Here, however, we are not interested in assessing the medical accuracy of the CCSVI-related information available on YouTube, Vorinostat datasheet but in unwrapping how different forms of evidence are produced in patient-generated videos. In January 2012 the YouTube search facility was used to retrieve all the videos identified by the search term ‘CCSVI’. Over 4000 videos were returned and the 100 most viewed selected for further analysis. While the number of views does not indicate the number of unique users who
see the video, in the absence of more specific metrics this is used as a rough indicator of video popularity. The top 15 videos were analyzed by all three authors. Each author developed their own coding scheme that categorized the videos based on its source, content and how CCSVI was portrayed. After discussion, a combined coding scheme was agreed on.
This categorized the videos as either a ‘patient’ or ‘non-patient’ video. A ‘patient’ video focused on the experiences or thoughts of a particular person with MS, while a ‘non-patient’ video was any video that discussed CCSVI in other ways. In addition, categories were developed to classify the content of the videos (e.g. a news report, information and personal thoughts, fundraising) and to assess whether CCSVI (either as a theory or the ‘liberation’ treatment specifically) was portrayed positively, negatively, BIBW2992 clinical trial neutrally or ambiguously. Two authors (F.M. and B.G.O.) coded the top 100 videos. The first 50 videos were
coded separately. Based on this, the categories were refined to ensure that, as much as possible, they were exhaustive and mutually exclusive [32]. Second, the remaining 50 videos were coded using the updated categories. Third, all the videos were re-coded and any discrepancies resolved through discussion. This resulted in the ‘patient’ videos being broken down into one of nine inductively derived categories: informational and personal thoughts; pre CCSVI videos; post CCSVI videos; pre/post video combinations; procedures in clinic; medical images; promotional material; advocacy/fundraising; Depsipeptide cell line thank you. Where possible, gender, type of MS and medical treatment, was recorded for each ‘patient’ video. The ‘non-patient’ videos were broken down into five inductively derived categories: medical demonstrations; news reports; conference presentations; promotional material; educational material. Title, channel, number of views, date uploaded, country of origin (if possible), was recorded for all the videos. The results of this are presented in Table 1. Coding was consistent across both coders with a basic percentage agreement inter-coder reliability of 90% [33].