What’s in it for citizen scientists? An Analysis of Participant Inclusivity in Citizen Science Projects in Advanced Physics Research [version 3; peer review: 1 approved, 2 approved with reservations, 1 not approved]
Citizen science projects optimise the democratisation of the production of scientific knowledge. In these initiatives, research processes do not rely solely on scientists’ but on citizens’ engagement, likewise with benefits on both sides. As previous work shows, the inclusivity perspective of citize...
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| Language: | English |
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F1000 Research Ltd
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Open Research Europe |
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| Online Access: | https://open-research-europe.ec.europa.eu/articles/4-124/v3 |
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| author | Claudia Magdalena Fabian Elisabeth Unterfrauner Beatriz Garcia Gary Hemming |
| author_facet | Claudia Magdalena Fabian Elisabeth Unterfrauner Beatriz Garcia Gary Hemming |
| author_sort | Claudia Magdalena Fabian |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Citizen science projects optimise the democratisation of the production of scientific knowledge. In these initiatives, research processes do not rely solely on scientists’ but on citizens’ engagement, likewise with benefits on both sides. As previous work shows, the inclusivity perspective of citizen science projects might be viewed critically as some groups of citizens tend to be overrepresented in these initiatives while others are left out. This paper explores the claim of inclusivity and the citizens’ benefits based on four citizen science projects in the fields of astrophysics and particle physics on the citizen science platform Zooniverse. Besides a general engagement strategy, the citizen science projects addressed two groups specifically, the elderly and people with visual impairments. The claim for inclusivity is reflected in the analysis of citizens’ demographic variables as an indicator for accessibility of the research projects. We used a pre-post design with questionnaires on science attitudes, motivations, skills, self-efficacy, and knowledge to assess what citizen scientists gained from participating in the project. The demographic analysis of the data reveals that participants were quite heterogeneous and that people who feel that they belong to a group that is discriminated against are particularly motivated to participate in citizen science projects. In terms of benefits, the results indicate knowledge and scientific skills gains, but no changes on other evaluative dimensions. Their attitude towards science was, in general, already rather positive when joining the projects, thus not leaving much room for change. These results confirm the importance of and call for a diversified citizen science engagement strategy and show that even in citizen science projects where the citizens’ task is limited to classifying data lead to scientific knowledge and skills gains. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-c6b71ea9ffd541eaa1406addd66abfbd |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2732-5121 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | F1000 Research Ltd |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Open Research Europe |
| spelling | doaj-art-c6b71ea9ffd541eaa1406addd66abfbd2025-01-15T01:00:00ZengF1000 Research LtdOpen Research Europe2732-51212025-01-01420849What’s in it for citizen scientists? An Analysis of Participant Inclusivity in Citizen Science Projects in Advanced Physics Research [version 3; peer review: 1 approved, 2 approved with reservations, 1 not approved]Claudia Magdalena Fabian0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8869-5841Elisabeth Unterfrauner1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1656-1932Beatriz Garcia2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0919-2734Gary Hemming3Zentrum für Soziale Innovation, Vienna, AustriaZentrum für Soziale Innovation, Vienna, AustriaConsejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas, Mendoza, ArgentinaOsservatorio Gravitazionale Europeo, Cascina, Tuscany, ItalyCitizen science projects optimise the democratisation of the production of scientific knowledge. In these initiatives, research processes do not rely solely on scientists’ but on citizens’ engagement, likewise with benefits on both sides. As previous work shows, the inclusivity perspective of citizen science projects might be viewed critically as some groups of citizens tend to be overrepresented in these initiatives while others are left out. This paper explores the claim of inclusivity and the citizens’ benefits based on four citizen science projects in the fields of astrophysics and particle physics on the citizen science platform Zooniverse. Besides a general engagement strategy, the citizen science projects addressed two groups specifically, the elderly and people with visual impairments. The claim for inclusivity is reflected in the analysis of citizens’ demographic variables as an indicator for accessibility of the research projects. We used a pre-post design with questionnaires on science attitudes, motivations, skills, self-efficacy, and knowledge to assess what citizen scientists gained from participating in the project. The demographic analysis of the data reveals that participants were quite heterogeneous and that people who feel that they belong to a group that is discriminated against are particularly motivated to participate in citizen science projects. In terms of benefits, the results indicate knowledge and scientific skills gains, but no changes on other evaluative dimensions. Their attitude towards science was, in general, already rather positive when joining the projects, thus not leaving much room for change. These results confirm the importance of and call for a diversified citizen science engagement strategy and show that even in citizen science projects where the citizens’ task is limited to classifying data lead to scientific knowledge and skills gains.https://open-research-europe.ec.europa.eu/articles/4-124/v3Citizen science evaluation pre-post-design diversity inclusioneng |
| spellingShingle | Claudia Magdalena Fabian Elisabeth Unterfrauner Beatriz Garcia Gary Hemming What’s in it for citizen scientists? An Analysis of Participant Inclusivity in Citizen Science Projects in Advanced Physics Research [version 3; peer review: 1 approved, 2 approved with reservations, 1 not approved] Open Research Europe Citizen science evaluation pre-post-design diversity inclusion eng |
| title | What’s in it for citizen scientists? An Analysis of Participant Inclusivity in Citizen Science Projects in Advanced Physics Research [version 3; peer review: 1 approved, 2 approved with reservations, 1 not approved] |
| title_full | What’s in it for citizen scientists? An Analysis of Participant Inclusivity in Citizen Science Projects in Advanced Physics Research [version 3; peer review: 1 approved, 2 approved with reservations, 1 not approved] |
| title_fullStr | What’s in it for citizen scientists? An Analysis of Participant Inclusivity in Citizen Science Projects in Advanced Physics Research [version 3; peer review: 1 approved, 2 approved with reservations, 1 not approved] |
| title_full_unstemmed | What’s in it for citizen scientists? An Analysis of Participant Inclusivity in Citizen Science Projects in Advanced Physics Research [version 3; peer review: 1 approved, 2 approved with reservations, 1 not approved] |
| title_short | What’s in it for citizen scientists? An Analysis of Participant Inclusivity in Citizen Science Projects in Advanced Physics Research [version 3; peer review: 1 approved, 2 approved with reservations, 1 not approved] |
| title_sort | what s in it for citizen scientists an analysis of participant inclusivity in citizen science projects in advanced physics research version 3 peer review 1 approved 2 approved with reservations 1 not approved |
| topic | Citizen science evaluation pre-post-design diversity inclusion eng |
| url | https://open-research-europe.ec.europa.eu/articles/4-124/v3 |
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