Q and A sites almost as trusted as Wikipedia in Japan

I hang out occasionally 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.

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%

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.