Abstract
Volunteers’ contribution to research is growing, especially since the beginning of the 21st century. Given the constant increase of Citizen Science initiatives, recruiting strategies have to be planned properly. Retention is pivotal as well, especially when time is invested in volunteers’ training. However, practically no follow-up data are available on retention after major Citizen Science initiatives. CSMON-LIFE (Citizen Science MONitoring) was a 42-month project (2014–2017) funded by the European Commission in the framework of the LIFE+ programme (LIFE13 ENV/IT/842). It aimed at increasing awareness on Citizen Science among citizens, researchers, and decision makers in Italy. During CSMON-LIFE, recruitment was based on extensive awareness raising actions on different media. In total, 5558 volunteers were engaged in different field activities during the project and its follow-up. They gathered a total of 30062 geo-referenced observations, each with an image of the reported organism. Their activities were organized in campaigns, each devoted to a different topic. This study aims at investigating volunteers’ performance and retention in the funded period of CSMON-LIFE (December 2014–November 2017) and in its after-LIFE follow-up period (December 2017–November 2020), for a total of 72 months.
Highlights
The definition of Citizen Science is somehow fluid and can include different forms and levels of volunteers’ involvement in research activities [1,2,3,4]
Some examples are the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) [9], in which ca. 55% of records are produced by volunteers [10], and the eBird project at Cornell Lab of Ornithology, which receives ca. 25 million observations per month [5]
This study aims at investigating volunteers’ performance and retention for a total of 72 months from 01 December 2014 to 30 November 2020, in the funded period
Summary
The definition of Citizen Science is somehow fluid and can include different forms and levels of volunteers’ involvement in research activities [1,2,3,4]. Citizen Scientists can be defined as “non-scientists who help to analyze or collect data as part of a researcher-led project” [5]. The contribution of volunteers to research activities is far from being new [6]. The first modern Citizen Science project is the Christmas Bird Count, which has been held since December, 1900 [7]. In the last decades the contribution of volunteers’. A study on data collection of water quality in seven US states demonstrates the major contribution of Citizen Science programs
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