My initial research idea was about how search engines and their ads affect decision-making. We all joke about how our electronic devices are listening to us and the second we look something up, we get countless ads for said product on social media and other platforms. While many jokes about it, there is an element of truth to all of that and it is becoming harder to deny that the way we “behave” online affects the content we are exposed to. Nowadays, everyone has a smartphone, a tablet, or a computer and the internet has become a vital part of our everyday lives. It is almost impossible to separate ourselves from technology, which is what led to my interest in technology and how it affects our decision-making. However, as I continued to research and interact with all the information I came across, I decided to change my focus. Instead of doing a generalized topic, I decided to pick something more specific. My focus turned to how sponsored content, which is usually recommended based on the individual’s preferences and searches, influences decision-making regarding healthcare. 

There were two major factors that led me to change my focus. The main one was that I was having issues figuring out how to design a methodology for my first idea. While I find myself interested in the subject, it’s not something I know a great deal about, making the entire process just a little bit harder. I also did not have a subject, meaning I did not know what kinds of ads I wanted to look at, or decisions regarding what. Also, there are so many things that need to be taken into consideration when working with search engines, and I feel like I do not have the experience, the knowledge, or the tools to perform such elaborated research.  Therefore, I decided to scale it down, pick a specific subject to focus on, and select a platform that I am more familiar with and can handle better. The second reason why I decided to change the focus is because of everything that has been going on in the world recently. The pandemic has shone a light on a lot of issues we did not know our society had until now. I think technology has played a huge role in the way people perceived COVID, and how they went about it. There is no denying that the information circulating on the internet has influenced the treatment people seek for COVID, their decision to get vaccinated or not, and I think that will serve for a more interesting research. I also believe that narrowing it down to one subject will make it easier to work with.  

The main question with my research is how the content people are exposed to through social media affects decision-making regarding a specific subject, in my case, healthcare.

The secondary “main” question is how our online interactions (from our searches to the things we “like”) affect the content we are exposed to. I am sure that as I continue to do research and read more into the subject I will develop more questions I had like to include. 

I am still in the process of looking into articles and other research material that might help me through this project. However, I have found some studies and articles that can be helpful. 

Schultz, C. (2018). The impact of ad positioning in search engine advertising: A multifaceted decision problem. Electronic Commerce Research, Electronic commerce research, 2018-06-29.

Bonart, M., Samokhina, A., Heisenberg, G., & Schaer, P. (n.d.). An investigation of biases in web search engine query suggestions. Online Information Review, 44(2), 365-381.

Cheng, M., & Anderson, C. (2021). Search Engine Consumer Journeys: Exploring and Segmenting Click-Through Behaviors. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 62(2), 198-214.

Chen, X., Lun, Y., Yan, J. et al. Discovering thematic change and evolution of utilizing social media for healthcare research. BMC Med Inform Decis Mak 19, 50 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12911-019-0757-4

Smailhodzic, E., Hooijsma, W., Boonstra, A. et al. Social media use in healthcare: A systematic review of effects on patients and on their relationship with healthcare professionals. BMC Health Serv Res 16, 442 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-016-1691-0

Benetoli, A., Chen, T. F., & Aslani, P. (2017). How patients’ use of social media impacts their interactions with healthcare professionals. Science Direct, 101(3), 439–444. 

Out of all the databases the university has access to, I think the three that have the most useful data are ProQuest, Ebsco, and Gale OneFile. These three databases contain a great amount of information. While I know it is not through the university’s database system, Google Scholar is another database that has a lot of good articles, which sometimes you can’t access, but I can always take the information and look it up through the previously mentioned databases.