The science of citizen science: a systematic literature review on educational and scientific outcomes

Abstract

Citizen Science is an ever-growing field of public engagement with science, and recent years have seen an increasing number of studies examining its potential. This study reviews this research to determine the educational and scientific outcomes of Citizen Science. A literature search produced 1,240 articles that were subsequently coded according to their main focus. Articles fell into one of three main categories: (a) empirical scientific articles, (b) narrative project descriptions, and (c) theoretical and technical conceptualizations. Hundred and forty-eight studies investigated educational outcomes of participation in Citizen Science such as effects on interest in science or motivation. These studies were examined further to assess the achievement of educational outcomes of Citizen Science. In terms of changing epistemological beliefs, for example, Citizen Science seems to have little effect. Overall, there is currently a lack of empirical studies to assess the educational outcomes comprehensively. In contrast, many empirical scientific articles answered research questions in different scientific disciplines based on Citizen Science data and many studies confirmed a high level of Citizen Science data quality providing information on the scientific outcomes. Implications for future research on Citizen Science are discussed.

Incorporating Participant Perspectives to Refine Citizen Science Evaluation Frameworks

“…At the start of the century, reports on CS practices initially focused primarily on the data aspects, such as the ability to collect a large variety, quantity, and resolution of data, but increasingly a range of other benefits to both the quality of the research (Finger et al, 2023) and to participants themselves have received more attention (Phillips et al, 2018;Shirk and Bonney, 2018;Peter et al, 2021).…”

“…The potential of these latter benefits seems clear, yet they can be difficult to measure. Additionally, it is not yet evident that this potential is consistently delivered on, thus resulting in the need for more empirical evaluation of CS projects (Somerwill and Wehn, 2022;Finger et al, 2023).…”

Benefits of Citizen Science for Libraries

“…Nevertheless, it is crucial to observe that numerous empirical scientific articles across various disciplines have addressed research questions using data derived from citizen science. Many studies have also affirmed the high quality of citizen science data, thereby contributing valuable information to scientific outcomes [11]. Engaging in citizen science enhances the relevance and practicality of results across various fields.…”