https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9664-7615
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Abstract
We conducted an experimental study in a country in the Global South, an understudied region, for a citizen science project on water flow. Volunteers received a standard or an experimental training linking volunteers to decision-makers to influence perceptions of project relevancy and participation. We conducted pre- and post-training surveys and interviews to assess motivations, barriers, and perceptions of project relevancy and participation. We found motivations of learning and values enabled, while barriers such as time constrained, participation. Interviews showed continuing volunteers in the experimental training had stronger perceptions of project relevancy compared to the control, but survey results only showed changes in short-term perceptions and no changes to participation. Results suggest participation could be improved by addressing challenges such as time constraints or difficulty organizing others and focusing on motivations such as learning and values, but further research is needed on how involvement of decision makers in citizen science can influence participation.
Acknowledgements
We thank all of the GWW-Mexico volunteers who participated in this study; project collaborators Gina Vidal of SENDAS and Javier Torrez Ramírez of FIDECOAGUA; Angélica Meza, Daniela Mora, and Maribel Roque-Sanchez for their valuable time in organizing workshops and collecting data; and all GWW-Mexico staff for their tireless support. This research also benefited from the hard work of Ryan Roberts whose support in coding the qualitative data was invaluable. This work was funded by the National Science Foundation [grant number 1644862].
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Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).