Leaders Inspiring the Next Generation of Citizen Scientists – An Analysis of the Predictors of Leadership in Birding

Abstract

Citizen Science (CS) is a megatrend of the 21st century given its importance for nature conservation. CS projects dealing with birds often require knowledge and abilities to identify species. This knowledge is not easy to acquire and people often learn from leaders during field trips and lectures about birds. This emphasizes the need for leaders in ornithology. Although data of CS projects are increasing, less is known about people providing guidance and taking over leadership roles. In this study, leadership roles (leading field trips, giving lectures/presentations) are analyzed by studying demographic variables, birding specialization, and the social dimension of the involvement concept of serious leisure. Participants were recruited via many channels to cover a broad range of birdwatchers in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland who participated in the online survey. A total of 1,518 participants were men, 1,390 were women (mean age 47.7). Mean years of birding were on average 24.5. 845 persons lead at least one field trip, and 671 gave on lecture (in combination 991). Mean number of field trips led during the last 5 years was 13.43, mean number of presentations was 8.21. Persons that gave presentations also led field trips (Phi = 0.593, p < 0.001). However, there are still people that preferred leading field trips over lecturing and vice versa. Men more than women took over leadership roles. A binary logistic regression showed an influence of age, gender, and university degree. Social relatedness was related to being a leader, also birding skill/competence as well as self-report behavior of birding were significant predictors for leadership roles. Years of birdwatching and both commitment scales were not significant. The data indicate that more diversity in leadership roles might be beneficial with more women and younger persons.

Kefir4All, a citizen science initiative to raise awareness of the roles that microbes play in food fermentation

“…8O and P ). A number of such research networks are currently available, including the US-based Citizen Science Association the European Citizen Science Association, and the Australian Citizen Science Association ( 8 , 33 ), which may present a better alternative for participant recruitment compared to the good faith approach applied in Kefir4All ( 4 ). One potential mitigating factor, in terms of recruiting in good faith for future projects, may be to recruit smaller groups, as recruitment as part of larger groups positively correlated with a greater frequency of non-fermenters and rare fermenters.…”

“…Although the term “citizen science” can be flexibly applied due to an absence of an agreed international definition ( 1 ), citizen science, typically involves collaborative research between scientists and non-scientists, i.e., the “citizen scientists” ( 2 ). Citizen science has been used to date to carry out studies across a range of disciplines ( 3 ), e.g., for wildlife surveys, such as birdwatching ( 4 ), medicine in projects like “PatientsLikeMe” ( 5 ), and in food fermentation projects such as “Ferme Pekes” ( 6 ) and the “Global Sourdough Project” ( 7 ). Interest in citizen science has increased, as reflected by the number of associated studies and publications ( 8 ).…”