Leader, socializer or specialist? Distinguishing responders with the cues of questions

• Main Authors: Wu, Qian, Lee, Chei Sian, Goh, Dion Hoe-Lian
• Other Authors: Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: Social sciences::Communication; Responder Type; Cues of Questions
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/166262
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Community question-answering (CQA) enables responders to select questions, and respond to the questions by answering, commenting or voting. Accordingly, questions with different cues (i.e. complexity, specificity, emotional expressiveness, politeness, popularity, rewards) tend to attract different responders. However, the research is limited regarding the types of responders based on the questions they responded to. The gap inhibits us to form a complete understanding of how questions bridge askers with responders. Moreover, how different types of responders contribute to maintaining the ecosystem of the CQA has not been studied adequately. Accordingly, we conducted an online survey to organize responders by the cues of questions. Cluster analysis was used to group responders into three types: (1) “leaders” respond to complex and popular questions, attracting many followers in CQA; (2) “socializers” answer less complex and specific questions with emotion-laden words; and (3) “specialists” respond to complex questions with high specificity but seldom use the social functions of CQAs. Finally, contributions and limitations are discussed.