SCHOLARS & THEIR BLOGS
Dr. Carolyn Hank [email protected]
School of Information Studies
McGill University
SPEAKER SERIES
28 January 2011
REFLECTIONS ON RESEARCH DESIGN
Background
Research Design
Questionnaires
Interviews
Blog Analysis
Findings
Discussion
Next Steps
02 | 63 agenda
03 04 23 30 32 36
60
58
Blogs &
Blogging Scholarly
Communication
Blog
Archiving
Digital
Preservation
03 | 63 background
LITERATURE Blogger Perceptions on
Digital Preservation Hank, Sheble, & Choemprayong,
2007-2010
How do scholars who
blog perceive their blog
in relation to their cumulative
scholarly record?
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
04 | 63 research design
How do scholars who
blog perceive their blog
in relation to long-term
stewardship?
Who do they perceive
as responsible as well
as capable for blog
preservation?
05 | 63 research design
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
What blog characteristics
impact preservation?
What blogger behaviours
impact preservation?
06 | 63 research design
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
?
Multiple Instances
Multiple Authors
Scholar blogger(?)
Scholarly blog(?)
Currency
Timing
05 | 35 RESEARCH DESIGN 07 | 63 research design
CONSIDERATIONS
UNITS
BLOGS
BLOGGERS
08 | 63 research design
BLOGS
BLOGGERS
Questionnaires
Interviews
Blog Analysis
DATA SOURCES
09 | 63 research design
NEEDLE IN A
HAYSTACK
10 | 63 research design
POPULATION
CHAMELEON IN
A HAYSTACK
11 | 63 research design
POPULATION
Academic Blog
Portal <http://www.academicblogs.org>
Purposive Sampling
POPULATION
12 | 63 research design
Domain Cluster Blogs Listed
at Source Duplicates
Total
Blogs
Humanities History 190 1 189
Social Sciences Economics 192 0 192
Professions &
Useful Arts Law 120 1 119
Sciences BioChemPhys 147 3 144
All Domains All Clusters 649 5 644
Note. For total blogs within the Sciences cluster, BioChemPhys (N=144), sub-fields were
represented as follows: Biology blogs, 39% (n=56); Chemistry blogs, 15% (n=21); and
Physics blogs, 47% (n=67).
Also, BioChemPhys is also abbreviated in select tables as, „Sciences.”
BLOGS BY CLUSTER
13 | 63 research design
PUBLICLY AVAILABLE
PUBLISHED IN ENGLISH
KNOWLEDGE OR PERSONAL BLOG
TIME-STAMPED POSTS
ACTIVELY PUBLISHED TO
AT LEAST 1 YEAR OLD
PERSONAL IDENTIFIERS (RE: AUTHORSHIP)
BLOG ELIGIBILITY …
14 | 63 research design
AUTHORED BY 1 OR MORE SCHOLARS
CONTINUED
15 | 63 research design
a) 1+ descriptor: Ph.D., Dr., Professor, Reader, Lecturer,
Doctoral Student, or Doctoral Candidate
c) Link to blogger‟s CV or the like with 1+ citation to a
journal article
b) 1+ descriptor (Scholar, Academic, Researcher, Research
Director, Fellow, Biologist) and institutional affiliation
d) Graduate student and explicit reference to area of
study or pursuant degree
SCHOLAR CRITERIA
LISTED VS. ELIGIBLE
16 | 63 research design
Criterion History
Freq (%)
Econ
Freq (%)
Law
Freq (%)
Sciences
Freq (%)
Publicly available 168 (90%) 163 (85%) 113 (95%) 126 (88%)
Published in English 159 (84%) 151 (79%) 111 (93%) 123 (85%)
Knowledge or personal
blog 146 (77%) 140 (73%) 93 (78%) 119 (83%)
Time-stamped posts 145 (77%) 140 (73%) 93 (78%) 118 (82%)
Actively published to 68 (36%) 83 (43%) 58 (49%) 62 (43%)
At least 1 year old 58 (31%) 66 (34%) 53 (45%) 54 (38%)
Personal identifiers in
regard to authorship 53 (28%) 59 (31%) 48 (40%) 48 (33%)
Authored by 1 or more
bloggers meeting
scholar parameters
46 (24%) 51 (27%) 47 (40%) 44 (31%)
ASSESSMENT
17 | 63 research design
Clusters Single-Blogs Co-Blogs Total Blogs
History 32 14 46 (31%)
Economics 34 17 51 (27%)
Law 22 25 47 (40%)
BioChemPhys 37 7 44 (24%)
All Clusters 125 63 188 (29%)
18 | 63 research design
Note. For blogs in the BioChemPhys cluster, disciplines were represented as follows:
Single-blogs: biology 43% (n=16), chemistry 14% (n=5), and physics 43% (n=16); and
Co-blogs: biology 0%, chemistry 29% (n=2), and physics 71% (n=5).
