Sharing biodiversity data: citizen scientists’ concerns and motivations

“Since our goal was to reach a specific population that is diffused and difficult-to-reach (Dutch volunteer biodiversity recorders who submit data), we employed purposive sampling to reach as many respondents as possible fitting these criteria, using a variety of channels (Neuman 2014).”

“…et al. 2009; Shirk et al. 2012), many authors also stress the importance of communicating with volunteers about the impact of their work, as the awareness of making a concrete contribution is an important motivator for investing time and effort (e.g., Bonney et al. 2009; Gouveia et al. 2004).”

“Hence we find phrases such as citizen scientists representing ‘‘a free source of labour, skills, computational power and even finance’’ (Silvertown 2009, p. 467), or how much ‘‘bang for your buck’’ in terms of scientific outputs’’ different types of citizen science projects provide (Tulloch et al.…”

“More and more research projects involve volunteers who collect biodiversity data, interpret astronomic images, fold proteins, or even help solve mathematical problems (Conrad and Hilchey 2011; Dickinson et al. 2010; Franzoni and Sauermann 2014; Kullenberg and Kasperowski 2016).”

“More and more research projects involve volunteers who collect biodiversity data, interpret astronomic images, fold proteins, or even help solve mathematical problems (Conrad and Hilchey 2011; Dickinson et al. 2010; Franzoni and Sauermann 2014; Kullenberg and Kasperowski 2016).”

“…literature discussing many examples of the contribution of citizen science to research and management (Dickinson et al. 2010; Lovell et al. 2009; Shirk et al. 2012), many authors also stress the importance of communicating with volunteers about the impact of their work, as the awareness of…”

“Citizen science still deals with a (perceived) ‘‘image problem’’ regarding data quality (Riesch and Potter 2014, p. 113), though steps can be taken to assuage this concern (e.g., Bone et al. 2012; Sullivan et al. 2014; Theobald et al. 2015).”

“Cooperation may cover the entire spectrum between relatively passive data collection and independent research by citizens (Haklay 2013; Shirk et al. 2012), but leaves more room for collegial approaches where the views, knowledge and skills of both professional and citizen scientists are mutually…”

“public (Bonney et al. 2016), which is in theory open to anyone willing to participate.”

“Citizen science still deals with a (perceived) ‘‘image problem’’ regarding data quality (Riesch and Potter 2014, p. 113), though steps can be taken to assuage this concern (e.g., Bone et al. 2012; Sullivan et al. 2014; Theobald et al. 2015).”

“More and more research projects involve volunteers who collect biodiversity data, interpret astronomic images, fold proteins, or even help solve mathematical problems (Conrad and Hilchey 2011; Dickinson et al. 2010; Franzoni and Sauermann 2014; Kullenberg and Kasperowski 2016).”

“Other practical issues in data sharing include legal questions (e.g., who owns database records), concerns about the disturbance of rare species, and volunteer privacy (Newman et al. 2012), the latter two being especially relevant when data are georeferenced.”

“These may include cognitive and experiential learning outcomes and a strengthened connection with nature (Groulx et al. 2017) and mental and physiological health benefits associated with nature engagement (Russell et al. 2013).”

“…as participation is presumed to lead to several benefits for the citizen scientist, such as increased understanding and appreciation of science (Brossard et al. 2005; Cronje et al. 2011; Trumbull et al. 2000), stronger bonds with nature (Ellis and Waterton 2005; Lawrence 2006) and social…”

“Since volunteer or enthusiast natural history research is actually older than its professionalised counterpart (Bois et al. 2011; Miller-Rushing et al. 2012), we argue that cooperation between biodiversity researchers and citizen scientists is a more productive perspective than researchers making…”

“At the same time, it helps to prevent ‘crowding out’ of their intrinsic motivations (Rode et al. 2015) due to an overly instrumental approach as just data collectors.”

“…phrases such as citizen scientists representing ‘‘a free source of labour, skills, computational power and even finance’’ (Silvertown 2009, p. 467), or how much ‘‘bang for your buck’’ in terms of scientific outputs’’ different types of citizen science projects provide (Tulloch et al. 2013, p. 135).”

“Citizen science still deals with a (perceived) ‘‘image problem’’ regarding data quality (Riesch and Potter 2014, p. 113), though steps can be taken to assuage this concern (e.g., Bone et al. 2012; Sullivan et al. 2014; Theobald et al. 2015).”

