Research:The effects of member turnovers in WikiProjects/Interview questions

From Meta, a Wikimedia project coordination wiki

Interview Questions

1. Basic demographic info

  • Age and gender are from the email.
  • What do you do for living?
  • How long have you been an Wikipedia editor?
  • How long have you been in working in articles related to WikiProject XXX?

2. Self evaluation in WikiProject

  • What kinds of roles do you think you are playing in the project, or main tasks are you performing? For example, editing; coordinating; communication; constructing; maintaining; etc, others?
  • How active would you describe yourself in WikiProject?

3. Member turnovers - leavers

  • Have you observed members leaving the project; how was that; do you think that is significant / easily noticeable? (Do you think other people noticed that?) Does it bother the group, how?
  • Do you remember a time when a large number of members left the project. Could you describe the situation?
  • Why do you think members leave the group? (Can you observe the difference? Examples?)
  • How different kinds of leavers have different impacts (productivity, communication, seniority, etc) on the group performance (individual/group level) (long/short term)

4. Member turnovers - newcomers

  • Have you observed members joining the project; do you think that is significant / easily noticeable? (Do you think other people noticed that?) Do you think it bothers the group, how?
  • Do you remember a time when a large number of members joined the project? Could you describe the situation?
  • Why do you think members join the group? Can you observe difference among newcomers? Examples?
  • How different kinds of newcomers have different impacts (productivity, communication, seniority, etc) on the group performance (micro/macro level) (long/short term)
  • Is there a training process for the newcomers? How do you think about it?
  • Any suggestions of engaging the newcomers more smoothly?

5. Member turnovers - remaining members

  • Does turnover (leaving/joining) affect people who stay?

6. Member turnovers overall

  • Do you think turnover is bad or good? What’s bad/good about it?
  • Any suggestions of preventing good members leaving the up?

7. Online collaborations

  • What do you think about the online collaboration in WikiProjects?
  • What is the advantage or disadvantage (and difference) in online environment, especially comparing to the offline settings (like the collaboration in your company)?