Skip down to main content

Dr Grant Blank

Research Associate

Dr Grant Blank

Research Associate

About

Grant Blank was a Departmental Lecturer at the OII.

He was a Survey Research Fellow until August 2020. He received the William F. Ogburn Career Achievement award from the Communication, Information Technology and Media Sociology section of the American Sociological Association in 2015. This award recognizes a sustained body of research that has made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of knowledge in the area of sociology of communication, information technology and media sociology.

He was awarded a Teaching Excellence Award from the University of Oxford in 2015.

He has been awarded a Visiting Fellowship to the Center for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS), at the Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany for two months working on a cross-national study of echo chambers in 6 European countries and the United States. The study is unusual in that it looks at possible echo chambers in the context of the entire media environment, including online media, social media, and offline broadcast and print media. The question is, in this kind of high-choice media environment do people limit their political media consumption in such a way that they could find themselves in an echo chamber?

He is a sociologist who studies the social and cultural impact of the Internet and new media. He is also interested in cultural sociology, especially reviews and cultural evaluation.

Grant began his career as an independent consultant based in Chicago Illinois specializing in research design, statistical analysis, and database design. He previously taught at American University in Washington DC. He completed his PhD in sociology at the University of Chicago in 1999, and joined OII in 2010.

Areas of Interest for Doctoral Supervision

Digital divides, inequality, political participation, trust, privacy, social networks, social media, journalism, mobile use, security

Research Interests

Social and cultural impact of the Internet and other new media, quantitative and qualitative analysis, methodology, cultural sociology, sociology of science and technology, artificial intelligence

Positions at the OII

  • Research Associate, September 2023 -
  • Departmental Lecturer, September 2020 - September 2023
  • Survey Research Fellow, January 2010 - August 2020

Research

Related Sites

Integrity Statement

In the past five years my work has been financially supported the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Google and BT. As part of my science communication and policy outreach I have served in an unpaid advisory capacity to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, the Government Statistical Service and Ofcom.

I conduct my research in line with the University's academic integrity code of practice.

Recordings

235532775728028

News

Teaching

Current Courses

Qualitative Data Analysis

This course is designed to provide students with the knowledge and skills to carry out qualitative data analysis of a variety of kinds of data (e.g. text, photos, videos) collected from both online and offline settings.

Advanced Statistics for Internet Research II

This course covers the interpretation of coefficients and odds ratios, measures of fit, supporting graphics, and diagnostics and corrective techniques for common problems.

Advanced Statistics for Internet Research I

Multiple regression is probably the most commonly used statistical technique in the social sciences. This course emphasizes its application to research on the Internet and society.