From Smartphone to Fine Dust: How Do Participants Construct Their Understanding of the iSPEX Project?

iSPEX is a Dutch citizen science project utilizing new techniques such as smartphones and a specially designed add-on that measures the concentration of fine dust in the atmosphere via diffraction of light. It is important to... [ view full abstract ]

iSPEX is a Dutch citizen science project utilizing new techniques such as smartphones and a specially designed add-on that measures the concentration of fine dust in the atmosphere via diffraction of light. It is important to measure fine dust to be able to keep track of the concentrations in the atmosphere which for example influence health and environment.

One of the aims of the iSPEX project was to verify the feasibility to use thousands of individual measurements to collect reliable data of fine dust concentrations. The second aim of the project was to teach the participants about scientific methods and the scientific concepts behind iSPEX.

In a previous survey possible discrepancies appeared between the constructed knowledge by the participants and the actual scientific concepts. To find out how the participants constructed their knowledge, we conducted face-to –face semi-structured interviews with 20 iSPEX participants.

The results of this study show that the overall knowledge and understanding of the scientific methods and techniques is better than was expected based on the results of the survey. But to accomplish further improvement in the participants' understanding, respondents showed a strong preference for short and simple information. Visual information in the form of a film-clip was received well. This showed an improvement in half of the respondents’ understanding.

The respondents also indicated that the health aspect of the project is the primary motivator to participate. The opportunity to contribute to a project, possibly improving health and living conditions, seemed more important than the opportunity to learn more about science. In addition, feedback about the scientific results is vital to keep participants involved and motivated. Lack of feedback noticeably affected participants' motivation.

This study shows how communication with citizen scientists influences scientific learning and motivation.