Answers for Research Questions and Discussion
In the following chapter, answers for research questions will be presented based on data results drawing from content analyses in both quantitate and qualitative earlier. The research questions that were posed in the chapter of literature review included:
RQ 1: What role does Weibo play in the health related information seeking process of international Chinese students in Canada?
RQ 2: What barriers and opportunities do Chinese international students’ face when accessing health care related information/services by using Weibo in Canada?
The Role of “Virtual Community”
The data results illustrated that Sina Weibo could be recognized as one “virtual community” for its’ users during their communication …show more content…
For example, the form of @username to directly talking to someone, the adoption of hashtags or square brackets to label discussion topics, the combination use of two different languages (Chinese and English) together in one post or one interaction comment on this Chinese-language based social media platform (Sina Weibo), and so on. The development of common language among Weibo users provided a foundation for Weibo becoming an “imagined” community. Another two important conditions of being an “imagined” community, temporality and “high center”, can also be applied to Sina Weibo as mentioned in data analysis chapter. For example, most Weibo posts about health related products information/promotion highlighted the expired date of promotion, such as “the offer is only good for today (2/22)” and this is the character of temporality. For the feature of “high center”, as shown in database, the Weibo account of “The bulletin of how to save money in Canada/Dealmoon Canada” has more than 120, 000 followers by the end of March 2015, which proved the idea of Tiryakian (2011): “high centers in social network are popular individuals or organizations who are followed by many others” (p. …show more content…
Referring to the health related, previous research showed that Chinese international students did not act on a perceived need for help from the health services because of several reasons, such as “the feeling of discomfort, the concern about being understood, and doubt that the service would be able to help them” (Carey & Denise, 2013, p.2). The major reasons for Chinese international students/immigrants often facing multiple barriers when attempting to access health care services compared with their encounters are barriers of language, religious/health beliefs, financial situation, lack of enough information, and so on (Abdulrahim & Baker, 2009; Ahmed & Bates, 2013; Asanin & Wilson, 2008; Liang et al., 2009; Rao, 2006). In this research paper, it confirmed many barriers exist during the Chinese international students’ health related information seeking process via Sina
In the following chapter, answers for research questions will be presented based on data results drawing from content analyses in both quantitate and qualitative earlier. The research questions that were posed in the chapter of literature review included:
RQ 1: What role does Weibo play in the health related information seeking process of international Chinese students in Canada?
RQ 2: What barriers and opportunities do Chinese international students’ face when accessing health care related information/services by using Weibo in Canada?
The Role of “Virtual Community”
The data results illustrated that Sina Weibo could be recognized as one “virtual community” for its’ users during their communication …show more content…
For example, the form of @username to directly talking to someone, the adoption of hashtags or square brackets to label discussion topics, the combination use of two different languages (Chinese and English) together in one post or one interaction comment on this Chinese-language based social media platform (Sina Weibo), and so on. The development of common language among Weibo users provided a foundation for Weibo becoming an “imagined” community. Another two important conditions of being an “imagined” community, temporality and “high center”, can also be applied to Sina Weibo as mentioned in data analysis chapter. For example, most Weibo posts about health related products information/promotion highlighted the expired date of promotion, such as “the offer is only good for today (2/22)” and this is the character of temporality. For the feature of “high center”, as shown in database, the Weibo account of “The bulletin of how to save money in Canada/Dealmoon Canada” has more than 120, 000 followers by the end of March 2015, which proved the idea of Tiryakian (2011): “high centers in social network are popular individuals or organizations who are followed by many others” (p. …show more content…
Referring to the health related, previous research showed that Chinese international students did not act on a perceived need for help from the health services because of several reasons, such as “the feeling of discomfort, the concern about being understood, and doubt that the service would be able to help them” (Carey & Denise, 2013, p.2). The major reasons for Chinese international students/immigrants often facing multiple barriers when attempting to access health care services compared with their encounters are barriers of language, religious/health beliefs, financial situation, lack of enough information, and so on (Abdulrahim & Baker, 2009; Ahmed & Bates, 2013; Asanin & Wilson, 2008; Liang et al., 2009; Rao, 2006). In this research paper, it confirmed many barriers exist during the Chinese international students’ health related information seeking process via Sina