SAMPLING FRAME (1)
CO-BLOGS : POSTED W/IN 1 MONTH
CO-BLOGS: MEETS SCHOLAR CRITERIA
ALL BLOGS: BLOGGER CONTACT INFO
BLOGGER ELIGIBILITY
19 | 63 research design
Criterion
History
(N=151)
Freq (%)
Econ
(N=155)
Freq (%)
Law
(N=228)
Freq (%)
Sciences
(N=49)
Freq (%)
(Special Condition):
Blogger published
within previous month
43 (29%) 65 (42%) 114 (50%) 19 (39%)
Blogger meets
scholar parameters 31 (21%) 58 (37%) 107 (47%) 16 (33%)
Blogger contact
information available 27 (18%) 56 (36%) 102 (45%) 15 (31%)
Protocol: Revised
count and percentage
after removal of
duplicate listings
23 (15%) 53 (34%) 99 (43%) 15 (31%)
CO-BLOGGERS
20 | 63 research design
SINGLE-BLOGGERS
21 | 63 research design
Criterion
History
(N=32)
Freq (%)
Econ
(N=34)
Freq (%)
Law
(N=22)
Freq (%)
Sciences
(N=37)
Freq (%)
Blogger contact
information available 27 (84%) 32 (94%) 21 (96%) 28 (76%)
APPENDIX A
22 | 63 research design
SAMPLE
CODING
SYSTEM
Criteria 1-9
Data Management
48 Categories/Attributes
Specific Instructions
INSTRUMENT DESIGN
23 | 63 questionnaires
QUESTIONNAIRES Q1 (single-bloggers) 41 to 58 questions
Q2 (co-bloggers): 41 to 62 questions
QUESTIONNAIRES AVAILABLE IN APPENDICES C & D
Qualtrics
INSTRUMENT DESIGN
Do not
reinvent
the wheel
Lenhart & Fox (2006)
Herring et al. (2005)
Morton and Price (1999)
Olsen et al. (2009)
Rainie (2005)
White & Winn (2009)
Hank et al. (2007)
24 | 63 questionnaires
INSTRUMENT DESIGN Dillman et al. (2009)
Czaja & Blair (2005)
Punch (2003).
Dillman 25 | 63 questionnaires
INSTRUMENT DESIGN
PRE-TEST
26 | 63 questionnaires
ADMINISTRATION
27 | 63 questionnaires
Personalized Email
Salutation | Blog Title | Blog URL | PIN
Invite and 2 reminders
No inducements (except final report)
Manual
Available for 3 weeks
All eligible bloggers invited (N=298)
COMPLETED SAMPLE
28 | 63 questionnaires
Completed sample:
153 respondents
RR 1: QI: 63% | QII: 46% | QI/II: 52%
Outcome rates derived from Internet surveys of specifically named persons from
the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR, 2009)
ANALYSIS
29 | 63 questionnaires
Excel
SPSS
Excel
DESIGN & ADMIN
30 | 63 interviews
11 to 14 questions
72 (47%) expressed interest
24 phone interviews (semi-structured)
15 to 25+ minutes
Protocol | Debriefing Sheet | Pre-Test
Concurrent to other data collection
ANALYSIS
31 | 63 interviews
Interviews/
Digital
Recordings
Notes
Partial Transcripts
3+ listening sessions
CONSENT SCRIPT, SCHEDULE, & DEBRIEFING SHEET
AVAILABLE IN APPENDICES G &D
SAMPLE
32 | 63 Blog analysis
Clusters Single-Blogs
Count
Co-Blogs
Count
Total Blogs
Count
History 16 7 23
Economics 17 8 25
Law 11 13 24
BioChemPhys 17 4 21
All Clusters 61 32 93
Coded 93 blogs (49.5% sampling ratio)
CODE BOOKS
33 | 63 Blog analysis
CODING
SYSTEMS CB1 (single-)
63 Indicators (on/off blog
CB2 (co-blogs)
57 Indicators (on/off blog)
Authorship
Blog Elements & Features
Rights & Disclaimers
Authority & Audience
Blog Publishing Activity
Post Features
Archiving
SINGLE- & Co-BLOG CODING SYSTEM AVAILABLE IN APPENDIX J
TESTING/COLLECTING
34 | 63 Blog analysis
Time in
Minutes
Single-Blog
Frequency (%)
Co-Blog Count
Frequency (%)
≤ 9 17 (28%) 5 (15%)
10 to 19 32 (52%) 24 (73%)
20 to 29 9 (15%) 2 (6%)
30 to 39 2 (3%) 1 (6%)
≥ 40 1 (2%) -
ANALYIS
35 | 63 Blog analysis
Excel
SPSS
Excel
RESPONDENT PROFILE
36 | 63 findings
Hold a
doctorate (63%)
RESPONDENT PROFILE
37 | 63 findings
Male (78%)
RESPONDENT PROFILE
38 | 63 findings
Post-
Secondary
Faculty … (76%)
RESPONDENT PROFILE
39 | 63 findings
… Tenured (78%)
RESPONDENT PROFILE
40 | 63 findings
Avg. age
is 45 (range 25 to 70)
RESPONDENT PROFILE
41 | 63 findings
Professional
age avg. is
15 years (range 0 to 39)
RESPONDENT PROFILE
42 | 63 findings
Publication
& service
history
RESPONDENT PROFILE
43 | 63 findings
Publish
just 1 blog (58%)
BLOG PROFILE
44 | 63 findings
Avg. blog age
is 4.5 years old (range 1 to 8)
public 100%
subject to
critical
review 68%
allows use and
exchange 94% part of the
scholarly
record 80%
Association of Research Libraries (1986).
