Bhavya Bansal: Investigating the Willingness to Take a Rapid COVID-19 Test
Tell us about your research!
With this research, my research mentor and I wanted to determine if there is a correlation between different factors that influence a person’s willingness to take a daily rapid COVID-19 test. We administered a survey to over 500 participants and collected all data anonymously. The survey included questions regarding personal demographic characteristics, daily health habits, gender, age, and educational level. We ran a linear regression analysis and other statistical tests to determine if a correlation exists between an individual’s health habits and their respective willingness to self-administer a daily COVID-19 test.
What inspired you to delve into this research topic?
“We are living in the COVID-19 pandemic” is a prevalent worry in most people’s minds during recent pandemic days. Because of this, it made sense to conduct a project concerning the disease affecting our everyday lives. As more and more research is being done in various aspects of the disease and pandemic, I specifically wanted to focus on the topic of rapid testing. I also sought to understand the controversy associated with the need for effective and constant testing.
What was your role in this research project?
I led the project and had the responsibility of choosing a topic that was best considering my environment and resources. I also needed to do quite a bit of research on my own — this involved finding accurate articles and research from scientists and medical databases such as NCBI and Google Scholar. Although I mainly conducted the research independently, I also received some help from my mentor, a former Biomedical Magnet Teacher at my school who I met at the beginning of the school year. He helped me with some of the obstacles I faced while analyzing my research and helped me through the process of crunching the data we had collected from the surveys into a reasonable conclusion.
Did you have any past experience with the research project?
Before this project, I had no past experience in research, but I’ve always wanted to find a lab and conduct research. When COVID-19 hit, it was very difficult to find research opportunities, so I thought it would be the perfect time to try and start something on my own that didn’t require many materials except my computer.
What influenced your thought process, whether it be cultural, social, etc?
Before deciding how to collect the data, I previously researched the background of available COVID-19 rapid tests and views on rapid testing on both the advocacy and opposition sides. I found that researchers were already able to develop several methods of rapid testing, one of which is the strip paper test that works on a salivary basis. This stuck out to me. If many health professionals were advocating the need for frequent testing and there was a non-invasive, cheap COVID-19 test available, why was this resource not being utilized?
What resources were invaluable or crucial to your research project?
Using statistical software such as R and SPSS, which run a variety of standardized tests from the inputted data, was crucial in analyzing my data. I ran a variety of t-tests, one-way and two-way ANOVAs, Chi-Squared tests, linear by linear associations, and more to find any correlations, or patterns, within my data. I also used Google Forms to create and distribute my survey, which allowed me to reach a large audience and increase my sample size. My mentor was also very important to my success when analyzing data, as she helped teach me how to navigate and run the statistical software.
Describe your general procedures for this research project and how you arrived at them.
I created a survey that consisted of 17 questions on demographics, daily health habits, and personal preferences of the survey respondents. We shared this survey across the U.S. and even internationally. Then, we started gathering the data and organizing it in a clear format to start the process of analysis. We used a variety of standard statistical tests, including t-tests, ANOVAs, correlation tests, homogeneity tests, and Chi-Squared tests to visualize different correlations. These correlations serve to identify a person’s willingness to take the COVID-19 test for those who do or do not take the test.
Explain some of your key findings.
Based on open-ended questions identifying reasons people do or do not want to take the COVID-19 test, we were able to determine that there is a lack of knowledge on the replication and period of time SARS-CoV-2 is infectious in the body. Due to this lack of widespread knowledge, people tend to underestimate the ability of the virus to spread rapidly, meaning some people come into contact with others during the most virulent state of the virus. The paper test is a relatively quick and affordable method that costs only $1 to $2 and returns results in 10–15 minutes, in comparison to the large benefit of potentially flattening the pandemic curve. Although the test is not as sensitive as the CDC would like it to be, the test is able to detect data in a favorable range of CT (cycle threshold) values, which gives an indication of the virus load count in the body. Overall, this method will help determine the transmission of the virus and help visualize the spread. The next key steps involve increasing knowledge about the availability of this test by educating others on its importance. The paper test will be able to catch a larger amount of positive tests before individuals are symptomatic, allowing them to limit their interaction with others and ultimately reducing the spread of the virus. People may be concerned about the false negatives of this test due to its low sensitivity. However, when the identified CT is no longer in the infectiousness range, the tested individual can no longer transmit COVID-19.
What are the implications of your findings?
I conducted a survey of a large population across many age groups and demographic characteristics. This was done to determine if there is a correlation between the different factors that contribute to an individual’s desire to take a daily rapid COVID-19 test, and based on the findings, educate others on the common misconceptions and importance of frequent testing. This data collection is scientifically important to society because educating others to make healthy decisions will ultimately flatten the curve and can help better identify people with COVID-19 before they are contagious. In addition, it can help future knowledge on vaccine distribution for other viruses.
Did this experience prompt you to continue pursuing research as a career goal?
Yes, this experience definitely motivated me to continue different research projects in the future as a student and maybe even as a career. I would also like to find opportunities to work with social scientists in order to identify barriers with this paper test. In addition to this, I would also like to work with other labs that might have current, developing projects that attempt to eliminate people’s fear of false positives or false negatives. Through future research, I hope to make the paper test a more sensitive, yet still affordable option for users.
What‘s something you enjoyed about the research process?
I loved learning more about different topics such as analyzing data and going beyond the surface level in order to completely understand the topic and uncover new findings. However, the writing process in particular had a writing curve that took a while to overcome. But it was enjoyable since it was my first time writing and formatting a scientific research paper rather than a standard essay.
Tell us any fun fact about you that we would not be able to find on the internet.
I skipped 5th grade!
Bhavya Bansal is a 15-year-old high schooler in the class of 2023. She loves spending her free time browsing different ideas and learning a little bit more about everything she can get her hands on. She’s a competitive athlete in 2 year-round sports: swimming and wrestling. She loves spending time with family and enjoys bike riding. Science, particularly medicine, has always interested her, and she loves learning about the world’s scientific discoveries.
This article was written as part of STEMchats’ Blueprint program. Follow us on Instagram @stemchats and @blueprint.stemchats and visit our website