Recruitment and Retention of Volunteers in a Citizen Science Network to Detect Invasive Species on Private Lands

Abstract

Volunteer citizen monitoring is an increasingly important source of scientific data. We developed a volunteer program for early detection of new invasive species by private landowners on their own land. Early detection of an invasive species, however, subjects the landowner to the potentially costly risk of government intervention to control the invasive species. We hypothesized that an adult experiential learning module could increase recruitment and retention because private landowners could learn more about and understand the social benefits of early detection and more accurately gauge the level of personal risk. The experiential learning module emphasized group discussion and individual reflection of risks and benefits of volunteering and included interactions with experts and regulatory personnel. A population of woodland owners with >2 ha of managed oak woodland in central Minnesota were randomly assigned to recruitment treatments: (a) the experiential learning module or (b) a letter inviting their participation. The recruitment and retention rates and data quality were similar for the two methods. However, volunteers who experienced the learning module were more likely to recruit new volunteers than those who merely received an invitation letter. Thus the module may indirectly affect recruitment of new volunteers. The data collection was complex and required the volunteers to complete timely activities, yet the volunteers provided sufficiently high quality data that was useful to the organizers. Volunteers can collect complex data and are willing to assume personal risk to contribute to early detection of invasive species.

Examining Millennials’ Global Citizenship Attitudes and Behavioral Intentions to Engage in Environmental Volunteering

“…When regarding the natural environment as a public good, conceptualization of global citizenship as attitudes of responsibility and service to a global community may enable a better understanding of how and why some individuals engage in environmental volunteering [8]. Specifically, environmental volunteering is seen as a way to express global citizenship attitudes in the context of environmental change [45]. Thus, perhaps one way to conceptualize the notion of global environmental citizenship is to turn to the idea of citizen science [19].…”

Going Beyond Hooked Participants: The Nibble-and-Drop Framework for Classifying Citizen Science Participation

“…However, although social media interaction is relatively passive, there is no indication that a more in-depth initial face-to-face interaction might result in more active contributors to this program. For instance, Andow et al (2016) found that regardless of whether participants were sent a recruitment letter (passive recruitment) or engaged directly with educational materials (active recruitment), retention rates were the same. These results tell us that social media is a useful recruiting tool for GO across participation degrees.…”

“…Aside from improving scientific outcomes in CS, retaining participants is also cited as important for maintaining institutional knowledge and overall morale among participants (Lewandowski and Specht 2015;Marsh and Cosentino 2019). Previous research on participation has elucidated the relationship between retention rates and various participation factors, including mode of recruitment/initial awareness of the program, motivations to participate, and demographics (Andow et al 2016;Crall 2017;Hobbs and White 2012;West and Pateman 2016;Wright et al 2015;Brouwer and Hessels 2019;Cox et al 2018). Participants hear about and are recruited into CS programs in various ways-through flyers, a booth or presentation at a science-related event, promotion through a science museum, public libraries or nature centers, and now commonly through social media and other online platforms (Crall et al 2017), and it appears as if recruitment strategies per se are not tied in any systematic ways to later retention.…”

The Australian Roadkill Reporting Project—Applying Integrated Professional Research and Citizen Science to Monitor and Mitigate Roadkill in Australia

“…When recruiting users of the RRApp, the current project targeted the general population through television, newsprint and social media. The problem of volunteer recruitment and retention of citizen scientists has been addressed in several studies [ 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 , 79 ]. Bil et al [ 80 ] suggest that volunteers need to be motivated by the organisers to participate on a long-term basis and be provided with regular feedback on how their data are being used to produce new scientific knowledge.…”