TEN KEYS TO SUCCESSFUL PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT IN YOUR SCIENCE

As a scientific community we oftentimes pursue the important step of communicating our research to the broader public with outreach initiatives and public presentations. Another emerging contender for engagement and broader impacts is citizen science. The need for increased scientific literacy in the public can be met with a process that allows more people (be they the public, students, or scientists) to participate in ongoing, authentic scientific research. Benefits of citizen science include scientists learning how to identify new protocols and research design to accommodate students and the public, as well as creating opportunities to increase education in their area of science. Also, with proper execution large datasets can be developed in a fraction of the time it would take a single researcher. Creating a research project for public involvement requires a great amount of intention from the principal investigator and an understanding if the project is being created out of necessity for data collection, for mostly educational reasons, or somewhere in between, which also requires knowing your target audience. Careful design eliminates many pitfalls of infant projects. For instance, a researcher should carefully create a research question that is understandable to participants, yet the data collection protocols to test the hypothesis are relatively easy. Consider the timeline of the project; will it last for one year or twenty or more? Also, how will the data be collected? This can range from website-based data collection, to the use of apps on smart phones, paper data collection, or even only sample collection without observations. Success for a project’s impact on the participant hinges on the participants’ need to see the value in their contribution to a research project or question. It should be clear that their time and resources are respected, their inputs are high quality and appreciated. They must feel that they work they are doing is important.