Citizen science, or the use of volunteers for scientific projects, is becoming a popular way for agencies and organizations to collect data. The benefits of citizen science include saving the agency or organization resources, educating the community about conservation issues, and promoting land stewardship. Currently, many citizen monitoring organizations are based in urban areas, whereas their projects are located near more rural towns. Research shows that demographics such as area of residence can be a factor in the publics attitude toward any scientific or land management project (Williams et al, 2002; Kellert, 1978, 1985; Vaske et al, 2001). This fact was supported by a citizen science project, led by the author, on the Clearwater National Forest. Currently, no citizen science organizing manuals address the issue of rural/urban difference in volunteer recruitment. Additionally, the question of what qualities citizen science must have to be used by government agencies must be determined so that non-governmental organizations can produce useful data. I interviewed 11 successful urban-based citizen science conservation organizations in order to establish the characteristics of successful volunteer recruitment and retention. Additionally, I interviewed five state or federal agencies that used citizen science data in order to establish the characteristics of effective citizen science programs. Using Glesne (1999) as a guide, interviews were numbered and coded. Results showed that successful recruitment methods differ between rural and urban areas, with word of mouth and local newspapers as most effective. Citizens must believe in the program, have a social atmosphere associated with the program, and have a personal relationship with the project organizer in order to volunteer again. There is a difference in rural and urban communities, having to do with different values, priorities, and environmental awareness. Effective citizen science programs share three main characteristics: a proper training program, scientific accuracy, and a quality control program.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:MONTANA/oai:etd.lib.umt.edu:etd-04252007-134546 |
| Date | 23 July 2007 |
| Creators | Holden, Anna Dean |
| Contributors | Len Broberg, Laurie Yung, Neva Hassanein, Adam Switalski |
| Publisher | The University of Montana |
| Source Sets | University of Montana Missoula |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lib.umt.edu/theses/available/etd-04252007-134546/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Montana or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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