Who’s Tapped Out and What’s on Tap? Tapping Into Engagement Within a Place-Based Citizen Science Effort

Abstract

Participatory approaches to natural resource research, such as citizen science (CS), have become increasingly popular as they foster direct and indirect public input and engagement that can lead to the acquisition of place-specific scientific information needed to address local conservation research and management objectives. Understanding how differing degrees of participant engagement are experienced by those involved and the feasibility of experimental designs (i.e., with random assignment and control groups) to vary and measure such engagement are important and lacking. In this study, we report on an exploratory CS project measuring storm surge in three coastal estuaries, providing lessons learned about the design and sustainment of a quasi-experimental, place-based, co-created CS effort. Drawing from surveys, interviews, and field notes, we discuss methodological and ethical issues related to implementing an experimental design as well instances in which researcher-citizen scientist expectations regarding engagement were (mis)aligned and impacted participant experiences and project success. KEY INSIGHTS Place-based, natural resource focused, citizen science projects require high engagement on behalf of project facilitators and may be particularly challenging for practitioners who have university appointments and/or are working in small teams with limited funding sources. Carrying out an experimental design within place-based citizen science initiatives raises practical concerns related to getting research off the ground as well as ethical concerns surrounding participants’ engagement preferences. Practitioners must prioritize making space for negotiations and ongoing conversations about expectations for engagement, on behalf of the project facilitators and citizen scientists, at various stages of the project.