Q and A sites almost as trusted as Wikipedia in Japan
I hang out occassionally on the Yahoo! Answers Japan board, and I would rate the reliability of the best answers as moderate as best, which is how most Japanese users view these sites, according to a survey conducted by JR Tokai Express Research Inc and reported on by japan.internet.com into Q&A sites.
Demographics
On the 2nd of June 2008 330 members of the JR Tokai Express Research online monitor group employed in the private sector completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 81.2% of the sample were male, 10.0% in their twenties, 29.1% in their thirties, 43.6% in their forties, 15.5% in their fifties, and 1.8% in their sixties.
Although trust levels are high, as with Wikipedia the problem is that the casual reader doesn’t know how good the chosen best answer is (on Yahoo! at least; I’m not sure of the others) as it is often the questioner who chooses the answer that sounds best to them, or if it goes to voting then trolls and those gaming the system can outweigh genuine votes. Even with no trolling, a more palatable answer may be chosen over the truth.
Research results
Q1: Have you ever used a Q&A site? (Sample size=330)
Yes (to SQs) 48.8% No 51.2% Q1SQ1: Which Q&A sites do you often use? (Sample size=161, multiple answer)
Votes Percentage Yahoo! Chiebukuro 107 66.5% Oshiete! goo 102 63.4% OKWave 31 19.3% Hatena 21 13.0% Kotaete-net 20 12.4% Chishiki plus 1 0.6% Other 9 5.6% Q1SQ2: What do you mainly do on Q&A sites? (Sample size=161)
Ask questions 14.3% Provide answers 3.7% View past questions and answers 82.0% Other 0.0% Q1SQ3: Do you trust Q&A sites? (Sample size=161)
Trust them sufficiently 5.6% Trust them a bit 83.9% Don’t really trust them 10.6% Don’t trust them at all 0.0%
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gb said,
June 7, 2008 @ 10:19
well, most of the questions are pretty general in yahoo answers from whats the best camera to best place to take a vacation… what I do is create a standard answer and use that for every similar question, and I’ve used my template answers a lot. So I have a lot of points now since signing up a few weeks ago… but it’s getting pretty boring to see the same question every day.
Global Voices Online » Japan: Popularity of Q&A services said,
June 8, 2008 @ 14:59
[…] also has a higher reach at 37.8% in Japan, compared to 24.5% in the U.S. (A different study, translated at What Japan Thinks, indicated that Japanese trust Q&A sites almost as much as they trust […]
Global Voices amin´ny teny malagasy » Japana: Ny lazan’ny tolotra Q&A said,
June 8, 2008 @ 23:46
[…] avoavo ihany 37.8% tao Japana, mitaha amin’ny 24.5% any Etazonia (Fanadihadiana iray hafa, voadika ao amin’ny Izay Eritreretin’i Japana, dia milaza fa ny Japoney dia matoky kokoa ny Q&A toy ny fitokiany amin’ny […]