Milan, S. (2010). “Making Communication Research Matter”, International Journal of Communication, 4, https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/issue/view/5.
About this special issue:
This collection of essays emerged out of a shared willingness to reflect on the motivations, challenges, and methods for engaged research. We take engaged research to mean those inquiries into the social world which, without departing from systematic, evidence-based, social science research, are designed to make a difference for disempowered communities and people beyond the academic community. They may, for example, address issues of concern to the disadvantaged, or may support the attempts by social movement activists to set the agenda of policymakers.
Most scholars aspire to have an impact on the social world they inhabit. Sometimes, funding agencies even require it. Yet, academic norms often discourage academics from applying their findings. This is equally true in the area of media and communication research.
Media and communication research deals with technologies and processes which permeate everybody’s life. Media and ICTs influence how we get to know the world, build our identity, and perceive other people’s, as well as how we create and maintain connections.
