Pine wrote:
... I think Erik addressed your question about pay in a way that is very reasonable and I would ask you to re-read his comments
Thank you very much for asking me to do this. I overlooked the video mentioned in Erik's comments and I see now that it may be the root of the problems with neglecting pay.
Erik Moeller wrote:
... But the main thing, to keep people motivated, in my experience is not money.... This video summarizing some of the related research is worth a watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc
That video reports on two studies that found "higher incentives led to worse performance," and claims that, "this has been replicated over and over and over again." That is very misleading at best. The following peer reviewed sources (the first of which are WP:SECONDARY literature reviews) all indicate that while a few such studies appeared in some popular press books, the vast bulk of the scientific research does not agree with those isolated conclusions. In fact, higher pay is almost always found to be a stronger motivator except in those few anomalous studies highlighted in that video:
Fang, M.; Gerhart, B. (2011) "Does pay for performance diminish intrinsic interest?" International Journal of Human Resource Management: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09585192.2011.561227
Reitman, D. (1998) "The real and imagined harmful effects of rewards: implications for clinical practice" Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry 29(2):101-13 PMID 9762587: http://carmine.se.edu/cvonbergen/The_real_and_imagined_harmful%20effects%20o... (Note this is a WP:MEDRS secondary source.)
Cameron, J.; Pierce, W.D. (1994) "Reinforcement, Reward, and Intrinsic Motivation: A Meta-Analysis" Review of Educational Research 64(3):363-423: http://rer.sagepub.com/content/64/3/363.short (WP:SECONDARY meta-analysis of 96 experimental studies.)
Eisenberger, R. et al. (1999) "Does pay for performance increase or decrease perceived self-determination and intrinsic motivation?" Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 77(5):1026-40: http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=buy.optionToBuy&id=1999-01257-010
Fiorillo, D. (2011) "Do monetary rewards crowd out intrinsic motivations of volunteers? Some empirical evidence for Italian volunteers" Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics Economics 82(2):139-65: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8292.2011.00434.x/abstract
Thompson, G.D., et al. (2010) "Does Paying Referees Expedite Reviews? Results of a Natural Experiment" Economic Journal 76(3):678-92: http://journal.southerneconomic.org/doi/abs/10.4284/sej.2010.76.3.678
Pine wrote:
... I suggest that the IRC meeting may be a better forum than this mailing list for you to ask further questions.
I promised Gayle when she agreed to hold an office hour that I would submit my questions weeks in advance so that there would be no surprises, and I have done so. I don't want to reiterate any of them until then, but if people continue to post what I believe are mathematical or similar mistakes, I will certainly address those.