Therefore you need to find some academics that know a thing or two about it! This extract from Daniel Chandler on www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/intgenre is an excellent introduction and should be used to discover more about exactly how to study this academic area...
Samantha Lay's book is obviously a key piece of research as is Screen Online's brief history and assessment of the functions of the genre.
This book should also be of some substantial use...