University students’ perception on the reliability of Wikipedia

Abstract

INTRODUCTION. Wikipedia is the fifth most visited website in the world, but one of the most common criticisms it receives is its reliability. Many experts have pointed out the problems they have encountered in this online encyclopedia, edited by volunteer users from around the world. In this research we have asked university students studying Education about their perception of the reliability of one of the resources they use most to consult information on the Internet. METHOD. To obtain the results, three data collection instruments were applied. University students from all over Spain in Education studies completed 1,173 questionnaires. Once the answers were analyzed, a script was created to conduct a discussion group at the University of Barcelona, and the responses of this one served to create the script of the interviews that were conducted to the editors of Wikipedia. RESULTS. The data obtained allow us to affirm that students regularly
consult Wikipedia, and consider it very useful and complete. Furthermore, they think it is reliable in many cases, although, in general, they doubt all the documentary bases they consult, corroborating this with other sources. They also indicated that it can be a valid educational resource, being able to be used in very varied contexts at different levels of education. DISCUSSION. Students should keep in mind that it is not possible to determine globally whether Wikipedia is reliable or not, it depends on many factors such as the relevance of the article, the editors, the revisions to which it has been submitted and the number of editions.