Collaborative Research: The
“Social” Way
Jackie Krause, Ph. D.
Assistant Faculty, Ashford University
DrJackieK@gmail.com
jackiekrause.wordpress.com
@DrJackieK
Agenda

We will look at how researchers can
◦ Connect –
 Find like-minded researchers
◦ Communication –
 Once connected, how can facilitate communications
◦ Collaborate –
 Share research, store references, etc.
Hold on everyone, we only have 15 minutes and I intend
to cover a LOT of ground!
What does it mean to research the
“social” way?
Whether you are researching with the group or
as a solo activity, we are talking about using social
media
 Using social media effectively

◦ Not necessarily Facebook, but Facebook like sites
◦ But possibly Twitter!
◦ Possibly blogging

There are a number of social media/networking
sites dedicated to researchers. Some of these
sites include:
◦ Social gathering and networking sites
◦ Social resource sharing and collaboration
◦ Blogs and wikis
Connecting with like-minded
researchers

Why?
◦ Consider asking for help finding relevant research
 Find out what others interested in the same research
topics you are reading
◦ Consider taking advantage of “crowd sourcing”
 This is a great way to vet ideas and seek opinions
◦ Find sources for data/Find prospective research
participants
◦ Establish your Research Identity and Presence!
 Let people know who you are and what you do
Connecting with like-minded
researchers

Where are they, anyway?
◦ Professional organizations – seems like a good place to start,
right
 SIGs
◦ Research Gate – HTTP://www.researchgate.net/
 A social networking site built
for scientists, by scientists
 Ask questions/get answers
 Find research/researchers
 Setup research topics of interest
 Post your own research
publications
 Start a research project for
collaboration, data sharing,
and feedback
 It’s a great place to carry on
conversations!
Connecting with like-minded
researchers
◦ Emerald Research Connections http://www.emeraldinsight.com/research/connecti
ons/index.htm
 Hosted by Emerald Publishing Group
 Setup as a platform for finding like-minded researchers
and collaborations
◦ BiggerBrains.com - http://www.biggerbrains.com/
 Hosted by Elsevier
 For early career researchers
 Full of great resources for the newbie who wants to
learn more about research and publishing, networking
opportunities.
Free Services!
Collaborating with fellow
researchers

Mendeley
◦ Free, web-based tool which allows
researchers to:
 Maintain a library of references online (including
full-text PDF files)
 Use a Dashboard like interface:
 Search library of published papers
 Join public groups and follow their updates through the
Newsfeed
 Create private groups for collaborative research projects
 Share references among your group
 “Friend” other researchers and follow their posts
Collaborating with fellow
researchers

Mendeley, continued
 Use a desktop component for a more robust
experience, maintains sync with web tool
 Includes a plug-in for Word and Open Office to
connect to your online library and create
bibliographies
◦ Interact with other researchers!
Collaborating with fellow
researchers

Other tools that are similar:
◦ Zotero (Works with FireFox)
◦ Cite-U-Like

A really nice list can be found at DiRT:
◦ https://digitalresearchtools.pbworks.com/w/pa
ge/17801648/Citation%20Management%20To
ols
Collaborating with fellow
researchers

EndNote and RefWorks
◦ Both offer reference management and
collaborative platforms for sharing and
working with research teams
◦ You can create a collaboration space to store
research and references
◦ Allow those in your research group to
Read/Write references to the library
◦ Share and get references from others in your
group
Fee-based Services
Web-based tools
Social Media for Academics – New
uses for traditional tools

Create a “research” Blog!
 Crowd-source ideas
 Look/Ask for references/research
 Discuss your research and publications – review
research
 Look for research participants/collaborators
 It’s about maximizing your research impact!
◦ For information on maximizing your impact:
 http://www2.lse.ac.uk/government/research/resgroups/L
SEPublicPolicy/Docs/LSE_Impact_Handbook_April_201
1.pdf
◦ Register at http://researchblogging.org
 Provides a synopsis of posts made that contain serious
research material
Additional Support for Blogging
How to write a good research blog post:
http://scienceofblogging.com/how-towrite-a-good-research-blog-post/
 Great study on the use of blogging by
serious researchers:
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Ado
i%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0035869

Social Media for Academics – New
uses for traditional tools

Consider academic use of Twitter
◦ Use Twitter to send people to your blog
◦ It’s amazing how many responses you can get
to a 140 ch. tweet!
◦ Encourage conversation

Want to know how, check out this
resource:
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialscience
s/2011/09/29/twitter-guide/
Conclusion
There are so many great resources out there, this
is just a small taste to get you thinking about how
social media might support my research efforts.
 Please contact me if you want to talk more, have
resources to share, or just want to connect!
 A list of additional resources can be found on my
blog at:
http://jackiekrause.wordpress.com/2013/03/29/we
lcome-to-the-age-of-using-social-media-inresearch/ or use the QR Code on each slide

Contact me
Jackie Krause, Ph. D.
DrJackieK@gmail.com
760-608-8004
Blog: jackiekrause.wordpress.com
Twitter: @DrJackieK