| Alternative Encyclopaedia | Wikipedia | |||
| Mean | SD | Mean | SD | |
| Humanities | ||||
| Accuracy | 3.85 | 0.57 | 4.30 | 0.66 |
| References | 1.38 | 0.75 | 4.13 | 0.75 |
| Style/ Readability | 3.96 | 0.63 | 3.43 | 0.35 |
| Overall Judgment | 2.09 | 0.50 | 2.57 | 0.34 |
| Overall Quality Score | 0.62 | 0.48 | 0.63 | 0.48 |
| Social Sciences | ||||
| Accuracy | 3.50 | 0.83 | 3.80 | 0.75 |
| References | 1.55 | 1.25 | 3.24 | 1.12 |
| Style/ Readability | 3.86 | 0.81 | 2.91 | 0.84 |
| Overall Judgment | 2.01 | 0.57 | 2.18 | 0.59 |
| Overall Quality Score | 0.58 | 0.34 | 0.47 | 0.39 |
| Mathematics, Physics and Life Sciences | ||||
| Accuracy | 4.28 | 0.48 | 4.24 | 0.99 |
| References | 1.97 | 1.26 | 3.19 | 1.72 |
| Style/ Readability | 3.58 | 0.89 | 3.42 | 0.78 |
| Overall Judgment | 2.07 | 0.57 | 2.31 | 0.62 |
| Overall Quality Score | 0.28 | 0.35 | 0.39 | 0.27 |
| Medical Sciences | ||||
| Accuracy | 2.77 | 0.70 | 3.71 | 1.00 |
| References | 1.14 | 0.30 | 2.77 | 1.45 |
| Style/ Readability | 3.10 | 0.89 | 2.99 | 0.97 |
| Overall Judgment | 1.45 | 0.33 | 2.00 | 0.72 |
| Overall Quality Score | 0.11 | 0.21 | 0.25 | 0.30 |
Table 5.4 Sample characteristics according to academic disciplines.
The sample characteristics of the entire sample categorised according to whether the articles were reviewed by student or academic experts are presented in Table 5.5.
| Student Experts | Academic Experts | |||
| Mean | SD | Mean | SD | |
| Accuracy | 3.64 | 0.94 | 3.74 | 0.94 |
| References | 2.16 | 1.34 | 2.40 | 1.53 |
| Style/ Readability | 3.15 | 1.00 | 3.80 | 0.85 |
| Overall Judgment | 1.96 | 0.63 | 2.03 | 0.63 |
| Overall Quality Score | 0.41 | 0.36 | 0.33 | 0.34 |
Table 5.5 Sample characteristics of entire sample according to nature of reviewer.
5.1.1 Overall Comparison across the Sample between Wikipedia Entries and Articles from the Alternative Encyclopaedias
The findings of the comparisons of reviewers' ratings of articles from Wikipedia and from the alternative encyclopaedias are presented in Table 5.6. Wikipedia articles were found to have scored significantly higher on the dimensions of accuracy, references, style/ readability and overall judgment (see Table 5.1).
31
