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WhatsApp in India During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Sponsor
Yale-NUS College (Other)
Overall Status
Recruiting
CT.gov ID
NCT04918849
Collaborator
(none)
1,000
Enrollment
1
Location
7.4
Anticipated Duration (Months)
135.9
Patients Per Site Per Month

Study Details

Study Description

Brief Summary

Digital misinformation has been flagged as a major risk of the 21st century, with an estimated cost of $78 billion to the global economy each year. Given this scope, we propose to characterize how misinformation is spread via messenger platforms (e.g. WhatsApp).

Specifically, we seek to:

  1. Identify metrics of potential misinformation (Aim 1). This is based on the hypothesis that although message contents are highly private, proxy markers can be used to identify potential misinformation.

  2. Understand the base-rate by which misinformation is shared via messaging applications (Aim 2). This is founded on the hypothesis that misinformation is endemic on messaging platforms, and thus needs to be documented.

  3. Identify "super spreaders" responsible for sending and receiving a large volume of misinformation (Aim 3). Here, we hypothesise that a small group of super spreaders are responsible for the bulk of misinformation-sharing on messaging applications.

The thrust of this work aligns with both government priorities and the grant's thematic areas, providing actionable findings that are timely amidst a worldwide surge of misinformation.

Condition or Disease Intervention/Treatment Phase

    Study Design

    Study Type:
    Observational
    Anticipated Enrollment :
    1000 participants
    Observational Model:
    Cohort
    Time Perspective:
    Cross-Sectional
    Official Title:
    Characterising the Spread of COVID-19 Misinformation Through WhatsApp in India
    Actual Study Start Date :
    May 21, 2021
    Anticipated Primary Completion Date :
    Dec 31, 2021
    Anticipated Study Completion Date :
    Dec 31, 2021

    Arms and Interventions

    Arm Intervention/Treatment
    Community Sample

    We plan to recruit a community sample of 1000 from the Indian Population.

    Outcome Measures

    Primary Outcome Measures

    1. WhatsApp Usage [1 week, starting from date after baseline survey completion]

      Participants were asked a series of questions daily related to their WhatsApp usage behaviors - in particular, their message-forwarding, personal chat and group chat behaviors.

    2. Changes in fear with regards the COVID-19 situation across 1 week [1 week, starting from date after baseline survey completion]

      1 item each day on fear specifically of the COVID-19 situation (measured on a 4 point scale: min = 1, max = 4; higher scores indicating greater fear about the outbreak).

    3. Changes in amount of thinking about the COVID-19 situation across 1 week [1 week, starting from date after baseline survey completion]

      1 item each day on how much they thought about the outbreak that day (measured on a 5 point scale: min = 1, max = 5; higher scores indicating more thinking about the outbreak).

    Eligibility Criteria

    Criteria

    Ages Eligible for Study:
    21 Years and Older
    Sexes Eligible for Study:
    All
    Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
    Yes
    Inclusion Criteria:

    • Lived in India for more than 2 years,

    • Currently Living in India

    • Owns a WhatsApp account

    Exclusion Criteria:

    • Not currently living in India

    • Below the ages of 21

    • Has not lived in India for more than 2 years

    • does not own a WhatsApp account

    • Does not speak English or Hindi

    Contacts and Locations

    Locations

    Site City State Country Postal Code
    1 Yale-NUS College Singapore Singapore 138527

    Sponsors and Collaborators

    • Yale-NUS College

    Investigators

    None specified.

    Study Documents (Full-Text)

    None provided.

    More Information

    Publications

    None provided.
    Responsible Party:
    Yale-NUS College
    ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
    NCT04918849
    Other Study ID Numbers:
    • 2020-CERC-001C
    First Posted:
    Jun 9, 2021
    Last Update Posted:
    Jun 9, 2021
    Last Verified:
    Jun 1, 2021
    Individual Participant Data (IPD) Sharing Statement:
    No
    Plan to Share IPD:
    No
    Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated Drug Product:
    No
    Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated Device Product:
    No
    Keywords provided by Yale-NUS College
    WhatsApp
    Misinformation
    Rumours
    India
    Experience Sampling
    Additional relevant MeSH terms:
    COVID-19

    Study Results

    No Results Posted as of Jun 9, 2021