title: Influence of volunteer and project characteristics on data quality of biological surveys.
abstract: Volunteer involvement in biological surveys is becoming common in conservation and ecology, prompting questions on the quality of data collected in such surveys. In a systematic review of the peer-reviewed literature on the quality of data collected by volunteers, we examined the characteristics of volunteers (e.g., age, prior knowledge) and projects (e.g., systematic vs. opportunistic monitoring schemes) that affect data quality with regards to standardization of sampling, accuracy and precision of data collection, spatial and temporal representation of data, and sample size. Most studies (70%, n = 71) focused on the act of data collection. The majority of assessments of volunteer characteristics (58%, n = 93) examined the effect of prior knowledge and experience on quality of the data collected, often by comparing volunteers with experts or professionals, who were usually assumed to collect higher quality data. However, when both groups' data were compared with the same accuracy standard, professional data were more accurate in only 4 of 7 cases. The few studies that measured precision of volunteer and professional data did not conclusively show that professional data were less variable than volunteer data. To improve data quality, studies recommended changes to survey protocols, volunteer training, statistical analyses, and project structure (e.g., volunteer recruitment and retention).
authors: Conservation Biology Graduate Program, Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology, University of Minnesota, 135 Skok Hall, 2003 Upper Buford Circle, Saint Paul, MN, 55108, U.S.A.. lewan121@umn.edu.
authors: Eva
authors: E
authors: Lewandowski
authors: Conservation Biology Graduate Program, Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology, University of Minnesota, 135 Skok Hall, 2003 Upper Buford Circle, Saint Paul, MN, 55108, U.S.A.
authors: Hannah
authors: H
authors: Specht
mesh_terms: D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods*; D000068598:Data Accuracy; D066264:Datasets as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D014838:Volunteers
keywords: ciencia ciudadana; citizen science; entrenamiento; experience; experiencia; motivación; motivation; reclutamiento; recruitment; retención; retention; training