Professor, Communication and Media
My current research focuses on communication and coping. I’m conducting START-funded research with colleagues Andrew Tollison and Tahir Hameed on how people assess, avoid, or utilize Artificial Intelligence Online Health Information. Recent publications (with co-authors Tollison and Rebecca Legro) focus on how people cope during the anxiety-inducing cancer pre-diagnosis phase (when testing has commenced but a diagnosis has yet to be rendered).
Many of my earlier publications analyze new media engagement. Using focus-group, interview, and survey methods, I have explored media marathoning practices, TV spoiler attitudes (with co-author Noelle McElrath-Hart), and podcast listening gratifications (with co-authors Tollison, and Jacob Turner). My 2015 book, “Media Marathoning: Immersions in Morality,” argues that the media marathoning process (my alternative label for “binge-watching”) invites us to place ourselves into story worlds and negotiate the nuances of morality.
Perks, L. G. & Tollison, A. C. (2025). “Teetering on a tightrope”: Uncertainty and information management during the cancer pre-diagnosis phase. Western Journal of Communication, 89(2), 329-368. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/10570314.2024.2340452
Perks, L. G., Tollison, A. C., & Legro, R. (2024). “You need to speak up”: Agency and the cancer pre-diagnosis phase. Qualitative Research Reports in Communication. doi: 10.1080/17459435.2024.2390922
Perks, L. G., Gatchet, A. D., & Gatchet, R. D. (2022). The need for seed: News framing of the pandemic gardening boom. Environmental Communication, 16(4), 550-562. doi: 10.1080/17524032.2022.2102047
Perks, L. G., Steiner, E., Pierce-Grove, R. and Mikos, L. (2021). Binge-watching audience typologies (pp. 131-141). M. Jenner (Ed.) Binge watching and contemporary television research. Edinburgh University Press.
Perks, L. G., Turner, J. S., & Tollison, A. C. (2019). Podcast uses and gratifications scale development. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 63(4), 617-634. https://doi.org/10.1080/08838151.2019.1688817
Perks, L. G. (2019). Media marathoning through health struggles: Filling a social reservoir. Journal of Communication Inquiry, 43(3), 313-332 doi: 10.1177/0196859918814826
Perks, L. G. & Turner, J. S. (2019). Podcasts and productivity: A qualitative Uses and Gratifications study. Mass Communication and Society, 22(1), 96-116. doi: 10.1080/15205436.2018.1490434
Perks, L. G. (2019). Media marathoning and health coping. Communication Studies, 70(1), 19-35. doi: 10.1080/10510974.2018.1519837.
Perks, L. G. (2015). Media marathoning: Immersions in morality. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
