Volunteering in the Citizen Science Project “Insects of Saxony”—The Larger the Island of Knowledge, the Longer the Bank of Questions

Abstract

In a cross-sectional survey study (N = 116), volunteers of the project Insects of Saxony were asked about their current and past volunteering activities, their motivations, their rating of organisational offers, their knowledge, their satisfaction with the project and their personal contribution, and their intended future involvement. Participants in the study were mostly male, well-educated, over 50 years old, and had been volunteering in biodiversity projects for a long time. They were driven by both pro-social (altruistic) and self-serving (egoistic) motivations, but rated the pro-social functions as more important for their engagement. Communication and feedback were rated the most important organisational offers. Participants also reported a knowledge increase during project participation. While the volunteers were satisfied with the overall project, they were significantly less content with their own contribution. Results from the survey were followed up with a group discussion (N = 60). The anecdotes revealed the participants’ regret of not having more time for their hobby, and they emphasised the challenges that arise from the different scientific approaches of the various disciplines. Most participants indicated that they want to continue their volunteering. Implications for measuring motivations in citizen science projects and for volunteer management are discussed.

Fascination and Joy: Emotions Predict Urban Gardeners’ Pro-Pollinator Behaviour

“…Our results are in line with other research showing that gardeners are motivated to participate in pollinator CS for numerous reasons, both altruistic and egoistic [ 21 , 24 ]. Overall, the self-reported reasons and the socio-psychological factors that predicted the participation in the wild pollinator CS project pointed in a similar direction: enthusiasm for pollinators is the most important reason for engagement.…”

“…Interest and the desire for education were among the most frequent self-reported motivations for participation, in line with previous studies [ 22 ]. Similar to Moczek, Nuss, and Köhler [ 24 ], the altruistic reason to contribute to something meaningful such as nature conservation was also an important driver to participate in our wild pollinator CS project. This shows CS to be an opportunity to do something for pollinators.…”

“…Additionally, we analysed the motivation for participation and the reasons for not participating using qualitative content analysis [ 48 ]. The coding categories were based on recent literature on participation in pollinator CS [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ]. Two researchers discussed and adopted the coding categories to achieve a mutual understanding and sufficient coding consistency.…”

“…Research on the motivations for participation and retention of participants in pollinator CS suggests that, while project dependent, educational motivations are the most important driver for volunteer participation [ 22 , 23 ]. Research on volunteering in an insect CS project showed the surveyed participants were driven by both altruistic (pro-social) and egoistic (self-serving) motivations, but rated the pro-social functions as more important for their engagement [ 24 ]. The methods also seem to be important, with complex projects having relatively low rates of retention and completion [ 9 , 23 ].…”

Partial mowing of urban lawns supports higher abundances and diversities of insects

“…de (in German), participants are welcome to write a blog about the activities on their meadows and to document the sightings of plants and animals, particularly insects. In December 2018, an external evaluation was conducted with the focus on the motivations for volunteering in this project (Moczek 2019;Moczek et al 2021).…”