QUESTION (1)
Braxton, J.M., Luckey, W., & Helland, P. (2002).
45 | 63 findings
0% 100%
Personal access/use
Indefinite future
Public access/use
Indefinite future
Personal access/use
Short-term future
Personal access/use
Short-term future
16%
19%
76%
80%
QUESTION (2)
46 | 63 findings
Preservation
Preferences
QUESTION (2) Preservation
Perceptions
47 | 63 findings
QUESTION (2) Preservation
Perceptions
48 | 63 findings
QUESTION (2) Doomsday
Scenario
49 | 63 findings
RELIEF “I don‟t have to do it anymore;” “I get half an hour of my life back.”
C’EST LA VIE “Pour another cup of coffee and get back to work;” “Probably have a drink and
forget about it;” “Not welcomed but not tragic … I‟d get over it;” “Drop out of the
blogosphere until something else comes along.”
DOUBT “How would that happen?;” “It would take an extreme catastrophe;”
“Hard to believe lost and unrecoverable.”
ANGER “Mad as hell;” “Pretty peeved;” “Pretty angry;” “Angry and upset;” “Frustrated;”
I‟d do something drastic [in response] (i.e., legal action).
SADNESS “Pretty bad;” “Very bad;” “Sad;” “Pretty sad;” “Panicked;”
“Devastated, both emotionally and professionally.”
Blogs Teaching
materials
Books
Journal
articles
Blogs
Personnel
Communications
Books
Journal
articles
Filter
Blogs
Class
Blogs
Traditional
Publications
Blogs
Law review
articles
Blogs
Books
Journal
articles
Blogs
Self-
Publications
Peer-
Reviewed
Publications
Journal
articles
Filter
Blogs
Works-in-
progress
Blogs
Published
Papers
Blogs
Peer-
Reviewed
Publications
Informal
Publications
Blogs
Lab
Notebooks
Published
Papers
Dissertations
& Theses
Monographs
Select
Blog Posts
Books
Blogs
Books
Journal
articles
Journal
articles
Book
Reviews
Blogs
Journal
articles
Teaching
materials
Scientific &
Scholarly
Research
Pedagogical
Research & Tools
Blogs
LOWER HIGHER
QUESTION (2) Preservation
Priorities
50 | 63 findings
Dynamic, changing
Co-producer dependencies
Understandability
Versioning
Rights and Use
Some Archiving Activity
05 | 35 RESEARCH DESIGN
QUESTION (3)
51 | 63 findings
55 % update their
blog
several
times a week
BLOGGERS
55 %
of most
recent posts
published
≤ 3 days
BLOGS
QUESTION (3)
52 | 63 findings
95% edit posts after publication
29% delete posts after publication
Spelling & grammatical errors Rephrasing Remove incorrect info Published before ready
Duplicate post “Post regret” Too sensitive or revealing
QUESTION (3)
53 | 63 findings
QUESTION (3)
Text 99%
544 total words
79 quoted words
465 original words
Photos 16%
Other image elements 16%
Links 82% (avg. 5)
Comments 57%
Most
Recent
Post
54 | 63 findings
50% check for permissions before
publishing content at least half the
time.
05 | 35 RESEARCH DESIGN 55 | 63 findings
QUESTION (3)
Rights
51 %
none
37 %
text
statement
14 %
Creative
Commons
Other
Policies
QUESTION (3)
56 | 63 findings
80% of blogs in sample archived
to Internet Archive Wayback
Machine
50% of law cluster blogs (n=12)
archived at Library of Congress‟
Legal Blawgs Web Archive
QUESTION (3)
57 | 63 findings
Bloggers are interested
Save some but not all
New content added
Old content altered
Personal responsibility
Defining roles of others
Methodology
Responsibility
Access scenarios
Versioning
Intellectual Property
Access scenarios
Process in time
Findings Future
CONCLUSIONS (2007)
58 | 63 discussion
Blogs in support of service, teaching, and research
First line of defense
Last line of defense
Service Providers and Networks
Tools, Resources, Engagement
CONCLUSIONS (2010)
59 | 63 discussion
28 | 30 FUTURE WORK
Continued analysis
Personal and Programmatic Approaches
BlogForever
Twitter and the Library of Congress
Terms of Service Agreements
60 | 63 next steps
WWTD
61 | 63 references
what would Tufte do?
(see handout for references
Paul Jones
Dr. Helen R. Tibbo
Dr. Lynn Silipigni Connaway
Dr. Jeffrey Pomerantz
Paul Jones
Dr. Richard Marciano
Paul Jones
Thanks to ....
Thanks for .... Beta Phi Mu 2010 Eugene Garfield Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship
Paul Jones
62 | 63 acknowledgements
And thank you.
CAROLYN HANK
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 514.398.4684
Web: http://ils.unc.edu/~hcarolyn
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United
States License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/
63 | 63 questions