater Program on Social-Emotional Competence and Bullying in Youth and Adolescents: Protocol for a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial

“…The most common protocol used in longitudinal matching has been to use a combination of gender, race, and various snippets of personal information that are theoretically memorable (eg, middle initial, birth month, and mother's initial), as in the study by Kearney et al [52]. However, although such a method is generally a secure way of matching surveys without identifying individual participants, it may cause concern among parents or youth [53].…”

Developing and Validating a Novel Anonymous Method for Matching Longitudinal School-Based Data

“…In reviewing matching data from a large cluster, randomized trial, we identified that our approach was feasible and produced acceptable match rates in the short term. While our observed matching rate likely could have been improved by the addition of such elements, such as birth month, which had only a 1.5% mean error rate in Audette et al’s (2020) meta-analysis, each additional personalized element may increase the risk of participant or observer concern with the study (Gassman et al, 2019). School and community support for research, even when it is benign and/or potentially beneficial with few possible detrimental outcomes, may rest not only on actual adherence to ethical conduct of research but also on affirmatively creating an appearance that this is so (where it may not be obvious; Gassman et al, 2016; Gassman et al, 2019).…”

“…While our observed matching rate likely could have been improved by the addition of such elements, such as birth month, which had only a 1.5% mean error rate in Audette et al’s (2020) meta-analysis, each additional personalized element may increase the risk of participant or observer concern with the study (Gassman et al, 2019). School and community support for research, even when it is benign and/or potentially beneficial with few possible detrimental outcomes, may rest not only on actual adherence to ethical conduct of research but also on affirmatively creating an appearance that this is so (where it may not be obvious; Gassman et al, 2016; Gassman et al, 2019). Additional research to identify other usable but nonpersonal longitudinal matching elements would be valuable and could potentially extend to other venues and populations such as military personnel, where confidentiality is key but prior attempts to link data have struggled (Wilson et al, 2010).…”

“…At least one study has raised the possibility that some students will assume that research projects are being sponsored and conducted by the school and that the school may have an interest in using data punitively, producing heightened apprehension about anonymity and concomitant reluctance to participate (Gassman et al, 2016). Furthermore, even though there appears to be a consensus that using individual letters or numbers from personal elements makes reidentification of participants highly unlikely (Audette et al, 2020), parents or students may react to the mere mention of middle initials or birthdays on a survey that is labeled anonymous and assume a breach of trust, or even malfeasance (Gassman et al, 2019). The consequences of such assumptions for public health initiatives and projects can be striking.…”

Personal and Social Consequences of Psychotropic Substance Use: A Population-Based Internet Survey

“…The Car question represents a safety risk screener [50]. Internet-based survey studies are a useful tool for collecting information on drug-use patterns [50][51][52][53], they are quick and cheap to prepare, and can reach a large number of people who use drugs directly, i.e., it is a means of analysis that can provide a detailed and realistic picture of drug use and its personal and social consequences [54][55][56][57] In this study, we had both descriptive and analytical objectives. The first, descriptive, was to estimate drug abuse prevalence and its social and personal consequences based on CFRATT screening tool in the Spanish population, based on internet-based survey.…”