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I'm wondering about the methodology of choosing wikipedians for your research. Looking at your sample to date, I'm seeing many low edit-count folks, people who have left the project long ago, and even some blocked contributors. These solicitations are unlikely to gain you much useful information. Are you sampling randomly? If you're looking for an active wikiproject, I can recommend the WP:WikiProject Military History which has many active members who've been around for many years. If you need any assistance, feel free to contact me. BusterD ( talk) 21:38, 3 December 2021 (UTC)
@ BusterD: Thanks for the comment! I want to focus mainly on the history of the United States, that's why I chose members of that project. I am aware of WikiProject Military History. Probably, I will ask the members of the project in the future. Apolo1991 ( talk) 23:00, 3 December 2021 (UTC)
... I want to focus mainly on the history of the United States ...but you don't mention "focus" on the Women in Red talkpage. Maybe consider adding that? Note, too, that there's a question to you on the Women in Red talkpage regarding participatory limitation to U.S. residents. Thanks in advance for clarifications, and I wish you well as you pursue your studies. Pinging LZia (WMF), a senior research scientist, lead, in the Wikimedia Foundation as a friendly FYI. -- Rosiestep ( talk) 16:06, 13 December 2021 (UTC)
@ Rosiestep: Hi, I decided to expand the area of my research and include multiple historical topics. That's why a sent a message to WikiProject Women in Red. My main focus is history on Wikipedia, as you can see from the title of the survey. It can include the history of the US, women's history, gender history, military history, etc. Apolo1991 ( talk) 16:29, 13 December 2021 (UTC)
@ Ipigott: @ SusunW: @ Buckshot06: I completely agree with you that Wikipedia is a global project and I would like to make my study more international in the future. The current surveys are just a small part of a larger project on the production of historical knowledge on Wikipedia and are also restricted by the IRB policies for US residents. I am aware of your efforts to face bias in Wikipedia and that's why I sent you so many survey requests; I wanted to see why you engage with history on Wikipedia. Sorry for the inconvenience. Apolo1991 ( talk) 22:00, 15 December 2021 (UTC)
@ Johnbod: Done. I have included it in my new message. Apolo1991 ( talk) 15:19, 14 December 2021 (UTC)
@ Ipigott: In my new messages, I included that clarification in the title. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Apolo1991 ( talk • contribs) 14:16, 15 December 2021 (UTC)
Just curious, why is it that "non-USAnian" editors are not permitted to take part in this survey? And though "minimal", just what "risks" are involved? - wolf 01:55, 15 December 2021 (UTC)
Oh, hello there. If I am a British resident and your form says "you must reside in the United states to do this survey", then why did you send it to a British resident? Browhatwhyamihere ( Talk) 16:13, 15 December 2021 (UTC)
Hi apolo1991, I've responded to your survey. Please feel free to reach out to a couple of the editors I mentioned in the survey if you need to--tell them I sent you. And contact me again if you have questions about my answers! auntieruth (talk) 15:22, 14 December 2021 (UTC)
@ Auntieruth55: Thank you very much! Apolo1991 ( talk) 15:26, 14 December 2021 (UTC)
@ Editorofthewiki: Thanks for participating. I am trying to see why Wikipedia users write about history on Wikipedia, their motivations, interests, and education. Apolo1991 ( talk) 22:08, 15 December 2021 (UTC)
I urge you to rethink your survey methodology! You're clearly not effectively targeting relevant editors, which suggests to me that you haven't done a lot of pre-survey observation. Without this, how can you be sure you're asking relevant, helpful questions? A wide-net survey could be useful as a basic way to formulate your ideas for a more in-depth, specific survey, or to recruit participants for such a survey, but in that case questions like #7 are hardly fair to ask, especially without an apparent character limit on the field - you are going to be wasting a lot of people's time for data that is unlikely to be particularly helpful. The fact that you've apparently changed recruitment methodology twice already is also of significant concern. What approach did your ethics board actually approve? Are you sure you're still following it? -- asilvering ( talk) 18:33, 15 December 2021 (UTC)
So far, you've sent talk page messages to approximately 850 people. I understand this survey is important to you, but there's a term for this: spam. Even if each person spends 10 seconds reading the message before realizing they don't want to participate, you've used our own system interface to waste 2 person-hours of our users' time, and there's no indication that you're going to stop. Many of these people are not your target audience. That is not what user talk pages are for (as you've discovered, it is also not what our "email this user" feature is for). Placing general notices at some targeted Wikiproject noticeboards is fine. Perhaps some related Wiki projects have an opt-in newsletter they send out monthly; you could ask those projects to mention your survey, but please leave people alone on their talk pages. -- Floquenbeam ( talk) 19:20, 15 December 2021 (UTC)
@ Floquenbeam: Sorry for sending so many messages on the talk pages of users. I thought that it would be an appropriate way of recruiting participants for my study. I would just leave my survey messages in the talk pages of the WIkiprojects and not send more in the users' talk pages. Apolo1991 ( talk) 20:12, 15 December 2021 (UTC)
These days, several colleges are coming up with more and more ... nuanced ... degree majors/minors, but this one has escaped me. I'm also a bit surprised your thesis was accepted - with all due respect, the value of it concerning Wiki editors would not pass muster at many other institutes of learning. NC State is basically an engineering school - have any professors from Duke or Chapel-Hill chimed in with their opinions? Best regards. 50.111.19.34 ( talk) 03:30, 16 December 2021 (UTC)
Welcome to Wikipedia! I hope you enjoy the encyclopedia and want to stay. As a first step, you may wish to read the Introduction.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask at the Teahouse.
