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H.Muster
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Should the target audience of CogSci be extended to students too?

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H.Muster
  • 2.6k
  • 13
  • 8

At the moment, the main problem of cogsci seems to be the lack of active users (only 48 users with 200+ reputation points). One reason for this could be the focus on researchers and practitioners, because researchers are often taught to solve their problems alone, rather than asking someone else, and practitioners sometimes lack the academic background to ask appropriate questions.

By including students into the target audience, the site can possibly attract a much larger user base, which is more likely to need (academic) advice than, for instance, researchers.

Of course this extension would come with a price: the quality requirements for questions will probably have to be lowered, because students often know a phenomenon or problem, but do not know the correct name or technical term, which effectively hinders them to do the required initial research.

On the other hand, such questions are easy to answer and students are likely to benefit from such a quick help.

Therefore,
(1) Should the target audience of CogSci extended to students too?
(2) Are there important reasons not to extend the audience?
(3) Which changes would be necessary to adopt to the new audience (welcome message, FAQ, etc.)?

At the moment, the main problem of cogsci seems to be the lack of active users (only 48 users with 200+ reputation points). One reason for this could be the focus on researchers and practitioners, because researchers are often taught to solve their problems alone, rather than asking someone else, and practitioners sometimes lack the academic background to ask appropriate questions.

By including students into the target audience, the site can possibly attract a much larger user base, which more likely to need (academic) advice than, for instance, researchers.

Of course this extension would come with a price: the quality requirements for questions will probably have to be lowered, because students often know a phenomenon or problem, but do not know the correct name or technical term, which effectively hinders them to do the required initial research.

On the other hand, such questions are easy to answer and students are likely to benefit from such a quick help.

Therefore,
(1) Should the target audience of CogSci extended to students too?
(2) Are there important reasons not to extend the audience?
(3) Which changes would be necessary to adopt to the new audience (welcome message, FAQ, etc.)?

At the moment, the main problem of cogsci seems to be the lack of active users (only 48 users with 200+ reputation points). One reason for this could be the focus on researchers and practitioners, because researchers are often taught to solve their problems alone, rather than asking someone else, and practitioners sometimes lack the academic background to ask appropriate questions.

By including students into the target audience, the site can possibly attract a much larger user base, which is more likely to need (academic) advice than, for instance, researchers.

Of course this extension would come with a price: the quality requirements for questions will probably have to be lowered, because students often know a phenomenon or problem, but do not know the correct name or technical term, which effectively hinders them to do the required initial research.

On the other hand, such questions are easy to answer and students are likely to benefit from such a quick help.

Therefore,
(1) Should the target audience of CogSci extended to students too?
(2) Are there important reasons not to extend the audience?
(3) Which changes would be necessary to adopt to the new audience (welcome message, FAQ, etc.)?

Source Link
H.Muster
  • 2.6k
  • 13
  • 8

Should the target audience of CogSci extended to students too?

At the moment, the main problem of cogsci seems to be the lack of active users (only 48 users with 200+ reputation points). One reason for this could be the focus on researchers and practitioners, because researchers are often taught to solve their problems alone, rather than asking someone else, and practitioners sometimes lack the academic background to ask appropriate questions.

By including students into the target audience, the site can possibly attract a much larger user base, which more likely to need (academic) advice than, for instance, researchers.

Of course this extension would come with a price: the quality requirements for questions will probably have to be lowered, because students often know a phenomenon or problem, but do not know the correct name or technical term, which effectively hinders them to do the required initial research.

On the other hand, such questions are easy to answer and students are likely to benefit from such a quick help.

Therefore,
(1) Should the target audience of CogSci extended to students too?
(2) Are there important reasons not to extend the audience?
(3) Which changes would be necessary to adopt to the new audience (welcome message, FAQ, etc.)?