“Significant attention to learning would potentially lead to a ‘virtuous cycle’ in which learning motivates further participation, in turn stimulating further learning and continued interest and engagement (Ryan et al. 2001, p. 637).”

“There is an ongoing debate in the literature on whether citizen science as a method provides data of sufficient quality to merit the costs (Schmeller et al. 2008), or whether investments in citizen science yield sufficient numbers of research papers and citations to be cost-effective (Tulloch et…”

“…found that their conservation volunteers gave higher scores to nature-related motivations than to social or career-related motivations (p. 189), and Bruyere and Rappe (2007) found that to ‘help the environment’ was by far the highest-scoring motivation in their factor analysis of environmental…”

“Both Hobbs and White (2012) and Pandya (2012) note that citizen scientists currently tend to be whiter, older and more middle-class than broader society; a similar pattern is found in volunteering in general (Measham and Barnett 2008).”

“2000), stronger bonds with nature (Ellis and Waterton 2005; Lawrence 2006) and social bonding (Bell et al.”

“Both Hobbs and White (2012) and Pandya (2012) note that citizen scientists currently tend to be whiter, older and more middle-class than broader society; a similar pattern is found in volunteering in general (Measham and Barnett 2008).”

“These studies report and discuss experiences with citizen science projects, analyse tensions and limitations, and provide management recommendations (e.g., Bone et al. 2012; Newman et al. 2003; Van Vliet et al. 2014; Whitelaw et al. 2003).”

“Volunteers have their own ideas about what constitutes appropriate and respectful use of their data, and might decline to share them if their trust is breached (Lawrence and Turnhout 2010); they are clearly not the docile data collectors they are sometimes made out to be (Resnik et al. 2015).”

“These studies report and discuss experiences with citizen science projects, analyse tensions and limitations, and provide management recommendations (e.g., Bone et al. 2012; Newman et al. 2003; Van Vliet et al. 2014; Whitelaw et al. 2003).”

“…is presumed to lead to several benefits for the citizen scientist, such as increased understanding and appreciation of science (Brossard et al. 2005; Cronje et al. 2011; Trumbull et al. 2000), stronger bonds with nature (Ellis and Waterton 2005; Lawrence 2006) and social bonding (Bell et al. 2008).”

“This expertise is important to consider when balancing different dimensions of data quality (Lukyanenko et al. 2016).”

“Understanding why citizen scientists make the commitment they do, and ensuring responsiveness to their concerns and motivations, is necessary if we are to take their engagement seriously (Land-Zandstra et al. 2016).”

“At the personal level, learning stands out as both an important motivation for, as well as a significant result of, biodiversity recording (see also Johnson et al. 2014).”

“Specifically, Haywood et al. (2016) found that knowledge and familiarity developed through repeated sampling visits was connected to stronger attachment to place, such as a sense of ownership.”

“…et al. 2009; Shirk et al. 2012), many authors also stress the importance of communicating with volunteers about the impact of their work, as the awareness of making a concrete contribution is an important motivator for investing time and effort (e.g., Bonney et al. 2009; Gouveia et al. 2004).”

“For instance, using a combination of surveys, focus groups and interviews, Merenlender et al. (2016) found an overrepresentation of older and wealthier participants in California and Virginia Naturalist programmes, and used their findings to enact changes to engage a more diverse audience, e.g.,…”

“These volunteers object to being cast as what Ellis and Waterton (2004) refer to as ‘‘automated data-drones’’ (p. 98)—just like most scientists would not want to be considered publication-producing ‘research drones’.”

“Meeting the expectations of volunteers and engaging their knowledge and expertise helps to maintain their motivation to contribute and prevents ‘‘poor recruitment or high exit rates from research programs’’ (Wright et al. 2015, p. 1015).”

“veys, or targeted monitoring projects, sometimes combined with conservation efforts (Catlin-Groves 2012).”

“and trustworthiness for science, policy and management (Freitag et al. 2016; Soranno et al. 2015).”

“This argument bears similarities to that of Ellis and Waterton (2005) regarding the ‘‘imagined contract’’ between volunteer naturalists and nature, based on respect and wonderment as well as an expectation that ‘‘data extracted from nature should properly be used towards its preservation’’ (p. 685).”

“In addition, Haywood (2014, 2016) has drawn attention to the importance of sense of place, i.e. the meaning of and attachment to specific sites, as both a possible motivation for and result of participation in citizen science.”

