Table 2.

Motivations behind information needs

Types of motivations	Example text
Check suspected conspiracy	“Was there anything being hidden?”
—– Motivation behind media role	“I want to understand why the media blew it out of proportion”
Part of decision-making process
—– confirmation of decision	“lends me some comfort to know I can go back and have somewhat of a normal lifestyle”
—– whether to act or not	“if I thought it was an epidemic I would make the decision to stay home”
Incomplete model of disease	Why doesn’t the germ die off when you get a fever?
—–further investigate hearsay	——I heard that…
—–lack of explanation in media	——They have not told us very clearly.
—–update of information already known	——in reflecting I would probably want to know the symptoms again.
Prevent transmission to self	Mainly I wanted to find out how it was transmitted so I could protect myself.
Prevent transmission others	I’d like to know what policies were in place… so we can prevent it from happening again.