2. Aims and Objectives
Aims:
The aims of this pilot study are as follows:
- To explore the opinions of expert reviewers regarding attributes relating to the accuracy, quality and style of a sample of Wikipedia entries across a range of languages and disciplines.
- To compare the accuracy, quality, style, references and judgment of Wikipedia entries as rated by experts to analogous entries from popular online alternative encyclopaedias in the same language.
- To explore the viability of the methods used in respect of the first two aims for a possible future study on a larger scale.
Objectives:
Research objective 1: To explore the opinions of expert reviewers pertaining to the accuracy, quality, references, style and overall judgment of Wikipedia entries.
Research objective 2: To compare the accuracy, quality, references, style and overall judgment of Wikipedia entries to those of alternative online encyclopaedias.
Research objective 3: To compare the accuracy, quality, references, style and overall judgment of Wikipedia entries with those of alternative online encyclopaedias in each language, i.e. English, Spanish and Arabic.
Research objective 4: To compare the accuracy, quality, references, style and overall judgment of Wikipedia entries with those of alternative online encyclopaedias in each academic discipline i.e. Humanities; Social Sciences; Mathematics, Physics and Life Sciences; and Medical Sciences.
Research Objective 5: To comment on issues of importance pertaining to the design and methodology in carrying out the study.13
