Keeping the Citizens Scientists: Participant Motivations in Citizen Science

Citizen science is evolving the way ecological research is conducted, and yet, research into citizen science project design and efficacy is limited. In the future, study of participant motivations will hopefully provide theory... [ view full abstract ]

Citizen science is evolving the way ecological research is conducted, and yet, research into citizen science project design and efficacy is limited. In the future, study of participant motivations will hopefully provide theory to enhance both citizen participant satisfaction, and scientific result quantity and quality. This presentation will address the question of how project resources (e.g. tools to keep track of personal sightings, knowledge bases, training opportunities, and online analysis programs to visualize the aggregate project data) and participant community affect citizen science activity. It will also present project design recommendations for maximizing the motivations volunteers most respond to.