Citizen Science Research Design and Methods

2. Assessing the suitability of citizen science for your research

This module guides participants through a decision-making process to assess the suitability of CS methods for their research project or ideas. It includes stakeholder analysis and understanding volunteer motivations to ensure a well-aligned approach to project design and execution. The module also introduces a structured decision framework that assists participants in making informed choices about incorporating citizen science methodologies into their projects.

Module description:

What?	How?	Why?
Reasons for choosing CS as research methodology	Going over reasons for choosing (and not choosing) CS as a research methodology	Demonstrating that there are many reasons for choosing CS
Defining the aim of the project	The need for well-defined aim, incl. questions to assist participants in defining their project’s aim	Assisting participants in defining project aims
Stakeholder analysis	The motivation for doing a stakeholder analysis	Enabling participants to perform a stakeholder analysis taking into account the timing of the project
Ladder of participation	Defining the ladder of participation for both volunteers and researchers	Encouraging participants to think about different level of participation and why it’s important for both volunteer and researchers
The examples of Asteroid Zoo and Supernova Hunters	What Supernova Hunters did to regularly enhance the number of classifications	Enabling participants to design project based on understanding of volunteers’ motivation
Volunteer motivations	Different types of motivation for different types of CS projects	Giving participants insight into project characteristics and the different kinds of motivation that drive volunteers
Choosing and using CS	Presenting a decision framework for determining whether CS is a suited methodology or not	Enabling participants to use the decision framework

Slide (available in slide deck)