Data quality in citizen science – a research study

Citizen science can involve lay people participating in many types of research projects, including medicine, environmental science, astronomy, geology, biochemistry, ecology and earth science, and has many benefits. These include educating and engaging the public on scientific issues, as well as the generation of large data sets for scientific work. Citizen science projects vary in terms of the tasks they ask the public to complete, but most projects involve citizens collecting, processing or analysing data.
Citizen science seems like a natural win-win for all involved – citizens get the fun and learning experience by being engaged with science and scientists get the free labour. However, some people question whether lay people can actually contribute meaningfully to science. A concern frequently expressed is the quality of the data. This is particularly true when all or part of the citizen science project is online (e.g., eBird and Snapshot Serengeti), as participants may be anonymous and the risk of sabotage is higher than when scientists are in direct contact with citizen participants.

20. Wiersma, Y., Parsons, J., and Lukyanenko, R. (2016). Data quality in citizen science – a research study. Environmental Scientist. 25(2), pp. 74–78.