Table 3.
Themes and subthemes in YouTube comments with example quotes.
| Theme or Subtheme | Description | Example Quotation |
|---|---|---|
| Anecdote | A comment containing a story about a commenter’s personal experience. | |
| Social and Behavioural Manifestations | A comment that shares the ASD-related social and behavioural manifestations of the writer or the writer’s significant other. | “I have Asperger’s and although I am a little socially awkward I’m quite extroverted which makes it hard to spot”. |
| Public Perception | A comment that provides an account of how the writer or their significant other might have been viewed or treated by others. | “People bully me at school. They say I’m weird because I’ll randomly zone out during class. I try to talk to them but they just say look at me then I’ll talk to you, and when I do look at them they tell me to stop staring at them”. |
| Self-Concept | A comment that provides an account of the writer’s feelings about themselves, including their self-image and issues with self-esteem. | “Having Asperger’s sucks. I feel like I’m a different species from the people around me”. |
| Expression of Personal Feelings | A comment in which the writer expresses their personal feelings, emotional response, or opinions/perspectives. | |
| Positive Sentiments | A comment that expresses the writer’s positive beliefs and attitudes towards ASD. | “People I have met that have autism are some of the most kind hearted empathetic and genuine humans”. |
| Negative Sentiments | A comment that expresses the writer’s negative beliefs and attitudes towards ASD. | “I would not want to have a child with autism”. |
| View on Stereotypes or Misconceptions | Comments that express a writer’s view on stereotypes or misconceptions held by society and perpetuated by the media or other information channels. | “I hate how the only autism portrayed in the media is the aesthetic kind where they turn out to be geniuses no one knows about severe autism it kills me”. |
| View on ASD Characteristics | Comments that express a writer’s view on the epidemiology of ASD, associated behaviours, interventions, etc. | “I don’t think it’s more common in boys. Because girls tend to hide it more often which probably means there are loads of girls out there with autism including me”. |
| Reaction to Video Content | Comments expressing a writer’s immediate reaction and feelings toward the information in a video or the way the creator presents it. | |
| Agreeing with or Approving of Creator Content | A comment that expresses agreement, satisfaction, or gratitude towards the video content. | “This was the best way to show neurotypical people autism I’ve ever seen. This is wonderful. Thank you”. |
| Disagreeing with or Disapproving of Creator Content | A comment that expresses disagreement or condemnation of video content. | “I don’t like this one bit. Those children are not autistic they may just have different personalities”. |
| Miscellaneous Exclamations | Comments with weak or no correlation to ASD-related content. This category also includes summarizing or directly quoting something in the video, making video requests, and random off-topic jokes, statements, or questions. | “Well now I have a crush on the girl in the maroon shirt”. |