We want you! Recruitment strategies for the success of a citizen science project on urban wildlife ecology

authored by

Anke Schumann, Hannah Greving, Till Bruckermann, Joachim Kimmerle, Ute Harms, Miriam Brandt

Abstract

In this case study, we report on the recruitment of participants for a citizen science (CS) project on urban wildlife monitoring (about 860 participants), and the consequences of recruitment strategies for achieving the project goals. We describe the approach that we used to identify our target audience and to design the core message for the recruitment campaign. We searched for participants who were interested in wildlife and in the scientific research process. We based the recruitment campaign on the appeal of discovering wildlife in people’s immediate surroundings. Recruitment was successful in terms of the number of applications we received. Participants’ interests reflected their focus on wildlife, and we discuss how this was reflected in their engagement. We use this case study to highlight the importance of deliberately designing recruitment strategies for CS projects. Such strategies will have implications for participants’ motivation and ultimately may influence their contributions to the project.

Organisation(s)

Institute of Education

External Organisation(s)

Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien (IWM)
Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW)
IPN - Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education at Kiel University

Type

Article

Journal

Frontiers in Environmental Science

Volume

12

No. of pages

9

Publication date

19.03.2024

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Environmental Science

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 15 - Life on Land

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2024.1258813 (Access: Open)