Here are some more resources to help you as you explore and contribute to the world's largest encyclopedia...
Finding your way around:
|
Need help?
|
|
How you can help:
|
|
Additional tips...
|
I'm wondering about the methodology of choosing wikipedians for your research. Looking at your sample to date, I'm seeing many low edit-count folks, people who have left the project long ago, and even some blocked contributors. These solicitations are unlikely to gain you much useful information. Are you sampling randomly? If you're looking for an active wikiproject, I can recommend the WP:WikiProject Military History which has many active members who've been around for many years. If you need any assistance, feel free to contact me. BusterD ( talk) 21:38, 3 December 2021 (UTC)
@ BusterD: Thanks for the comment! I want to focus mainly on the history of the United States, that's why I chose members of that project. I am aware of WikiProject Military History. Probably, I will ask the members of the project in the future. Apolo1991 ( talk) 23:00, 3 December 2021 (UTC)
... I want to focus mainly on the history of the United States ...but you don't mention "focus" on the Women in Red talkpage. Maybe consider adding that? Note, too, that there's a question to you on the Women in Red talkpage regarding participatory limitation to U.S. residents. Thanks in advance for clarifications, and I wish you well as you pursue your studies. Pinging LZia (WMF), a senior research scientist, lead, in the Wikimedia Foundation as a friendly FYI. -- Rosiestep ( talk) 16:06, 13 December 2021 (UTC)
@ Rosiestep: Hi, I decided to expand the area of my research and include multiple historical topics. That's why a sent a message to WikiProject Women in Red. My main focus is history on Wikipedia, as you can see from the title of the survey. It can include the history of the US, women's history, gender history, military history, etc. Apolo1991 ( talk) 16:29, 13 December 2021 (UTC)
@ Ipigott: @ SusunW: @ Buckshot06: I completely agree with you that Wikipedia is a global project and I would like to make my study more international in the future. The current surveys are just a small part of a larger project on the production of historical knowledge on Wikipedia and are also restricted by the IRB policies for US residents. I am aware of your efforts to face bias in Wikipedia and that's why I sent you so many survey requests; I wanted to see why you engage with history on Wikipedia. Sorry for the inconvenience. Apolo1991 ( talk) 22:00, 15 December 2021 (UTC)
@ Johnbod: Done. I have included it in my new message. Apolo1991 ( talk) 15:19, 14 December 2021 (UTC)
@ Ipigott: In my new messages, I included that clarification in the title. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Apolo1991 ( talk • contribs) 14:16, 15 December 2021 (UTC)
Just curious, why is it that "non-USAnian" editors are not permitted to take part in this survey? And though "minimal", just what "risks" are involved? - wolf 01:55, 15 December 2021 (UTC)
Oh, hello there. If I am a British resident and your form says "you must reside in the United states to do this survey", then why did you send it to a British resident? Browhatwhyamihere ( Talk) 16:13, 15 December 2021 (UTC)
Hi apolo1991, I've responded to your survey. Please feel free to reach out to a couple of the editors I mentioned in the survey if you need to--tell them I sent you. And contact me again if you have questions about my answers! auntieruth (talk) 15:22, 14 December 2021 (UTC)
@ Auntieruth55: Thank you very much! Apolo1991 ( talk) 15:26, 14 December 2021 (UTC)
@ Editorofthewiki: Thanks for participating. I am trying to see why Wikipedia users write about history on Wikipedia, their motivations, interests, and education. Apolo1991 ( talk) 22:08, 15 December 2021 (UTC)
I urge you to rethink your survey methodology! You're clearly not effectively targeting relevant editors, which suggests to me that you haven't done a lot of pre-survey observation. Without this, how can you be sure you're asking relevant, helpful questions? A wide-net survey could be useful as a basic way to formulate your ideas for a more in-depth, specific survey, or to recruit participants for such a survey, but in that case questions like #7 are hardly fair to ask, especially without an apparent character limit on the field - you are going to be wasting a lot of people's time for data that is unlikely to be particularly helpful. The fact that you've apparently changed recruitment methodology twice already is also of significant concern. What approach did your ethics board actually approve? Are you sure you're still following it? -- asilvering ( talk) 18:33, 15 December 2021 (UTC)
So far, you've sent talk page messages to approximately 850 people. I understand this survey is important to you, but there's a term for this: spam. Even if each person spends 10 seconds reading the message before realizing they don't want to participate, you've used our own system interface to waste 2 person-hours of our users' time, and there's no indication that you're going to stop. Many of these people are not your target audience. That is not what user talk pages are for (as you've discovered, it is also not what our "email this user" feature is for). Placing general notices at some targeted Wikiproject noticeboards is fine. Perhaps some related Wiki projects have an opt-in newsletter they send out monthly; you could ask those projects to mention your survey, but please leave people alone on their talk pages. -- Floquenbeam ( talk) 19:20, 15 December 2021 (UTC)
@ Floquenbeam: Sorry for sending so many messages on the talk pages of users. I thought that it would be an appropriate way of recruiting participants for my study. I would just leave my survey messages in the talk pages of the WIkiprojects and not send more in the users' talk pages. Apolo1991 ( talk) 20:12, 15 December 2021 (UTC)
These days, several colleges are coming up with more and more ... nuanced ... degree majors/minors, but this one has escaped me. I'm also a bit surprised your thesis was accepted - with all due respect, the value of it concerning Wiki editors would not pass muster at many other institutes of learning. NC State is basically an engineering school - have any professors from Duke or Chapel-Hill chimed in with their opinions? Best regards. 50.111.19.34 ( talk) 03:30, 16 December 2021 (UTC)