CFB Blog Research Project

Submitted by research on
Dear Blog Owners/Writers/Adminstrators/Contributors,

I’m longtime college football fan/blogger who also happens to be pursuing a Ph.D in Communications. I’m actually a regular on MGoBlog, but I’ve created another username for the purposes of maintaining the highest degree of empirical reliability possible.  To that end, I’m currently designing a survey-based study that asks college football blog readers if they utilize user-created content tools (messageboards, comments sections, diaries, etc) and, if so, why?

As we know, blogs have become increasingly popular. Why? Well, everyone has a different opinion. The decline of the newspaper industry. Poor journalism. The ability for readers to become involved. Cost-effectiveness. You name it, and someone, somewhere has an explanative theory. In an effort to further investigate user content creation behavior, I’m designing a survey tool to acquire information from readers themselves. Accordingly, I need a platform to deliver the survey. I want your blog to be part of that platform. This is a large-scale effort and I’m working with CFB blogs throughout the country (including MGoBlog).

So what, precisely, am I asking out of you? Well, the following:

I want to run a five day survey in mid-to-late November. Basically, I’m asking you to post content, on the first day, which describes the study and asks users to participate. Then, I’m asking that you post small blurbs throughout the rest of the week, again asking readers to participate in the survey. I’ll create the content and readers will be referred to the survey tool via a hyperlink. I’ll be very clear that this survey is for scientific/academic purposes and will help all of us, within the CFB Blogosphere, better understand our community.

In turn, here is what is “in it” for you:

First, I will provide you with all findings in a statistically cogent manner with explanation and discussion of ramifications. These statistics may very well provide key details to usership traits/patterns (demographics, user patterns, what users are looking for in blog content/design) not just across your blog, but the CFB “blogosphere” as a whole. Second, you will have the opportunity to be directly involved in a cutting-edge investigation that will be published in an academic journal.

This research project will be scientifically driven and I’ll be working with several highly respected researchers in the mediated communications field. This study is unlike anything ever done before and is being designed with an unusually high level of methodological rigidity.  

Thank you for your time. I very much hope you’ll agree to be a part of this research endeavor and I want you to know that your participation is both crucial and appreciated.

Please contact me at the following e-mail addresses if your blog is interested in participating:

[email protected]
[email protected]

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