Issues of ethics in research: Analysis of conspiracy theories surrounding Covid-19 pandemic on social media

Abstract

This study sought to analyse social media’s conspiracy theories surrounding  the COVID-19 pandemic. Several conflicting theories about the origin of the coronavirus have been advanced in most public discourses, especially on social media platforms, particularly Twitter and Facebook. Since no studies have been done concerning the study area, there is a need to analyse conspiracy theories surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic on social media. The study relied on descriptive research design and premised on conspiracy theories in situations of uncertainties, in this case, the COVID-19 pandemic. Purposive sampling is used to select social media content with messages, particularly from Facebook posts on the coronavirus and the responses or comments from social media users. This data was extracted between the periods of March and August 2020. Textual analysis is the main form of data analysis in the study. The study findings are useful to the ministry of health and the media houses to inform what and how they disseminate information, especially on the coronavirus. This study concludes that COVID-19 pandemic has created the perfect circumstances for conspiracy theories,  and research suggests that they negatively affect people’s compliance with preventive behaviours.