I have concerns about this survey. I will address one set of comments to Audrey, and a second set of comments and a question to the Research Committee.
Audrey: thanks for your interest in Wikipedia. I suggest that you look at the other research that has previously discussed motivations of Wikipedia contributors and factors that can effect that motivation, such as http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Editors_Survey_2011 and http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Wikimedia_Summer_of_Research_2011/Summary_of_Findings. On your research Meta page, I disagree with your characterization of extant literature as “lacking,” because while it isn’t comprehensive it also shouldn’t be dismissed. Also, I am wondering why you would use a 2006 source for information about Wikipedia user contribution activity because 2006 was a long time ago in the context of Wikipedia’s lifetime. Regarding surveys of Wikipedians in general, I am skeptical about the reliability of surveys in measuring the motivations of Wikipedia contributors because so many people are not the kind of dedicated volunteer who would be likely to read Research-l or volunteer ten minutes of their time to participate in a study about their motives. Also, you will need to consider bad actors like vandals, spammers, POV pushers, and PR manipulators. Your survey might reveal interesting characteristics of certain classes of editors, but I would be very surprised if your survey results were representative of the entire population of Wikipedia editors. Another complicating factor is that motivations of any single editor can change over time. Finally, and perhaps most significantly, I have some procedural concerns. Did you discuss your survey with anyone in the Wikipedia research community before you announced it here? Your page on Meta says that you “will also request the Research Committee's support in recruiting subjects.” Your section on “Wikimedia Policies, Ethics, and Human Subjects Protection” says nothing about consultation with or approval of the Research Committee, and the most recent published minutes from the Research Committee (that I was able to find) don’t appear to show that your research was discussed by them. I think that they might have had valuable ideas that could have helped you in designing your survey and understanding the existing work on editor motivation. It is my understanding that Research Committee approval is required before soliciting Wikipedia subjects for surveys (see my question below). RCOM members: I would appreciate an official reply to the following concerns. Is it policy that surveys which recruit participants (instead of passively examining editor contributions) must be approved by RCOM before they are sent to Wikimedia mailing lists and/or announced to the broader Wikimedia community (beyond a relatively limited scope such as a single wikiproject, such as GOCE on EN, which might give its approval to the survey only within the scope of that wikiproject)? I am under the impression from the December 12, 2011 RCOM meeting minutes that RCOM approval is required for surveys such as the one that Audrey made. My personal view is that surveyors should get RCOM’s approval before making broad public announcements which recruit research participants, because even well intended researchers can experience difficulties due to questionable assumptions built into the design a study, a limited understanding about the Wikipedia community, or a lack of knowledge about significant existing research. Also, there can be privacy and copyright concerns regarding survey data, and those reasons alone seem sufficient to require that RCOM’s approval is necessary in addition to the approval of any academic institution that is associated with a survey. Also, I am under the impression that permission from the WMF’s legal department is required, in addition to RCOM approval. In the absence of RCOM approval and WMF Legal approval, should information about such an unapproved survey be removed from Meta? Thanks, Pine From: Audrey Abeyta Sent: Saturday, 17 March, 2012 13:01 To: wiki-research-l@lists.wikimedia.org Subject: [Wiki-research-l] Motivations to Contribute to Wikipedia Hello all, I am an undergraduate student at the University of California, Santa Barbara, conducting a senior honors thesis on users' motivations to contribute to Wikipedia. A more detailed description of the project can be read here: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Motivations_to_Contribute_to_Wikipedia My project's success is dependent on the valuable responses of Wikipedia contributors, which I am collecting through an online questionnaire. This brief questionnaire is completely anonymous and should take approximately 10 minutes to complete. If any of you are willing to complete this questionnaire, it can be accessed here: https://us1.us.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_8ixU9RkozemzC4s. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns. Thank you in advance for your help! Sincerely, Audrey Abeyta -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _______________________________________________ Wiki-research-l mailing list Wiki-research-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wiki-research-l
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