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
Sent: Saturday, 17 March, 2012 13:01
Subject: [Wiki-research-l] Motivations to Contribute to
Wikipedia
Hello
all,
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
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