2 Engaged research
Digital scholarship not only allows different routes to disseminating research, but greater opportunities for involving people at every stage of the research process. These opportunities include: defining research questions so that are meaningful to the community interested in them; recruiting participants; sharing findings and thoughts throughout the process; and finally disseminating the results in ways that are accessible to all.
This type of approach is sometimes referred to as engaged, or open, research. At The Open University, Professor Rick Holliman has been an advocate of this approach, leading a project on developing an ‘open research university’. You can read the report of this project [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] (Holliman et al., 2015), but it is not essential that you do so.
Activity 3 Including the digital approach
Imagine that you are developing a research proposal that is examining the reading habits of the nation (you can choose a different example if you prefer). The funder is keen to have an engaged and open approach. How might you integrate this request into the research? Make some notes on your blog.