Research Uses for Blogs

By Janet Salmons, Ph.D. Manager, Sage Research Methods Community

Dr. Salmons is the author of Doing Qualitative Research Online, and Gather Your Data Online. Use the code COMMUNIT24 for 25% off through December 31, 2024 if you purchase research books from Sage.She is co-author of Publishing Your Doctoral Research, where you can find a chapter about blogs.

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“Blogging is quite simply, one of the most important things that an academic should be doing right now” (Dunleavy & Gibson, 2012).

How can researchers engage online with colleagues and readers?

With that question in mind, I began to explore the potential for blogs to recruit and inform participants. To walk the talk, I’ve blogged about different types of blogs in the academic world. I’m revisiting the research I did a few years ago and this updating a previous post. This is part two of a multi-part exploration of academic and research-focused blogs, see part one here.

Who are you trying to reach?

One way to think about academic blogging is by considering the target audience. Are they people who have a basic understanding of the field and research, or people who will need an explanation of basic concepts and terminology? Here are three options:

• Researcher-to-Researcher: Academic bloggers communicate with each other for exchange and networking within or across disciplines. They present information in ways that build upon a shared foundation in the topics under discussion, and a shared understanding of the protocols and expectations for activities such as conducting research or teaching at the college level. Blog posts offer an opportunity for input on work in progress from others in the field. These blogs are places to share resources, links to recent publications, calls for papers, or notices about upcoming conferences, or other opportunities of interest to other academics.

• Researcher-to-Participants: Academic bloggers communicate with prospective or current participants. They present information in ways the study population will understand. Blogs intended for this purpose can introduce the study, develop the credibility of the researcher, be used to support recruitment efforts, and help to inform participants before and during the study.

• Researcher-to-Public: Academic bloggers also communicate with professionals, practitioners, and the general public. They present information in ways that anyone would understand and find of interest. The researcher may translate academese or disciplinary jargon into more familiar terms. The researcher may offer recommendations for applying findings in practical ways. This type of blog is designed to share findings and/or to build awareness about the issues and problems under investigation.

Another way to think about academic blogging is by considering the host, sponsor, and/or writers.

Patrick Dunleavy distinguished between blog types according to the number and type of author: solo, collaborative, or multi-author (Dunleavy, 2014). I’ve adapted and updated his model. 

• Solo: You create, manage, and provide content for a blog. The blog is associated with your own identity, project, or publication. As blog owner you are responsible for direction of the blog and write posts, with occasional guest contribution. Individual authors’ identities are key to the brand.

• Collaborative: You join with a group of co-researchers, co-authors, colleagues or others with a common interest, area of inquiry, methodology or discipline. Editorial roles may be rotated or shared. You share the responsibility of managing the blog and keeping it up to date. Topic or disciplinary identities help to develop a brand.

• Institutional or Professional: A university, professional or scientific association, journal, or publisher hosts the blog. There is an editor, editorial team, and/or a community manager. The editor or team commissions or collates contributions from many authors. Posts are reviewed or edited and the site has strong production values and design. This type will have some level of management, technical, and design support. Branding is linked to the host entity.

 Examples for each category:

• Researcher-to-Researcher

  • Solo: Explore and Create by Narelle Lemon, Helen Kara’s blog about research, and The Thesis Whisperer’s blog for students.

  • Collaborative:  Science for Everyone, a newsletter and blog about how scientists research, teach and mentor.

  • Institutional: London School of Economics Impact of Social Sciences, ACRLog, a blog for academic and research librarians, Animate Your Science, a blog about research communication, and The Scholarly Kitchen, about scholarly publishing. SAGE Methodspace is also an example of this type.

• Researcher-to-Participant

  • Because this type is specific to the research project and might be private or taken offline when project is completed, no examples available.

• Researcher-to-Public

  • Collaborative: anthro{dendum} is a blog about sociocultural anthropology for a public audience, SciStarter is a blog for citizen scientists and the public, School of Thought is a blog about K-12 education.

  • Institutional: Policy Press's Discover Society and Transforming Society, Research in Practice,  Teacher Toolkit, Science Talk, a non-profit organization that seeks to empower and inspire the science communication community.

Thinking about blogging? Here are a few questions to consider: 

• If you want to blog about your research, will it best serve you to aim your writing towards others in your field, your potential or current participants, professionals who can use your findings, or the public?

• Do you want to commit to managing all aspects of the blog, and regular posts? Or would you rather join with others for a collaborative effort?

• Do you want to submit guest posts to more professional multi-author blogs? If so, which will best align with your purpose?

Image credits: by Werner Moser from Pixabay.

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Sage Research Methods Community posts about academic writing