TY - JOUR

T1 - We want you! Recruitment strategies for the success of a citizen science project on urban wildlife ecology

AU - Schumann, Anke

AU - Greving, Hannah

AU - Bruckermann, Till

AU - Kimmerle, Joachim

AU - Harms, Ute

AU - Brandt, Miriam

N1 - Funding Information: The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) under Grants (01|O1725, 01|O1727, 01|O1728). The publication was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation), project number 491292795. The funding sources were neither involved in the conduction of the research nor the preparation of the article.

PY - 2024/3/19

Y1 - 2024/3/19

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

KW - citizen science

KW - interest

KW - participation

KW - recruitment

KW - wildlife

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85189527518&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3389/fenvs.2024.1258813

DO - 10.3389/fenvs.2024.1258813

M3 - Article

VL - 12

JO - Frontiers in Environmental Science

JF - Frontiers in Environmental Science

M1 - 1258813

ER -