Ghostwriting as a tool for the researcher and scholar

Carl Rhodes, a professor at the University of Technology Sydney and a researcher of organizations, considers ghostwriting as a method that can be useful in interview-based research.

The essence of ghostwriting according to Rhodes is "writing for and on behalf of someone else". Once Rhodes asked Bob Carey (pseudonym), a participant of the experiment, to tell about his work experience, wrote down the story (key ideas, individual words and phrases), wrote Bob's autobiographical story from memory (on his behalf), gave the text to Bob for checking, and then made edits to the text until Bob said that he was satisfied with the text. (Funny how the author's name is hidden here, not the writer's).

In short, as a researcher, Rhodes called ghostwriting a form of research writing. In fact, why not? Writing on behalf of another real person (not a fictional character) is a good way to understand how that person thinks, so researchers and other professionals who work with people may find this method useful.

N. T.


Change: Oct. 18, 2024, 12:57 p.m.