Research Method

I am following the mental health blogs on HealthyPlace.com to understand how identity is being constructed. I wasn't sure which blog I wanted to follow closely--ADDaboy!  and Nitty Gritty of Anxiety looked most interesting. HP blogs have been online since January 2010, although not all of the blogs were started at the same time.

After reading a bunch of blogs, I made a decision about which one to research further.  I decided to examine Amy White's blog the Nitty Gritty of Anxiety on HealthyPlace.com. This blog fits the scope of the assignment and allows me to remain focused on a limited number of entries because it was only active for a six month period (from Jan-June 2010). I will closely examine two posts per week (including vlogs) over the six month period, but I may narrow my scope even further and analyze a smaller portion of the archive (data set) if a smaller number of entries seem consistent with the complete archive. 

I wanted to chose a blog that would allow me an opportunity to answer the research question: How do bloggers define self-identity through digital composing. I looked at blogs to see if the writer was talking about themselves in particular ways or if they were showing their affiliations. I was most interested in blogs where people were especially self-reflective, reflecting on what they learned about themselves or making statements about who they were.