Research article

Education and the usefulness of Wikipedia: A textual analysis of Wikipedia pages for those involved in education research

^*1Rod Goldeneyes and ²Cherilynn Sharp

¹University of Fiiyaskö, Helgenbürgen, Finland

²Otakku Women’s University, North Miyazaki, Japan

*Corresponding Author E-mail: rodgoldeneyes@gmail.com

Accepted 01 December, 2013

Abstract

This study examines three randomly chosen Wikipedia pages with content related to those who are involved in education research. Specifically, the texts were examined to see in what ways Wikipedia may be helpful to those who are involved in education research. The results show that Wikipedia pages are especially useful in three ways—the way they are organized, the linking system and the variety of content contained within a page. We conclude that Wikipedia websites are indeed useful to those involved in education research.

Keywords: Education Research, Wikipedia pages