| Student Mean (SD) | Academic Mean (SD) | Statistical Test | p value | |
| Humanities | ||||
| Accuracy | 3.85 (0.57) | 4.30 (0.66) | U = 7.00 | p = 0.89 |
| References | 1.38 (0.75) | 4.13 (0.75) | U = 8.00 | p = 1.00 |
| Style/ Readability | 3.96 (0.63) | 3.43 (0.35) | U = 7.00 | p = 0.89 |
| Overall Judgement | 2.09 (0.50) | 2.57 (0.34) | U = 6.50 | p = 0.69 |
| Overall Quality Score | 0.63 (0.48) | 0.50 (0.19) | U = 6.50 | p = 0.69 |
| Social Sciences | ||||
| Accuracy | 3.42 (0.86) | 3.82 (0.72) | U = 230.00 | p = 0.29 |
| References | 1.86 (1.02) | 2.77 (1.61) | U = 232.00 | p = 0.26 |
| Style/ Readability | 3.29 (1.08) | 3.45 (0.85) | U = 188.50 | p = 0.92 |
| Overall Judgement | 1.92 （0.47) | 2.23 (0.63) | U = 226.50 | p = 0.14 |
| Overall Quality Score | 0.50 (0.32) | 0.54 (0.41) | U = 189.00 | p = 0.72 |
| Mathematics, Physics & Life Sciences | ||||
| Accuracy | 4.40 (0.45) | 4.22 (0.84) | U = 106.00 | p = 0.84 |
| References | 2.94 (1.47) | 2.48 (1.66) | U = 94.50 | p = 0.51 |
| Style/ Readability | 3.27 (1.09) | 3.51 (0.76) | U = 125.00 | p = 0.64 |
| Overall Judgement | 2.35 (0.69) | 2.15 (0.58) | U = 92.00 | p = 0.47 |
| Overall Quality Score | 0.56 (0.42) | 0.27 (0.25) | U = 65.50 | p = 0.08 |
| Medical Sciences | ||||
| Accuracy | 3.30 (1.07) | 3.22 (0.96) | U = 173.50 | p = 0.62 |
| References | 1.83 (1.39) | 2.00 (1.33) | U = 218.00 | p = 0.62 |
| Style/ Readability | 2.70 (0.89) | 3.17 (0.92) | U = 248.50 | p = 0.14 |
| Overall Judgement | 1.62 (0.66) | 1.76 (0.61) | U = 220.00 | p = 0.46 |
| Overall Quality Score | 0.13 (0.23) | 0.20 (0.28) | U = 217.50 | p = 0.42 |
*p<0.05, **p<0.01. U = Mann Whitney U test statistic.
Table 5.17 Comparisons in ratings of articles (Wikipedia and alternative encyclopaedias) by student or academic experts, categorised according to academic discipline.
5.2 Qualitative Findings
This section of the report summarises and discusses findings from the qualitative element of the research, in terms of the perceptions, opinions and judgments of the expert reviewers regarding the articles from Wikipedia, and other online encyclopaedias. In Section 3, we explained how reviewers – both professional academics, and graduate students – were asked to comment on the quality, accuracy, citability and style of a few articles each, in their own fields of expertise. As was shown in that section, we paired Wikipedia articles with similar ones from the following sources: online Encyclopaedia Britannica (English articles), Enciclonet (Spanish), Mawsoah and Arab Encyclopaedia (Arabic), removing all evidence of the source of each article. We asked reviewers to comment on a range of quality criteria, summarised as accuracy, incorporating validity, completeness, relevance, neutrality/ bias, currency; use of references; style/ readability incorporating conciseness, language, spelling and grammar, coherence, use of illustrative material, and enjoyment. Having commented on each of these aspects for each paper separately, reviewers were asked to compare the two ('Please use the space below to make any additional comments about the two articles in comparison with each other').
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