You've probably heard of method acting, where an actor goes out and researches a role by interviewing people, learning as much as they can about certain types of people or a certain lifestyle, and spending time in real life acting as the character they're studying. Sometimes they go incognito in a little town, sometimes not. This is arguable, but I believe that the best actors all follow one "method" or another, and that there could be an application to blogging. The gist of using "method" is to get deeply involved in something so that you can understand it from other viewpoints and be convincing in your interpretation - an approach that's possibly applicable to blogging. [Updated: There's more than one type of "method" acting, and they don't all necesarily use this approach.]
In addition to actors, there are writers/novelists who apply a method writing style to research their books. I've done it for a lot of my "speculative" short fiction, but not originally on purpose. I mean, does anyone intentionally use "method" for mad partying and drunken stupors? (Other than, say, Hunter S. Thompson, R.I.P.?) If so, there are probably a lot of Hollywood celebrities doing method research right now, judging from all the DUI arrests for the past 2-3 years. (Although I have my own conspiracy theories about why that's happening.)
