This tracks work done under the WE 3.6.8 "Comparative Reader Research" Hypothesis. This work is also tracked on Asana.

Hypothesis text:
If we systematically compare the information seeking needs and behaviors of 1) new and infrequent English Wikipedia readers and non-readers with those of 2) current English Wikipedia readers by simultaneously surveying both populations, we will be able to identify key insights about the demographic characteristics, online information needs, and online platforms used by these audiences, identifying potential opportunities for growing our readership as well as potential threats to our existing readership.

Research Goals:
This research has the following goals:
Identify opportunities for growing readership:
Provide representative data on the size (relative to Wikipedia readership in the Prolific survey sample), demographic characteristics, and online information needs of potential growth audiences for English Wikipedia
Provide representative data on the other platforms used by growth audiences to find information online and the needs these platforms serve for them
Identify threats to existing readership:
Provide representative data on the demographic characteristics and online information needs of current English Wikipedia readers
Provide representative data on the other platforms used by current English Wikipedia readers to find information online and the needs these platforms serve for them
Methods:
This research will survey simultaneous samples of English-language internet users (sourced from Prolific) and English Wikipedia readers (randomly-sampled from English Wikipedia using the Quicksurvey tool).

Surveys will be administered via Limesurvey.

Timeline:
We expect this work (surveys to be drafted, fielded, data collected, data analyzed, and results reported) to be concluded by the end of Q3 (March 31, 2026).

• survey draft to be shared following the FA/WE3 offsite (circulated with core stakeholders by January 30).
• survey to field week of February 9
• survey data collection to complete by February 12
• initial data analysis shared by February 27
• full presentation and reporting of survey data analysis to be completed by end of Q3