The DOI matches its Crossref record; 67 of the 67 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Sharing biodiversity data: citizen scientists’ concerns and motivations
Open accessAbstract
Citizen scientists play a pivotal role in providing necessary biodiversity data. To ensure the continued involvement of a strong volunteer base, insight into the concerns and motivations of voluntary recorders is crucial. This paper presents the findings of a large-scale survey ( N = 2193) among Dutch volunteer biodiversity recorders of diverse taxa, and focuses on three questions: what are the characteristics of these citizen scientists regarding their activities and socio-demographic background, what are their motivations for recording biodiversity, and what are their views on data sharing and ownership? Our findings show that a connection to, interest in and concern for nature are the most important motivations for biodiversity recorders. Volunteer recorders have high expectations regarding the impact of their data, both for their own learning as well as for science and management. Almost half the volunteers consider their data to be public goods, but this does not mean they support unconditional data sharing. Instead, the acceptability of data sharing with third parties seems strongly linked to the goals of the user. We discuss the implications of our findings for practitioners, such as the role of biology curricula and the importance of learning opportunities to redress the lack of younger volunteers. We argue that conceptualising volunteer recorders as data custodians rather than owners helps to understand their perspective on data sharing, and emphasize the importance of clear and transparent data policy that respects volunteers’ views on their data.
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“Many volunteers see themselves as custodians rather than owners of the recordings they collect, and they expect transparent policies and fair benefit-sharing (Ganzevoort et al. 2017).”
From Listening forward: emerging roles of bioacoustics in ecology, evolution, and conservation (2026) · cites this paper as Ganzevoort et al. 2017
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Cites
(2017) · Cited by 16,319
Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches
Djamba, Y. K., & Neuman, W. L. (2002) · Teaching Sociology · doi:10.2307/3211488 · Cited by 8,853 · cited 1×
“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).”
MethodSocial Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches
Neuman, W. L. (1991) · Cited by 7,055
Citizen Science: A Developing Tool for Expanding Science Knowledge and Scientific Literacy
Bonney, R. E., Cooper, C. B., Dickinson, J. L., Kelling, S., Phillips, T., Rosenberg, K. V., & Shirk, J. (2009) · BioScience · doi:10.1525/bio.2009.59.11.9 · Cited by 2,542 · cited 1×
“…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).”
BackgroundA new dawn for citizen science
SILVERTOWN, J. W. (2009) · Trends in Ecology & Evolution · doi:10.1016/j.tree.2009.03.017 · Cited by 2,199 · cited 1×
“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.…”
BackgroundCitizen Science as an Ecological Research Tool: Challenges and Benefits
Dickinson, J. L., Zuckerberg, B., & Bonter, D. N. (2010) · Annual Review of Ecology Evolution and Systematics · doi:10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-102209-144636 · Cited by 2,021 · cited 3×
“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).”
BackgroundA review of citizen science and community-based environmental monitoring: issues and opportunities
Conrad, C. C., & Hilchey, K. G. (2011) · Environmental Monitoring and Assessment · doi:10.1007/s10661-010-1582-5 · Cited by 1,398 · cited 1×
“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).”
BackgroundPublic Participation in Scientific Research: a Framework for Deliberate Design
Shirk, J., Ballard, H., Wilderman, C., Phillips, T., Wiggins, A., Jordan, R., McCallie, E., Minarchek, M., Lewenstein, B., Krasny, M., et al. (2012) · Ecology and Society · doi:10.5751/es-04705-170229 · Cited by 1,317 · cited 2×
“…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…”
BackgroundThe eBird enterprise: An integrated approach to development and application of citizen science
Sullivan, B. L., Aycrigg, J. L., Barry, J. H., Bonney, R. E., Bruns, N., Cooper, C. B., Damoulas, T., Dhondt, A. A., Dietterich, T. G., Farnsworth, A., et al. (2013) · Biological Conservation · doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2013.11.003 · Cited by 1,226 · cited 1×
“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).”
BackgroundCitizen Science and Volunteered Geographic Information: Overview and Typology of Participation
Haklay, M. (2012) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-94-007-4587-2_7 · Cited by 1,133 · cited 2×
“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…”
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Citizen science and sustainability transitions
Sauermann, H., Vohland, K., Antoniou, V., Balázs, B., Göbel, C., Karatzas, K. D., Mooney, P., Perelló, J., Ponti, M., Samson, R., et al. (2020) · Research Policy · doi:10.1016/j.respol.2020.103978 · Cited by 334
The Rise of Citizen Science in Health and Biomedical Research
Wiggins, A., & WILBANKS, J. T. (2019) · The American Journal of Bioethics · doi:10.1080/15265161.2019.1619859 · Cited by 249
“…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.”
BackgroundThe potential for citizen science to produce reliable and useful information in ecology
Brown, E. D., & Williams, B. K. (2018) · Conservation Biology · doi:10.1111/cobi.13223 · Cited by 201
“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).”
BackgroundThe Diversity of Participants in Environmental Citizen Science
Pateman, R., Dyke, A., & West, S. (2021) · Citizen Science Theory and Practice · doi:10.5334/cstp.369 · Cited by 184
Relational values of nature: leverage points for nature policy in Europe
Mattijssen, T., Ganzevoort, W., van den Born, R. J. G., Arts, B. J. M., Breman, B. C., Buijs, A. E., van Dam, R. I., Elands, B. H. M., GROOT, W. T. D., & Knippenberg, L. (2020) · Ecosystems and People · doi:10.1080/26395916.2020.1848926 · Cited by 127
Self-citation
Metadata
- Authors
- Ganzevoort, W., van den Born, R. J. G., Halffman, W., & Turnhout, S.
- Affiliations
- Radboud University Nijmegen (NL)
- Radboud University Medical Center (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Ganzevoort, Wessel
- Venue
- Biodiversity and Conservation
- Published
- 2017-06-16
- Volume
- 26
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 2821-2837
- ISSN
- 0960-3115 (ISSN-L)
- 1572-9710
- OpenAlex
- W2625695659
- Cited by
- 133
- References
- 67
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 20 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 24 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 6
- FWCI
- 16.83
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Biodiversity and Conservation (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion)
- Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- NLBIF
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Research Data Management Practices
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecological Modeling › Species Distribution and Climate Change
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law › Conservation, Ecology, Wildlife Education
- Keywords
- citizen science, biodiversity data sharing, data ownership, data stewardship, public goods, data policy
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