Blogs are a new and intriguing form of communication and personal expression. Researchers are only just
beginning to realize the value that these media present as sources of data for research. This paper begins to
unveil the untapped potential that the blogosphere provides for research. The paper begins by introducing
blogs, explaining their evolution and the important role they play in society. A major contribution to
knowledge comes from the paper’s analysis of the motivation behind blogging – providing a framework of
seven different motivational schemes. Building on this, the paper explores why blogs are a valuable and
reliable source of data for analysis. The paper illustrates how blogs can be used for analysis, highlighting the
advantages and disadvantages of their use. The paper concludes with a brief note on some of the ethical
considerations of using blogs for research.
Introduction:
Individual expression has evolved into a new and useful form. Blogs have
become an important form of emotional and informational release for a growing
proportion of the population. Commencing with an overview of the development
of the blog, this paper takes the reader through a journey of understanding,
explaining why blogs are important, how they work, who writes, and who reads
them. Ultimately, the paper explains how blogs can be used for research, the
opportunities of using blogs as research input, as well as the problems this
usage involves.
Definition:
Blogs are commonly described as frequently modified web pages in which dated
entries are listed in reverse chronological sequence.
The term ‘blog’ comes from an early description of the medium as a log or
diary which is published on the internet, hence the contracted term ‘blog’
from Web Log. The original term – Web Log – was coined by John Barger, editor
of the Robot Wisdom blog in 1997.
Need for self expression:
Self-expression is a basic and strong human need, which has characterized
humanity from the dawn of human existence. This need leads individuals to
share their opinions, thoughts, experiences and views with others.
This need for self expression is a recurring theme in most blog-motivation
research, and encompasses various topics for self-expression. One major
topic is ‘the inner self’ - “letting the world know about you”
This expression provide a means of catharsis and a type of relief valve
permitting people to express their feelings in a safe environment – with the
hope that someone, somewhere out there, will understand them or their
problem. “Blogs helped explore issues the authors felt “obsessive” or
“passionate” about. Blogs gave people a place to “shout,” or express
themselves by writing to an audience of sometimes total strangers, sometimes
their best friends and colleagues and family members”
Frequent examples of this motive are blogs by people who are
suffering an illness or who have significant member of their family suffering
and illness, as well as bloggers telling the story of a traumatic experience.
Exposure of the painful issue is a motivator in itself. In these cases,
blogs also provide an important channel of support and mutual condolence. As
explained by Jacobs: “The very interactive nature of blogging makes it
innately supportive of both exhibitionistic and voyeuristic behaviors and
ensures its continued growth at least in the immediate future”
Another major topic expressed in blogs is the blogger’s opinions and ideas.
The blog then serves as a platform “to embrace a cause, or to promote an
ideology” to express the blogger’s idea of
the truth and to provide commentary and opinions: “Blogging
provided an outlet for expressing a point of view on topics the authors
considered much more than just chatter”
Need for recognition:
The need for recognition and acknowledgement of an individual explains why
bloggers publish even to an anonymous audience.‘ a means of reaching a wider audience; an unknown mass of
'netizens', ready and willing to respond to the opinions and commentaries of
bloggers’
Need for social contact:
This is another repeating theme in literature for motivations to blog. This
need encompasses many sub-types of motivation. Social contact within existing relationships
blogs are used to update friends, family and acquainted about the bloggers’
life events. This is where the blogger continues to blog because in
stopping they feel they would be letting others in their blog community down.
A great deal of the self perpetuation apparent in the blogosphere results
from shared feelings of obligation to read and respond to ‘friends’ blogs and
this reciprocal cycle of felt obligation in part sustains the blogosphere.
Social contact within new relationships:
Meeting people isn’t easy’, thus suggesting to
use a blog to make new acquaintances. Blogs also allow learning more about
others, and deepening one’s understanding of ‘human nature’. refer to this need as the need for forming and maintaining community
forums. Meeting new people over the internet enables meeting with
individuals with whom the blogger has pre-supposed commonalities, as the interests and opinions of a blogger are embedded in the way they present
themselves online.
Need for introspection:
Curiosity about oneself also drives bloggers to blog, as exploring their own
beliefs, views and reactions provides the blogger with better insight about
themselves. This need was described by Turgeon as ‘getting to know yourself’
as well as deepening the understanding of human nature and by Graham
in general as ‘explore and experiment’
Need for information and skill development:
Blogs also enable an ‘underground’ culture of information sharing. Many
individuals question the truthfulness or objectiveness of the information
available to the public through official channels, from news and events to
medical remedies. Bloggers then strive to portray current events in a less
prejudiced way: “Even as their comments arouse controversy and skepticism,
they’ve [bloggers] added depth to the way the related issues are discussed
and reported, especially by the traditional mass-market media”
“they were redressing
the distortions of the media”.
