Research:Why readers trust Wikipedia/Trust taxonomy

This set of categories represents the reasons given for trusting, or distrusting, the content of Wikipedia articles provided by over 400 readers between January 7-9 2019. Two researchers independently analyzed samples of responses, discussed common themes, and iteratively refined the emerging categories and heirarchy based on additional examples.

The categories were refined and examples were expanded following an interview study with a subset of survey respondents. The final trust taxonomy can be found in the figure below.

The reasons listed in the taxonomy below...

can be multivalent: one person might call out a specific reason to explain why they trust an article, while someone else called out the same reason to explain their distrust.
are not mutually exclusive: many survey responses called out multiple reasons for (dis)trusting the article they were reading.
are not equally represented within the source data: some reasons were much more common than others
reflect the researchers' own understanding: some reasons are based on researchers' interpretations of ambiguous survey responses

Taxonomy of reasons for (dis)trusting Wikipedia articles based on analysis of over 400 survey responses

Prior experience: Assessments based on the reader's personal experience with the content of Wikipedia

Direct familiarity: Degree that info the reader was looking for, or other info in the article, matches their prior knowledge of the subject
Wikipedia familiarity: Degree that info on Wikipedia in general matches reader's prior knowledge

Citations and external links: Assessments based on the prevalence or characteristics of cited sources or other external links

Presence of sources: Whether the article contains (any) sources
Number of sources: How many sources the article has
Perceived authoritativeness of sources: the reputation or ethos of cited sources
Accessibility of sources: The degree to which the information in the article may be independently verified by checking the cited sources

Prose style: Assessments based on the textual characteristics or writing style of the article

Authoritative tone: Degree to which the tone of the article is professional or suggests expertise
Neutral tone: Degree to which the article contains biased or opinion-based language

Risk of incorrectness: Assessments based on the reader's judgement of the likelihood that this information could be wrong or misleading

Topic coverage: Perceived availability of reliable information on the topic in external sources
Atomic information: Degree to which the information sought is simple or unambiguous
Motivation for bias: Perceived likelihood that an unknown author would want to present wrong or misleading information on the topic
Potential for bias: Degree to which information on this topic could be presented in a wrong or misleading way

Article structure: Assessments based on the overall size, coverage, or structure of the article

Perceived comprehensiveness: Degree to which the article presents all relevant information on the topic
Raw size: The length of the article
Structural features: Visual or organizational elements of the article content or user interface

Wikipedia process: Assessments based on reader's prior knowledge (or beliefs) about how Wikipedia content is created

Open collaboration: Perceptions around the impact of low technical barriers to contribution and voluntary participation
Evidence of gatekeeping: Observations of specific indications that the article is actively monitored and moderated by people with decision-making authority
Transparency: Degree to which the reader believes they can inspect the article development history

Reputational measures: Assessments based on reputation or perceived popularity of Wikipedia

Popularity: Perceptions about how many people consume or contribute to this article
PageRank: Observation of the ranking of this article in search engine results pages
Hearsay: General perceptions about how much other people trust this article, articles on this topic, or Wikipedia as a whole
Specific incident: Indirect knowledge of specific incident(s) that influence credibility judgements

Other measures: Assessments based on no clear or specific criteria

Faith: Unquestioned belief in the trustworthiness of the content without supporting rationale
Common knowledge: Perception that the information in this article is widely or universally known and accepted

Expanded Taxonomy of reasons for (dis)trusting Wikipedia articles, integrating survey and interview analysis

Upon interviewing a subset of survey respondents about their reasons for trusting or distrusting Wikipedia articles, the above categories were further organized and expanded to include some additional components.

Reader Features

Aspects of trust that stem from characteristics of readers themselves

Prior experience: Assessments based on the reader's personal experience with the content of Wikipedia

Topic familiarity: Degree that info the reader was looking for, or other info in the article, matches their prior knowledge of the subject
Wikipedia familiarity: Degree that info on Wikipedia in general matches reader's prior knowledge

Other measures: Assessments based on broad and unspecific criteria

Faith: Unquestioned belief in the trustworthiness of the content without supporting rationale
Common knowledge: Perception that the information in this article is widely or universally known and accepted

Wikipedia Features

Aspects of trust that stem from characteristics of Wikipedia as a whole, whether real or perceived.

Perceptions or evidence of process: Assessments based on perceptions or evidence of how Wikipedia content is created

Evidence of gatekeeping: Observations of specific indications that the article is actively monitored and moderated by people with decision-making authority
Transparency: Ability of readers to inspect the article development history
Open collaboration: Impact of low technical barriers to contribution and voluntary participation

Reputational measures: Assessments based on reputation or perceived popularity of Wikipedia

Popularity: Perceptions about how many people consume or contribute to this article
PageRank: Observation of the ranking of this article in search engine results pages
Hearsay: General perceptions about how much other people trust this article, articles on this topic, or Wikipedia as a whole
Specific incident: Indirect knowledge of specific incident(s) that influence credibility judgements

Citations and external links: Assessments based on the prevalence or characteristics of cited sources or other external links

Presence of sources: Whether the article contains (any) sources
Number of sources: How many sources the article has
Perceived authoritativeness of sources: the reputation or ethos of cited sources
Accessibility of sources: The degree to which the information in the article may be independently verified by checking the cited sources

Risk of incorrectness: Assessments based on the likelihood that this information could be wrong or misleading

Topic coverage: Perceived availability of reliable information on the topic in external sources
Atomic information: Degree to which the information sought is simple or unambiguous
Motivation for bias: Perceived likelihood that an unknown author would want to present wrong or misleading information on the topic
Potential for bias: Degree to which information on this topic could be presented in a wrong or misleading way

Article Features

Aspects of trust that stem from characteristics of the specific article being read.

Prose style: Assessments based on the textual characteristics or writing style of the article

Authoritative tone: Degree to which the tone of the article is professional or suggests expertise
Neutral tone: Degree to which the article contains biased or opinion-based language

Article structure: Assessments based on the overall size, coverage, or structure of the article

Perceived comprehensiveness: Degree to which the article presents all relevant information on the topic
Raw size: The length of the article
Structural features: Visual or organizational elements of the article content or user interface

Expanded Wikipedia Trust Taxonomy integrating survey and interview analysis.