Instructor and peer influence on college student use and perceptions of Wikipedia
| Published date | 03 April 2018 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/EL-02-2017-0034 |
| Pages | 237-257 |
| Date | 03 April 2018 |
| Author | John C. Garrison |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
Instructor and peer influence on
college student use and
perceptions of Wikipedia
John C. Garrison
McGill Library, Westminster College, New Wilmington, Pennsylvania, USA
Abstract
Purpose –This study aims to investigate how undergraduate students are influenced by instructors and
peers in the ways that they use and think about Wikipedia for academic work. It examines the positive
(encouraging the useof Wikipedia) and negative (discouraging the use of Wikipedia) influencesof others and
how these affectstudent behavior and attitudes.
Design/methodology/approach –Sixteen undergraduates participated in two meetings each with the
principal investigator, each meeting consisting of a structured interview and a brief survey. Recorded
interviewswere analyzed by the investigator forpatterns to compare participants’responses.
Findings –Participants were more frequentlyand strongly influenced by instructorsthan by peers about
Wikipedia, and this influence was for the most part perceivedto be negative. However, the ways in which
student behaviors and attitudes changedin response to this influence varied. Three categoriesor “influence
types”emergedin the ways influence was manifested: receptive, independentand conflicted.
Practical implications –The findings of this study will aid instructors of undergraduate students by
describingthe likely reactions of those students to variousways of talking about Wikipedia. Thisinformation
can help inform methodsfor teaching different kinds of students about the website.
Originality/value –Previous studies have shownhow students use Wikipedia, as well as the attitudes of
faculty toward Wikipedia. This study serves to bridge the gap between these areas, providinginsight into
how facultyand classmates’attitudes influencestudent use of Wikipedia.
Keywords Students, Websites, Social influence
Paper type Case study
Introduction
College students find themselvesawash in information when they seek to complete research
and other assignments. Wikipedia is a major player in this information landscape, popular
for its visibility via Googlesearches and tremendous breadth of topics, among other reasons.
As enticing a source as it isto students, academia has looked upon the site with skepticism.
This creates tension and uncertainty in the classroom, even as Wikipedia keeps growing
past its 15th birthday, and both students and faculty become more accustomed to its
presence.
Rare is the current student who has not heard from a teacher, librarian or even a peer
about how to use or not use Wikipedia for academic work. But what influence do these
voices have on students’use of and attitudestoward Wikipedia? Do instructors convey only
the stigma of Wikipedia to their students, and do peers conversely encourage use of the
website? Does negativity from instructors affect the type or frequency of their students’
Wikipedia use? What if an instructor says nothing about Wikipedia? What sort of
instruction helpsstudents to learn more about Wikipedia, and what frustrates them?
This study is designed to make a connection between what has been learned about
academic attitudes on Wikipedia and what is known about the level and quality of
Instructor and
peer influence
237
Received9 February 2017
Revised5 June 2017
Accepted27 July 2017
TheElectronic Library
Vol.36 No. 2, 2018
pp. 237-257
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0264-0473
DOI 10.1108/EL-02-2017-0034
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0264-0473.htm
Wikipedia use by students. It examines the ways that college instructors and peers talk to
students about Wikipedia and how this affects their use of and attitudes toward Wikipedia.
The qualitative findings may be used to help instructors teach their students about
Wikipedia more effectively.
Literature review
A number of studies (Head and Eisenberg,2010;Lim, 2009;Selwyn and Gorard, 2016) have
illustrated that Wikipedia is used widely by college students for their academic work. As
few involved in highereducation would deny, however, there has traditionally beena stigma
on using the website (Becker, 2015). Although studies on Wikipedia often take this stigma
for granted (Konieczny, 2016), particularly in the site’sfirst few years, a common concern
with the subject has led to a varietyof attempts to explain and measure these attitudes.
Several reasons have beenput forward to explain faculty attitudes toward Wikipedia. A
common theme revealedearly on was the concern of the reliability of Wikipedia owing to the
ability of just about anyoneto edit its content (Chen, 2010). This concern is directly related to
the site’s reliance on crowdwisdom rather than peer review, distressing to manyacademics.
Additionally, there is simply a widespreadlack of understanding of how the website works
and the tools and features availableto users (Bayliss, 2013).
Higher education faculty also may be strongly influenced by their colleagues’views of
Wikipedia –or at least what they perceive those views to be. These perceptions tend to be
negative (Meseguer-Artola et al., 2016), and so a negative feedback loop is created (Aibar
et al., 2015). Faculty believe their colleagues disapprove of Wikipedia and are, therefore,
likely to express the same view, or at least not reveal any positive attitudes they may have
for it. This, in turn, causes their colleagues to believe Wikipedia is not accepted, who then
respond in the same manner. This silence or negativity about Wikipedia is not limited to
faculty colleagues: even when they use it privately, faculty often tells their students not to
use it (Chen, 2010).
Students may, in fact, feel the Wikipedia stigma even more strongly than their faculty
instructors. Knight and Pryke (2012) found that only twenty-five per cent of instructors advise
their students on appropriate ways to use Wikipedia, while nearly 60 per cent voice only
negativity about the website and another 18 per cent do not mention it at all. This climate of
negativity toward Wikipedia in the classroom may be changing, however. Soules (2015) found
that California State University faculty was becoming more accepting of Wikipedia.
Acceptance of Wikipedia for citation increased from 4.85 per cent in 2008 to 8.64 per cent in
2012/13; information gathering but no citation increased from 39.29 to 55.56 per cent; and
those who didn’t accept any Wikipedia use at all declined from 52.55 to 31.11 per cent.
Constituencies other thanfaculty can exert influence over the ways that college students
use Wikipedia, however, and these have not yet been examined as extensively. Polk et al.
(2015) found that secondary teachers believe Wikipedia is a significant part of their
students’research process, although very few (9 per cent) report having any policies about
the website in their schools. Students’peers also have an effect on the way that they use
Wikipedia. This may be more of a positive reinforcement than a direct cause, but peers –
unlike many instructors–promote increased use of Wikipedia (Chung, 2012).
Methodology
This case study attempts to describe, through interviews and supplementary surveys, how
undergraduate students’use and perceptions of Wikipedia are influenced by other people.
The participants in this studywere volunteers from a population of juniors and seniors at a
small liberal arts college,who, at the time, were beginning work on researchprojects (known
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