Citizen Science Step 2: Audience Research

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Article Name

The motivations, enablers and barriers for voluntary participation in an online crowdsourcing platform

Author / Authors

Avinoam Baruch, Andrew May, Dapeng Yu from the Department of Geography and Design School of  Loughborough University

Summary of Article

A examination of online crowdsourcing, its methods and perspectives from volunteers of Tomnod as well as the campaign coordinator. Who the most active age groups are, whether these volunteers have disabilities or long term health problems, and other personal circumstances per volunteer is taken into account for data on why crowdsourcing has received such a large amount of volunteers.

Who is most likely to participate in a citizen science project

Listed below in the answer to the question "Why they participate" many various types of people are likely to participate, but the most common of these people are Females within the ages of 50 - 59 and Males within the age rangers of 60 plus where 23% are disabled and most are retired. These same people are using Tomnod or crowdsourcing methods for a various amount of reasons which are a part of the Prosocial Motivation term that states that users are volunteering for altruistic reasons.

The most common age, gender, and disabilities of these users

According to the Fig.1 Chart on pg. 3 of the Article peoples in the ages of 17 and younger make up for roughly 30 respondents to Surveys of Tomnod Users. 25 of them being Male, and 5 people Female. Of the age range 21 - 29, there were around 75 males and 60 females. In the ages of 30 - 39 around 180 participants were Male while 150 were Female. In the ages 40 - 49, 275 were Male and around 220 were Female. In ages 50 - 59 there is a shift with 300 being Male and 410 being Female and then in the age ranges of 60 and older 400 are Male while 270 are Female. 

This data shows that the largest age range is for Males, 60 plus. While the largest range for Females is in the age range of 50 - 59.

According to the same study, a large amount of participants claim to be retired while 23% of participants have a disability or long term health problem.

‌Why they participate

Tomnod's satellite imagery becomes available for response teams within hours of it being released to the volunteers on Tomnods crowdsourcing website. Being successful causes there to be more attractiveness to potential participants. The largest reason people volunteer for crowdsourcing websites however is due to Prosocial Motivation which refers to "voluntary actions that are intended to help or benefit another individual or group of individuals"(Eisenberg & Mussen, 1989, p.3). This behavior is characterized by four types of motivations, altruism which is the aim to increase the welfare of others. Egoism, which is when the ultimate goal is to increase ones own welfare. Collectivism which is the goal of improving the welfare of ones own community, and Principlism which is to uphold one or more moral principles.

Amichai-Hamburger separated the potential and promise of online volunteering in a model which separates into three groups: personal, interpersonal, and group. Each of these groups center on motivations, emphasis on the important of online learning, information accessibility, reframing identity, and overcoming disabilities. It is shown in further research that older volunteers may also benefit through volunteering by establishing new connections and increasing social capital. 

Being engaged in crowdsourcing websites, or citizen science projects has been described by Buytaert et al. as "being at the interface of political activism and volunteering." Stating that by being active in these communities one can foster a sense of community and responsibility. 

People become active in different crowdsourcing websites for various reasons, some enjoy sharing their local knowledge of their community. Others wish to learn new things and advance their career. Some people wish to be a part of scientific discovery.

According to the study sent out to Tomnod users and detailed in Figure 1 in the study 59% related to an altruistic theme, while 17% related directly to participant motivations. Many commenters mentioned "helping people in urgent need of assistance" as a motivating factor. Other users, following under the role of Egoism, stated in the survey "[Tomnod is] an enjoyable experience" or "a fun and useful pastime."

The best way to get users to return and continue to be engaged

The most successful way to run a citizens science campaign is to benefit the participants by giving them a sense of satisfaction and achievement from their contribution. 23% of comments on the survey can be linked directly to aspects of user engagement and Tomnod users being unsatisfied with the levels of updates they receive about their contributions and impact on the ground. Following up with Tomnod users on how their data has been used and with feedback on qualities of data are concerns for all age groups and genders. Perspectives on gamification however, changed per age groups where users under the age of 50 showed more support for gamification.

Some participants expressed their desire for "something like a certificate of participation or some kind of award" which recognizes their work. Others argue that an overly done version of gamification on Tomnod could cause others to feel ignored. 

As a response to the question "Which features would you like to see more of?" The most popular answers are "A follow-up about how the data was used" with an average of 27% - 29% by  participants in the age ranges of Over 50 Male, Over 50 Female, Under 50 Male, Under 50 Female. The second most popular option being"Feedback on the quality of my contributions" while the third most popular option being "Short training exercises to improve my image analysis skills" The least popular options were "Educational Games and Quizzes" and "Leaderboards and awards for the most active Nodders."

Reasons why a user would stop participating

Many "comments on current levels of engagement with the campaign managers were negative" with the largest amount of these comments being of participants referring to how they did not receive emails or feedback on the quality of their tags. Users complained about a lack of follow-up information and news on how much they are helping, or how their information is being used for data. These reasons are cited as reasons they became less active on Tomnod. Many of these respondents answered that they would not return to Tomnod with reasons being that they wanted to know if they are actually making a difference.

Article Citation

Baruch, Avinoam, et al. “The Motivations, Enablers and Barriers for Voluntary Participation in an Online Crowdsourcing Platform.” Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 64, 2016, pp. 923–931., doi:10.1016/j.chb.2016.07.039.