TY - JOUR
T1 - Understanding the relationship between volunteers’ motivations and learning outcomes of Citizen Science in rice ecosystems in the Northern Philippines
AU - Dem, Ebrima S.
AU - Rodríguez-Labajos, Beatriz
AU - Wiemers, Martin
AU - Ott, Jürgen
AU - Hirneisen, Norbert
AU - Bustamante, Jesus Victor
AU - Bustamante, Marlynne
AU - Settele, Josef
PY - 2018/10/1
Y1 - 2018/10/1
N2 - © 2018, The International Society of Paddy and Water Environment Engineering and Springer Japan KK, part of Springer Nature. This study relies on the Flying Beauties Citizen Science project conducted in the Philippines to assess personal motivations and learning outcomes of volunteers who were involved in documenting butterflies and dragonflies in rice ecosystems. While evaluation of motivations of volunteers in Citizen Science is not new, at least in affluent western countries, little is done in investigating volunteers’ motivations and learning outcomes of Citizen Science projects in low-income countries. Using surveys, we collected data from volunteers that were analysed qualitatively and quantitatively. We adopted a two stages evaluation format—before and after volunteers finished the project exercise. We compared pre-motivations to motivations attained and changes in level of knowledge before and after the project ended. We use Spearman’s Rho, Kendall’s Tau—nonparametric tests to draw correlations between variables. The results showed that key determinants that drove people to volunteer in the project were (a) learning about species and (b) being part of scientific research and the principal learning outcome was improved awareness about ecosystem functions of the species.
AB - © 2018, The International Society of Paddy and Water Environment Engineering and Springer Japan KK, part of Springer Nature. This study relies on the Flying Beauties Citizen Science project conducted in the Philippines to assess personal motivations and learning outcomes of volunteers who were involved in documenting butterflies and dragonflies in rice ecosystems. While evaluation of motivations of volunteers in Citizen Science is not new, at least in affluent western countries, little is done in investigating volunteers’ motivations and learning outcomes of Citizen Science projects in low-income countries. Using surveys, we collected data from volunteers that were analysed qualitatively and quantitatively. We adopted a two stages evaluation format—before and after volunteers finished the project exercise. We compared pre-motivations to motivations attained and changes in level of knowledge before and after the project ended. We use Spearman’s Rho, Kendall’s Tau—nonparametric tests to draw correlations between variables. The results showed that key determinants that drove people to volunteer in the project were (a) learning about species and (b) being part of scientific research and the principal learning outcome was improved awareness about ecosystem functions of the species.
KW - Citizen Science
KW - Ecosystem functions
KW - Learning outcomes
KW - Motivations
KW - Philippines
U2 - 10.1007/s10333-018-0664-9
DO - 10.1007/s10333-018-0664-9
M3 - Article
VL - 16
SP - 725
EP - 735
JO - Paddy and Water Environment
JF - Paddy and Water Environment
SN - 1611-2490
ER -