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Wikipedia:Subject Recruitment Approvals Group/Requests/Wikipedia and Medicine: A Look at Readership, Editor Numbers, and the Significance of Language

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Wikipedia and Medicine: A Look at Readership, Editor Numbers, and the Significance of Language edit

Contact Information
Previous work
  • Wikipedia: A Key Tool for Global Public Health Promotion, Journal of Medical Internet Research (2011)[1]
  • Why We Should All Edit Wikipedia, University of British Columbia Medical Journal (2011)[2]
  • Creating Awareness for Using a Wiki to Promote Collaborative Health Professional Education, International Journal of User-Driven Health Care (2012)[3]
  • Cochrane and Wikipedia: the collaborative potential for a quantum leap in the dissemination and uptake of trusted evidence, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (2014)[4]

We have recently generated a list of all 274 Wikipedian who made more than 250 edits to medical articles in 2013. There are 114 in English and 160 in other languages. We hope to send out a talk page message to all of them via WP:MassMessage which our collaborator User:Ocaasi has permission to use [1]. We will have the messages translated into the appropriate language via our partners Translators Without Borders. The message will contain a link asking them to answer a brief survey. Questions will include

1) Are you a healthcare professional or have you previously been a healthcare professional? Yes/No

If answer to 1 above is Yes please proceed to 2 else go to 3.

2) What qualifications do you have? [drop down box and option for free text]

3) Are you currently studying healthcare ( a student) ? Yes / No

Possible harms to Wikipedia/Wikipedians

Will take some time ( a minute maybe ) . No personal data other than professional background will be collected. Data will be calculated as English / Non-English to maintain anonymity in the smaller languages.

As with any survey, this research will take time away from research participants. Excessive surveying to a certain demographic can be discouraging, but this is the first known survey to this group.

Recruitment message text

We are going to begin by thanking them for being one of Wikipedia's top medical contributors. And then state "A group of medical Wikipedians are looking at what proportion of the key medical contributors to Wikipedia have a professional background, what proportion are students, and what proportion have a non-medical background. We would love to have you answer three yes / no questions. Results will be discussed at Wikimania in London in Aug of 2014".

User sample criteria

Message will be sent to 274 users. Not sure how many will reply.

Publication of results

This is part of a wider publication which includes User:West.andrew.g. We are looking at JMIR and PLoS medicine as potential journals for publication.

Discussion edit

Looks good. Short, no order bias, simple yes/no questions. Re Q1, I would be more specific than "qualified health care provider". Someone may consider themselves qualified based on short courses, non-standardized training, training taken long ago that was rarely/never used as a professional. In Canadian terms, I think the distinction is a (current?) member of a regulated healthcare professional body or something to that effect? Re Q3 simplify to "Why do you edit Wikipedia", motivation may be tougher to answer or more complex. Also, because churn in editors is a significant issue should we also ask about either why they stay or why they believe people leave? Ian Furst (talk) 07:02, 12 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

This is being sent out to people in 39 languages. Thus we need to keep it simple. Not sure what the best wording would be. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) (if I write on your page reply on mine) 07:07, 12 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

What are the options in the drop-down box? Johnbod (talk) 13:49, 12 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Good question. Category:Healthcare occupations is too long to be listed in its entirety. I think you want to include some altmed options. Also, what if someone is dual-licensed (e.g., nurse + altmed, paramedic + respiratory tech)? WhatamIdoing (talk) 15:19, 12 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Yes that is why there will also be a free form box. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) (if I write on your page reply on mine) 19:28, 12 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

It only covers one tail: student. Question 1 is ambiguous in the case of retired providers. Novangelis (talk) 17:36, 12 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Yes however this would be captured in the degree. Will adjust wording. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) (if I write on your page reply on mine) 19:28, 12 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

References edit

  1. ^ Heilman, James M.; Kemmann, Eckhard; Bonert, Michael; et al. (31 January 2011). "Wikipedia: A Key Tool for Global Public Health Promotion". Journal of Medical Internet Research. 13 (1): e14. doi:10.2196/jmir.1589. PMC 3221335. PMID 21282098.
  2. ^ Heilman, James (September 2011). "Why We Should All Edit Wikipedia" (PDF). University of British Columbia Medical Journal (UBCMJ). 3 (1). Retrieved 14 January 2014.
  3. ^ Heilman, James (2012). "Creating Awareness for Using a Wiki to Promote Collaborative Health Professional Education". International Journal of User-Driven Healthcare. 2 (1): 86–87. doi:10.4018/ijudh.2012010113.
  4. ^ Mathew M, Joseph A, Heilman J, Tharyan P (2013). Tovey D (ed.). "Cochrane and Wikipedia: the collaborative potential for a quantum leap in the dissemination and uptake of trusted evidence". Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 10 (10): ED000069. doi:10.1002/14651858.ED000069. PMID 24475488.
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