Blogs as data source:
Blogs present a tempting source of qualitative data. This section explores
the benefits and the problems involved with using a blog as a data source for
research.
Benefits:
Convenience and Ease of access to codified data
One of the major problems associated with collection of qualitative data is
the synchronous, time-consuming method of collection. Typically, qualitative
data are collected via interviews, observation, or focus groups. These
methods demand the mutual availability of both the subject(s) and the
interviewer. In addition, the interviewer has to maintain a high level of
focus and sensitivity throughout the collection in order to record the
various cues presented during data collection. This poses additional
constraints on the act of qualitative data collection. Apart from data
collection, data also needs to be codified for analytical purposes, which in
turn requires more time and resources.
Blogs, which are readily available in a print format, offer an immediate
availability of rich, codified data in an efficient package pre-prepared for
analysis. Blogs do not require synchronization between the researcher and
the subject, and so are more convenient and less time and resource demanding.
Another source of convenience can come from the content of the blog which is
often categorized by the blogger according to their assignment of topic,
mood, or motivation. This enables faster and easier access to information of
greatest value.
Richness and depth of information available
provide rich and deep personal accounts. The richness of this data is
derived from the longitudinal nature of a blog, as well as the connectivity
between issues discussed in the blog and links the blogger may provide
relating to the issue. The depth is a result of the freedom in writer’s
topic selection. Since bloggers choose their own topics, it is natural their
choices reflect their areas of interest. Their writing of these issues is
opinionated and often unbiased, as they are free to express their own views,
expecting no tangible consequences. In addition, as the need for
introspection is one of the motivator to blog, personal accounts in blogs are
typically candid and genuine, providing valuable insight into the issues
present on individuals’ minds.
Problem:
Impurity of data:
Blogs are not always well written, succinct, concise or elaborate. The data
offered by blogs can be difficult to investigate as they may contain errors,
poor phrasing, or lengthy and irrelevant content. However, this problem is
not limited to blogs, and exists in most types of qualitative data. Some
interviewees are more articulate than others, some are more passionate.
Individuals will also have varying competence with writing and language
skills. The irrelevance of data is also not a problem unique to blogs. It
can contribute to problems with subject observation and document analysis.
Therefore, the analysis of blog content, as with many other types of analysis, has to be either treated as indicative, or triangulated with other
data sources.
Blogs can provide an added option for confirmation and consistency. With a
blog it is always possible to interact with the blogger to ask for
clarification. This is common practice within the blogging community, and
often taken as a complement by the blogger.
Reliability and validity of data – biases:
Unlike errors or misinterpretations discussed above, blogs also present
biases stemming from social endorsement. This important motivator makes
bloggers likely to avoid alienating their readers, and attempt to appeal to
them.
Attaining exposure and readers is another goal of bloggers, which may lead
them to sensationalize their issues, or even create fictitious issues to
attract an audience. For example, a blogger may embellish their experiences
to present a more interesting and attractive story for the readers, or they
may bias their topics to what they feel brings larger reading audience.
The researcher will need to account for these potential biases, however they
may not be different to biased autobiographies or other forms of self accounts. In addition, the blogsphere has the potential to limit these
biases, since social interactions resulting from blog interactions often
transfer into the real world. This imposes a certain level of honesty.
Opinions expressed in blogs offer a level of reliability which is not greatly
different from other methods of data collection.
Type of research:
The most reliable information available over blogs is individual personal
accounts. This presents some useful data source for a first level analysis.
Data can be analyzed for use in a pilot study to determine key concepts,
develop a research question, or simply a primary level of analysis. In
addition, the use of blogs can provide a conceptual analysis for use in
quantitative research for survey design.
Conducting research using blogs serves various types of questions.
Appropriate types of research methods are discussed below.
Conclusion and further issues:
Technology has taken over many aspects of our lives and research is no
exception. Blogs provide a novel and rich resource for researchers to acquire
empirical data on a wide range of topics. The marked growth in the use and
acceptance of blogs can only enhance its viability as a research instrument.
Added to this, blog-based research provides many avenues of investigation;
from pure sociological to anthropological and psychological; and from
analysis of personal insight to understanding the strategic direction of the
corporate sector.
