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
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