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MSCH R348 Public Relations Planning and Research

Instructor: Kang

Literature Databases

     There is a wide variety of databases that have information relating to vaccine refusal and COVID. You'll want to look in multiple databases, using multiple searches. In databases like these, the language you use when searching matters more than you might think. Here are some useful tips to start. Also see the Effective Searching tab to improve your results.

Start with phrases like these: To find COVID-specific information, add: To find consumer research add one of these: You can look for information on key publics with phrases like:

"vaccination refusal" 

 COVID* survey ("Black Americans" OR "African Americans")
"vaccine hesitancy" attitudes ("people of color" OR Latin* OR minority)
anti-vaxx* consumer (elderly OR aged OR older)
(vaccin* OR immuniz*) AND (suspicion OR mistrust) psychology (low-income OR poor OR poverty)

 

Try multiple terms and combinations in several of the databases below for the best results. Examples:

  • "vaccination refusal" AND COVID* AND survey
  • anti-vaxx* AND psychology
  • (vaccin* OR immuniz*) AND (suspicion OR mistrust) AND COVID*
  • (vaccin* OR immuniz*) AND (hesitan* OR refusal OR suspicion OR mistrust) AND (minority OR "people of color" OR Latin*)

You'll get more results by not including all four columns in every search. Choose one term from any two or three columns to return more results.

Data on Consumers and Marketing

Search these databases to find survey data about consumer attitudes, behaviors and preferences with regard to healthcare, advertising channels and messaging, and more.

Government and NGO Data and Reports

      You can limit a Google search to a specific domain by adding site: followed by the website you want to search.

Start with any of these phrases: To find COVID-specific information*, add: Add any of the following to limit your search to specific government and NGO sites:
"vaccine refusal" COVID site:nih.gov
"vaccination refusal" site:cdc.gov
"vaccine hesitancy" site:hhs.gov
"vaccine confidence" site:who.int
  site:apha.org

* Add the term COVID to search for COVID-specific information or leave it off to get more general information about vaccine reticence.

Examples:

  • "vaccine refusal" COVID site:nih.gov
  • "vaccine hesitancy" COVID site:hhs.gov
  • "vaccine confidence" COVID  site:cdc.gov