John Timmer at ArsTechnica raises good questions about the study I pointed to on Saturday. Says Timmer:
The results need to be interpreted very cautiously, as they were based on only 69 contributors from a single nation [Israel], a tiny drop in the Wikipedian ocean. …
Wikipedia’s own survey of its contributors racked up roughly 12,000 original contributors (and another 32,000 sporadic contributors). Given that there were responses from about 400 Israelis, that survey probably included about 175 Israeli contributors. And Israel appears to constitute a small corner of the Wikiverse, as there were roughly 20,000 responses each from the US and Germany; another five countries provided over 5,000 survey responses.
So, the 69 individuals surveyed appear to represent little more than the Israeli contributors that were willing to complete a survey. There’s reason to be a bit skeptical about the survey, as well. The evaluation of personality traits appears to have used a standard series of questions that have been validated by others in the field. But the questions about where one best expresses their real identity were derived from a “Real Me Questionnaire” that consisted of only four questions.
The Daily Dish pointed yesterday to the same NicK Carr piece that I found the study through. Today a Dish reader weighs in.