“…is presumed to lead to several benefits for the citizen scientist, such as increased understanding and appreciation of science (Brossard et al. 2005; Cronje et al. 2011; Trumbull et al. 2000), stronger bonds with nature (Ellis and Waterton 2005; Lawrence 2006) and social bonding (Bell et al. 2008).”

“These may include cognitive and experiential learning outcomes and a strengthened connection with nature (Groulx et al. 2017) and mental and physiological health benefits associated with nature engagement (Russell et al.”

“For instance, Guiney and Oberhauser (2010) found that their conservation volunteers gave higher scores to nature-related motivations than to social or career-related motivations (p. 189), and Bruyere and Rappe (2007) found that to ‘help the environment’ was by far the highest-scoring motivation in…”

“and to keep them updated on the how and why of use of their data (Groom et al. 2017).”

“This helpsmaintain their motivation by acknowledging them as partners in the knowledge creation process (Cornwell and Campbell 2012).”

“Asah and Blahna (2013) showed that social and community motivations were crucial for the commitment of urban conservation volunteers.”

“In addition, Haywood (2014, 2016) has drawn attention to the importance of sense of place, i.e. the meaning of and attachment to specific sites, as both a possible motivation for and result of participation in citizen science.”

“…citizen science Access to and sharing of citizen science data is of crucial importance: open data and data sharing with both project participants and outside parties can improve the data’s relevance and trustworthiness for science, policy and management (Freitag et al. 2016; Soranno et al. 2015).”

“…implicit in centralised biodiversity databases provides opportunities for conservation, yet we must be wary of the contextual richness we lose in the process and the effects this has on both data utilisation and volunteer motivation (Turnhout and Boonman-Berson 2011; Turnhout et al. 2016).”

“With the literature discussing many examples of the contribution of citizen science to research and management (Dickinson et al. 2010; Lovell et al. 2009; Shirk et al. 2012), many authors also stress the importance of communicating with volunteers about the impact of their work, as the awareness of…”

“Our results suggest that violation of this expectation could have grave consequences for both volunteer motivation and their willingness to submit their collected biodiversity data; as noted by Martin et al. (2016), trust is an important factor in citizen scientists’ decision to share data.”

“Lawrence (2009) notes that citizen science data often arise out, and are given personal meaning through, long-term interaction with a specific place.”

“However, experience has shown that different segments of the population are more prone to participate than others (Soleri et al. 2016).”

“In addition, citizen science as an experience in nature could raise an interest in and support for nature conservation, especially at a younger age; Brewer (2006) notes that ‘‘many conservation biologists reminisce about having their interest kindled through early experiences in nature in the…”

“Volunteers have their own ideas about what constitutes appropriate and respectful use of their data, and might decline to share them if their trust is breached (Lawrence and Turnhout 2010); they are clearly not the docile data collectors they are sometimes made out to be (Resnik et al. 2015).”

“…motivations for biodiversity recording, respondents were given a list of 12 motivations (ordered randomly for each respondent) based on our literature review reported above and the EU FP7 project BIOMOT, an empirical study into the motivations of committed actors for nature (Admiraal et al. 2017).”

“Since volunteer or enthusiast natural history research is actually older than its professionalised counterpart (Bois et al. 2011; Miller-Rushing et al. 2012), we argue that cooperation between biodiversity researchers and citizen scientists is a more productive perspective than researchers making…”

“These studies report and discuss experiences with citizen science projects, analyse tensions and limitations, and provide management recommendations (e.g., Bone et al. 2012; Newman et al. 2003; Van Vliet et al. 2014; Whitelaw et al. 2003).”

“These studies report and discuss experiences with citizen science projects, analyse tensions and limitations, and provide management recommendations (e.g., Bone et al. 2012; Newman et al. 2003; Van Vliet et al. 2014; Whitelaw et al. 2003).”

“…implicit in centralised biodiversity databases provides opportunities for conservation, yet we must be wary of the contextual richness we lose in the process and the effects this has on both data utilisation and volunteer motivation (Turnhout and Boonman-Berson 2011; Turnhout et al. 2016).”

“…do not necessarily reflect the concerns of participants, many of whom are satisfied to entrust the project team with stewardship of the data (Ganzevoort et al. 2017), but participants’ perspectives on the distribution and use of data they share are far from uniform and far from neutral.”

“Many citizen science participants aspire to actionable science that decision makers can use for management, planning, and stewardship (Conrad & Hilchey 2011; Ganzevoort et al. 2017).”