The Impact of the Internet and Internet Social Networking Sites on Attitudes and Decisions about Vaccination

The overall theoretical goal of this project is to comprehensively explore the possible positive and negative effects of the Internet and Internet social networking sites on attitudes and decisions on vaccination, thus integrating several previously isolated research areas into one model of attitudes and vaccination decisions to be tested in research. Specific research objectives of the project include qualitative research to gain a profound insight into possible differences in attitudes and decisions on vaccination by medical doctors and citizens and the causes of these differences. Furthermore, the differences in reporting on vaccination between old and new media and the features of media production that influence these differences will be investigated and the typical discourses about vaccination will be investigated on the internet social networking sites in Croatia. In the quantitative research, the attitudes and decisions on vaccination the population of the Republic of Croatia will be explored, and sociodemographic differences in attitudes and their mediators will be analysed. As a final goal, the research group will explore differences in the influence of old and new media on attitudes and decisions on vaccination and their mediating mechanisms.