Page 67 - AEI Insights 2018 Vol 4 Issue 1

Hashim et al, 2018

Research aims

The purpose of this study is to investigate the awareness of health risks and the preference for
and evaluation of different sources of information about health and obesity in Sweden and
Malaysia, as representing two widely different societies, in order to address a global problem
from two local perspectives.

The specific aims of this study are:
 to examine the Swedes and Malay Malaysians’ awareness of weight-related issues such
as Body Mass Index (BMI), knowledge and use of weight-related diets and health risks
related to being obesity
 to examine the Swedes and Malay Malaysians’ preferences for sources of information
about weight-related diets and exercises and their evaluation of these sources in terms
of understandability, trustworthiness and usefulness of information provided

Potentially influencing factors such as gender, level of education, and self-estimated weight
are taken into account.

Methodology

This study employed a mixed method approach (a combination of quantitative and qualitative)
where the quantitative element was extracted from the questionnaire and analysed using
descriptive statistics while the qualitative was represented by defining the taxonomies of
categories found in the open-ended section of the questionnaire.

Procedures

A questionnaire was distributed to respondents from these two socio-culturally distinct
countries and the responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics. A questionnaire which
consisted of 21 open and closed questions (see Appendix 1) was piloted with about 30 Swedish
and 30 Malaysian respondents and appropriately modified in terms of format and sequencing
of questions.

In Sweden, data collection was done via the Internet, by distributing a link with the
questionnaire to a number of convenience sampled Facebook groups, with an invitation to
participate in the study. The selected Facebook groups included groups focused on different
hobbies, sport, health and travelling, dieting and exercising, buying/selling, different
occupations, home interior, politics and job searching, thus reaching a wide variety of potential

respondents i.e. applying snowball sampling via Facebook (cf. Baltar and Brunet, 2012). The
data collection in Sweden was done in line with ethical guidelines for social science research.
In Malaysia, the questionnaire, which was in both digital and paper formats was distributed via
convenience sampling at a university campus and through various forms of social media such
as Facebook and Twitter. The University of Malaya Research Ethics Committee-Non Clinical
approved the questionnaire and prior consent was sought from the respondents during data
collection and procedures followed.

Thus, although the samples cannot be treated as representative random samples of the Swedish
and Malaysian population, based on the findings of earlier research, they can be considered
representative of a group of people in Sweden and Malaysia, who generally come from urban
areas and who actively engage in the use of social media.

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