Does Terminology Matter? Effects of the Citizen Science Label on Participation in a Wildlife Conservation Online Platform
Despite concerns that sociocultural connotations of the term citizen science may discourage engagement with such projects among certain groups, little empirical evidence is available about the behavioral effects of this terminology. One specific area of concern is the persistent gender gap in citize...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Ubiquity Press
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Citizen Science: Theory and Practice |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://account.theoryandpractice.citizenscienceassociation.org/index.php/up-j-cstp/article/view/715 |
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| _version_ | 1823859320596463616 |
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| author | Poppy McLeod Jonathon Schuldt Hwanseok Song Rhiannon Crain Janis Dickinson |
| author_facet | Poppy McLeod Jonathon Schuldt Hwanseok Song Rhiannon Crain Janis Dickinson |
| author_sort | Poppy McLeod |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Despite concerns that sociocultural connotations of the term citizen science may discourage engagement with such projects among certain groups, little empirical evidence is available about the behavioral effects of this terminology. One specific area of concern is the persistent gender gap in citizen science participation. A two-week field experiment (N = 699) with users of an online platform framed as either a citizen science or an environmental stewardship project examined framing and gender effects on engagement, sense of community (SoC), and indicators of pro-environmental interest. Results revealed no direct effects of the frame. Rather, framing interacted with participants’ perceptions of the extent to which the project was about citizen science or environmental stewardship. Perceiving the project as environmental stewardship predicted higher engagement and environmental interest among women than among men, and greater SoC only among men assigned to the environmental stewardship frame. A key implication is that the congruence between a project’s label and people’s experiences in the project may be more important than how the project is labeled. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-550db0f419a0405584b066582186be83 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2057-4991 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Ubiquity Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Citizen Science: Theory and Practice |
| spelling | doaj-art-550db0f419a0405584b066582186be832025-02-11T05:31:54ZengUbiquity PressCitizen Science: Theory and Practice2057-49912025-01-011017710.5334/cstp.715697Does Terminology Matter? Effects of the Citizen Science Label on Participation in a Wildlife Conservation Online PlatformPoppy McLeod0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8548-0474Jonathon Schuldt1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0885-0160Hwanseok Song2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0995-0291Rhiannon Crain3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5087-5775Janis Dickinson4Cornell UniversityCornell UniversityPurdue UniversitySanta Cruz Children’s Museum of DiscoveryCornell UniversityDespite concerns that sociocultural connotations of the term citizen science may discourage engagement with such projects among certain groups, little empirical evidence is available about the behavioral effects of this terminology. One specific area of concern is the persistent gender gap in citizen science participation. A two-week field experiment (N = 699) with users of an online platform framed as either a citizen science or an environmental stewardship project examined framing and gender effects on engagement, sense of community (SoC), and indicators of pro-environmental interest. Results revealed no direct effects of the frame. Rather, framing interacted with participants’ perceptions of the extent to which the project was about citizen science or environmental stewardship. Perceiving the project as environmental stewardship predicted higher engagement and environmental interest among women than among men, and greater SoC only among men assigned to the environmental stewardship frame. A key implication is that the congruence between a project’s label and people’s experiences in the project may be more important than how the project is labeled.https://account.theoryandpractice.citizenscienceassociation.org/index.php/up-j-cstp/article/view/715citizen scienceframingenvironmental stewardshiphabitat networkwildlife conservationyardmap |
| spellingShingle | Poppy McLeod Jonathon Schuldt Hwanseok Song Rhiannon Crain Janis Dickinson Does Terminology Matter? Effects of the Citizen Science Label on Participation in a Wildlife Conservation Online Platform Citizen Science: Theory and Practice citizen science framing environmental stewardship habitat network wildlife conservation yardmap |
| title | Does Terminology Matter? Effects of the Citizen Science Label on Participation in a Wildlife Conservation Online Platform |
| title_full | Does Terminology Matter? Effects of the Citizen Science Label on Participation in a Wildlife Conservation Online Platform |
| title_fullStr | Does Terminology Matter? Effects of the Citizen Science Label on Participation in a Wildlife Conservation Online Platform |
| title_full_unstemmed | Does Terminology Matter? Effects of the Citizen Science Label on Participation in a Wildlife Conservation Online Platform |
| title_short | Does Terminology Matter? Effects of the Citizen Science Label on Participation in a Wildlife Conservation Online Platform |
| title_sort | does terminology matter effects of the citizen science label on participation in a wildlife conservation online platform |
| topic | citizen science framing environmental stewardship habitat network wildlife conservation yardmap |
| url | https://account.theoryandpractice.citizenscienceassociation.org/index.php/up-j-cstp/article/view/715 |
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