Table 1
The criteria for the assessment of nature conservation–related citizen science (NCCS) projects in three dimensions.
| COMPONENT | CRITERIA FOR THE ASSESSMENT | REFERENCES | QUESTION | NO = 0, YES = 1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Science dimension | ||||
| Methodology | Research question | McKinley et al. 2017. | Was a scientific question formulated before starting the project? | |
| Methodology for data collection | Kosmala et al. 2016; Stevenson, Merrill, and Burn 2021. | When recording an observation, is supporting information (e.g., a photograph, videos) mandatory as part of data collection methodology? | ||
| Technology use | Serrano-Sanz et al. 2014; Kosmala et al. 2016; Freitag, Meyer, and Whiteman 2016 | Does the project require the use of technology that supports data collection and data quality? (e.g., smartphones, tablets, sensors) | ||
| Data quality | Data validation | Wiggins et al. 2011; Freitag, Meyer, and Whiteman 2016; Balázs et al. 2021 | Are protocols for data collection tested and validated before starting the project, in order to ensure data quality? | |
| Wiggins et al. 2011; 2013; Kosmala et al. 2016; Freitag, Meyer, and Whiteman 2016; McKinley et al. 2017 | Do they have an effective strategy for data quality assessment? (e.g., specialized professionals involved, request of more information to participants, site visits) | |||
| Institutional affiliation | Freitag, Meyer, and Whiteman 2016; Turbé et al. 2019 | Is the project formally connected to a larger scientific or conservation organization? | ||
| Data management practices | Long term datasets | McKinley et al. 2017 | Does the project have long-term datasets or plan to run for the long term? | |
| Open data | Murray-Rust 2008; McKinley et al. 2017 | Is there any summary of data collected released for the public? (e.g., summaries in form of maps, charts) | ||
| Wiggins et al. 2013; Freitag, Meyer, and Whiteman 2016 | Are data stored in suitable repositories? (e.g., the General Data Protection Regulation [GDPR] considered) | |||
| Murray-Rust 2008 | Are complete or partial datasets publicly available for download? | |||
| Publications | Freitag, Meyer, and Whiteman 2016; Bio Innovation Service 2018; McKinley et al. 2017; Turbé et al. 2019 | Do they have publications in peer-reviewed academic journals or are they planning to? (e.g., collected data used in publications and citations in peer-reviewed academic journals or scientific books) | ||
| Nature conservation dimension | ||||
| Environmental monitoring | Data use in species/Ecosystem monitoring | McKinley et al. 2017 | Have data collected been used for species/ecosystem monitoring? | |
| Environmental management | Data use in species/Ecosystem management | McKinley et al. 2017; Maynard et al. 2020 | Have data collected already been used for species/ecosystem management? | |
| Conservation policy-making | Data use in conservation policy making | McKinley et al. 2017; Turbé et al. 2019; Suškevičs et al. 2021 | Have data impacted local, national, regional or European Union policy making? | |
| Participants’ development dimension | ||||
| Training | Forms of training provided | Turbé et al. 2019; Phillips et al. 2018 | Is personal training provided to the participants? | |
| Turbé et al. 2019 | Is any other form of training/knowledge transfer provided to the participants? (e.g., written guidelines, videos, informative phone application or website) | |||
| Additional learning support | Educational events | Serrano-Sanz et al. 2014 | Are events to support learning and promote environmental education organized? | |
| Communication for gaining knowledge | Brossard, Lewenstein, and Bonney 2005 | Are there ways to contact experts who are available for participants to answer questions and solve problems? (e.g., via email, social media, app chat) | ||
| Measurement strategies for participants’ personal development | Measurement of knowledge gained/reinforced | Maynard et al. 2020; Santori et al. 2021; Brossard, Lewenstein, and Bonney 2005; Jordan et al. 2011; Phillips et al. 2018 | Is participants’ knowledge (gained/reinforced) measured? (e.g., species recognition, knowledge about the species ecology, conservation knowledge) | |
| Measurement of skills – gained/reinforced | Maynard et al. 2020; Santori et al. 2021; Phillips et al. 2018 | Are the participants’ skills gained/reinforced measured? (e.g., using equipment, data collection protocol) | ||
| Measurement of attitude/behavioral change | Somerwill and Wehn 2022; Maynard et al. 2020; Santori et al. 2021; Brossard, Lewenstein, and Bonney 2005; Jordan et al. 2011; Phillips et al. 2018 | Are participants’ attitude/behavioral change measured? | ||
| Strategies for reinforcing and increasing knowledge through feedback | Cox et al. 2015; Ceccaroni and Piera 2017; Tang et al. 2021. | Is any feedback that reinforces and increases knowledge provided to participants? (e.g., feedback in person, through email, or app) | ||
Figure 1
The proposed evaluation framework (dimensions and components).
Figure 2
Dimension performance of each nature conservation–related citizen science (NCCS) project in 2022. * BeaverMap and MyPond started in 2021.