In Arabic, the alternative encyclopaedias (Mawsoah and ArabEncy) scored significantly higher than on style than Wikipedia (see Tables 5.3 and 5.9). There were no differences between Wikipedia and either Mawsoah or ArabEncy on accuracy, references, overall judgment and overall quality score.
| Dimensions | Test Statistic | P value |
| Accuracy | U = 130.00 | 0.96 |
| References | U = 133.50 | 0.84 |
| Style/ Readability | U = 68.00* | 0.02 |
| Overall Judgment | U = 113.00 | 0.59 |
| Overall Quality Score | U = 133.00 | 0.87 |
*p<0.05, **p<0.01. U = Mann Whitney U test statistic.
Table 5.9 Comparison of article characteristics between Wikipedia and alternative encyclopaedias in Arabic.
5.1.3 Comparison within each Academic Discipline 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 for the Humanities are presented in Table 5.13. Similar comparisons for the Social Sciences, Mathematics, Physics and Life Sciences, and the Medical Sciences are presented in Tables 5.11, 5.12 and 5.13 respectively.
In the Humanities, Wikipedia scored significantly higher on references as compared to the alternative encyclopaedias (see Tables 5.4 and 5.10). There were no differences between Wikipedia and the alternative encyclopaedias on accuracy, style/ readability, overall judgment and overall quality score.
| Dimensions | Test Statistic | P value |
| Accuracy | U = 12.00 | 0.34 |
| References | U = 16.00* | 0.03 |
| Style/ Readability | U = 3.00 | 0.20 |
| Overall Judgment | U = 12.50 | 0.20 |
| Overall Quality Score | U = 6.00 | 0.69 |
*p<0.05, **p<0.01. U = Mann Whitney U test statistic.
Table 5.10 Comparison of article characteristics between Wikipedia and alternative encyclopaedias in the Humanities.
In the Social Sciences, Wikipedia scored significantly higher on references as compared to the alternative encyclopaedias, but the alternative encyclopaedias scored significantly higher on style/ readability as compared to Wikipedia (see Tables 5.4 and 5.11). There were no differences between Wikipedia and the alternative encyclopaedias on accuracy, overall judgment and overall quality score.
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