On 06/03/2009 05:29 PM, Alexander Foley wrote:
I think a better course of action might be to establish a Wikipedia Experiments subgroup of users who opt-in to participate in experiments, much like what Google does with its experimental features. You're limiting the sample quite a bit, and quite possibly only getting involved or heavily involved Wikipedia users, but if your core survey group is editors it would likely be ideal.
I agree. I'd extend this notion a bit: my impression is that most people are more than happy to be solicited for studies (provided it doesn't happen too often). So I'd suggest two components:
1. The opt-in defines specifically how frequently one can be solicited (e.g. N times per year).
2. The opt-in is widely pushed: highly visible on account creation, and all existing users get one (1) invitation to opt in.
I think #2 is important because a de facto policy that only heavily involved Wikipedians participate in research would be severely limiting to the work we do.
Red