How model of project participation and design influences the who: Results from a systematic meta-analysis of Citizen Science programming

Abstract:

Citizen science efforts aim to include members of the public in the process of research to generate new knowledge. These efforts can vary in design and as a result, a spectrum of participation and governance models have been proposed. Since community-based projects are motivated by social-ecological outcomes, it is hypothesized that collaborative and co-created study designs will have a more diverse set of participants than those following the contributory design where members of the public primarily contribute data. Here, we conducted a systematic meta-analysis of 817 peer-reviewed articles, published between 2012-2019, to study whether model of project participation influenced the socio-demographic makeup of the participants. Our analysis initially revealed that only 125 out of 526 included studies (23.8%) collected participant sociodemographic data and the majority of citizen science projects being implemented are contributory (86.2%, n=453). Interestingly, there was a statistically significant difference in the collection of socio-demographic data between studies, where contributory designs were associated with not collecting demographic data, co-created or collaborative designs were associated with collecting demographic data (p < 0.05). Lastly, of articles that collected participant sociodemographic information, 88% collected age, 77% collected gender and/or sex, 56% collected education level, and 11% collected race and/or ethnicity. Within these articles, socio-demographic data collection tools and definitions varied, demonstrating a lack of standardization and understanding of terms specifically related to gender and sex, race and ethnicity, and socioeconomic standing. In this presentation, we will discuss how: (1) to collect sociodemographic data across projects in a sensitive and appropriate manner, (2) model of project participation and design can influence the sociodemographic make-up of participants and lead to the engagement of more diverse communities, and (3) broader representation can increase social relevancy of efforts and critically inform research questions, methodologies, and solutions.