www.earthwatch.org/europe engaging people in scientific field research: does it work? why? samantha...
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www.earthwatch.org/europe
Engaging people in scientific field research:
Does it work? Why?
Samantha N Burgess [email protected]
www.earthwatch.org/europe
What is citizen science?
• A lay person involved in scientific research.
• Involved in science projects because they are interested in their environment or the scientific process (many other motivations)
• Issues with data quality? Not with a well designed project
• What makes a successful citizen science project?
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What is citizen science?
ScienceOnline
Backyard Science
Immersive field
research
Potential: 1,000,000
Engagement Level??
Potential: 100s of 1000
Potential: 10s of 1000
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Public Motivation (Galaxy Zoo)
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1,000,000 Galaxies
300,000 Users
120,000,000 classifications
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What motivates scientists and volunteers?
Scientists Volunteers
Money Nice holiday
Human resources Wildlife experience
Effective mechanism for engaging the broader community
Give back – to the environment - to research
Develop leadership skills Understanding environmental problems
Recognition for research Local community interactions
Learning from volunteers (problem solving)
Contributing to something meaningful e.g. conservation
Health and safety Safe travel
Teaching people Achieve something - science
Funding that won’t come from other sources
Sense of community – team dynamics
Fun Fun
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Motivation – different philosophies
Hedonic - To have a nice time / to improve peer group status (~ 25%)
Eudemonic - To ‘save the planet’ / to serve penance for their carbon footprint (~ 25%)
Pedagogic - To learn, or to gain knowledge to pass on to others / teachers, students (~ 25%)
Expectancy Disconfirmation Paradigm ~ looking for the “Je ne sais pas” (~ 25%)
Primary Personal Objective
Flexibility and (perhaps) stoicism required in management strategy
Buesching, C.D. & Slade, E. (subm.). Citizen Science in Wytham Woods: Collecting scientific data using amateur volunteers. In: Wildlife conservation on farmland (Ed. By: David W. Macdonald & Ruth E. Feber). Oxford University Press.
Silvertown, J., Buesching, C.D., Jacobson, S., Rebello, T. & Birtles, A. (subm.). Citizen Science for nature conservation biology. In: Key Topics in Conservation II (ed. By David M W. Macdonald and Kathy Willis)..
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Citizen Scientists ≠ Eco-Volunteers
The ‘Big Society’ Empowering people
and communities
Not Eco-tourism (lacks explicit emphasis on active contribution)
Not even participation in national wildlife surveys or habitat
management activities
“PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH - TESTING HYPOTHESES”
Context & Training required
But all variants make a valuable contribution to public engagement & understanding
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Research objectives of the field work
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Context setting of the research
What can we learn from studying individual reefs in the Seychelles?
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What did the volunteers achieve?
All completed in 10 days
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What knowledge was gained?
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Research
Education
Implementation
Informing management
strategies
Community involvement
Citizen science projects
Improving livelihoods
Successful projects are circular