What are the benefits of citizen science? 🤔
That's what University of Otago (Te Whare Wānanga o Ōtākou) based researchers Sally Carson and Jenny Rock asked (mostly New Zealand-based) scientists.
Citizen science, aka community science, public participation in science (among others) is when researchers actively engage members of the public in their science. Most often, this is to help collect data (e.g. counting birds in your garden) or analyse data (e.g. how many seals do you see in this photo).
Sally and Jenny wanted to know what New Zealand scientists thought were the main benefits and limitations of data collection-based citizen science and how that compared to the international community. They surveyed an international group of scientists in 2013, a New Zealand group of scientists in 2014, and another group of New Zealand scientists in 2018.
Here are the highlights:
✅ Expanded data collection was the benefit most commonly identified across all groups. Community engagement was the next most commonly identified benefit.
❎ Fostering interest in science careers was the least commonly identified benefit.
👎 The main limitation to using citizen science for data collection related to the quality of the data (a bit ironic, given that expanded data collection was the most commonly identified benefit.
Are you a researcher who uses citizen science for data collection or are thinking of citizen science for data collection? What are your thoughts?
Want to reach their work for yourself? Here's the link (no paywall) 👇
Carson, S. and Rock, J. (2024) “How do New Zealand Scientists perceive the benefits and limitation of Citizen Science?”, New Zealand Science Review, 79. https://doi.org/10.26686/nzsr.v79.8344