TY - JOUR
T1 - Citizen Science Water Projects in Nepal
T2 - Participant Motivations And the Impacts of Involvement
AU - Walker, David W.
AU - Tani, Masakazu
AU - Gyawali, Narayan
AU - Chapagain, Prem Sagar
AU - Davids, Jeffrey C.
AU - Ghimire, Alisha
AU - Maharjan, Makhan
AU - Parajuli, Binod Prasad
AU - Prajapati, Rajaram
AU - Regmi, Santosh
AU - Shah, Rakesh Kumar
AU - Shakya, Puja
AU - Upadhyay, Surabhi
PY - 2021/10
Y1 - 2021/10
N2 - Citizen science is blossoming in the water sciences and benefits to the scientific community are well reported. The experiences of involved citizens are less well researched, however, particularly in the Global South. To address this knowledge gap, we investigated the participant motivations of citizen science water projects in Nepal and the benefits and negative impacts of involvement. Semi-structured interviews and questionnaires were utilised with 74 participants and 15 project organisers, mainly from 5 projects. Participant responses yielded evidence of most of the commonly reported potential benefits of involvement in citizen science, including knowledge gain, increased scientific literacy, and empowerment. Not all benefits were experienced by all participants, however, and there was evidence – albeit minimal – of negative impacts, with some participants reporting the net effect of involvement as being burdensome or disappointing. Participant motivations matched those typically observed among Global North citizen scientists; most commonly, contributing to scientific research, having the opportunity to learn, and helping the community. While this study indicated that involvement in the investigated projects was mostly beneficial, further Global South citizen scientist assessments are needed to enable benefits to be maximised, negative impacts to be avoided, and motivations to be understood for improved participant targeting and retention
AB - Citizen science is blossoming in the water sciences and benefits to the scientific community are well reported. The experiences of involved citizens are less well researched, however, particularly in the Global South. To address this knowledge gap, we investigated the participant motivations of citizen science water projects in Nepal and the benefits and negative impacts of involvement. Semi-structured interviews and questionnaires were utilised with 74 participants and 15 project organisers, mainly from 5 projects. Participant responses yielded evidence of most of the commonly reported potential benefits of involvement in citizen science, including knowledge gain, increased scientific literacy, and empowerment. Not all benefits were experienced by all participants, however, and there was evidence – albeit minimal – of negative impacts, with some participants reporting the net effect of involvement as being burdensome or disappointing. Participant motivations matched those typically observed among Global North citizen scientists; most commonly, contributing to scientific research, having the opportunity to learn, and helping the community. While this study indicated that involvement in the investigated projects was mostly beneficial, further Global South citizen scientist assessments are needed to enable benefits to be maximised, negative impacts to be avoided, and motivations to be understood for improved participant targeting and retention
KW - Citizen science
KW - Disaster risk reduction
KW - Global south
KW - Nepal
KW - Participant assessment
KW - Water quality
KW - Water resources
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85122991497
SN - 1965-0175
VL - 14
SP - 664
EP - 689
JO - Water Alternatives
JF - Water Alternatives
IS - 3
ER -