Addressing Common Student Technical Errors in Field Data Collection: An Analysis of a Citizen-Science Monitoring Project

The scientific value of citizen-science programs is limited when the data gathered are inconsistent, erroneous, or otherwise unusable. Long-term monitoring studies, such as Our Project In Hawai’i’s Intertidal (OPIHI), have clear and consistent procedures and are thus a good model for evaluating the...

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Autores principales:	Joanna Philippoff, Erin Baumgartner
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	American Society for Microbiology 2016
Materias:	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Biology (General) QH301-705.5
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/bc88d35ba4fc4cfca851a6d0ff50646a
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:bc88d35ba4fc4cfca851a6d0ff50646a2021-11-15T15:16:53ZAddressing Common Student Technical Errors in Field Data Collection: An Analysis of a Citizen-Science Monitoring Project10.1128/jmbe.v17i1.9991935-78851935-7877https://doaj.org/article/bc88d35ba4fc4cfca851a6d0ff50646a2016-03-01T00:00:00Zhttps://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/jmbe.v17i1.999https://doaj.org/toc/1935-7877https://doaj.org/toc/1935-7885The scientific value of citizen-science programs is limited when the data gathered are inconsistent, erroneous, or otherwise unusable. Long-term monitoring studies, such as Our Project In Hawai’i’s Intertidal (OPIHI), have clear and consistent procedures and are thus a good model for evaluating the quality of participant data. The purpose of this study was to examine the kinds of errors made by student researchers during OPIHI data collection and factors that increase or decrease the likelihood of these errors. Twenty-four different types of errors were grouped into four broad error categories: missing data, sloppiness, methodological errors, and misidentification errors. “Sloppiness” was the most prevalent error type. Error rates decreased with field trip experience and student age. We suggest strategies to reduce data collection errors applicable to many types of citizen-science projects including emphasizing neat data collection, explicitly addressing and discussing the problems of falsifying data, emphasizing the importance of using standard scientific vocabulary, and giving participants multiple opportunities to practice to build their data collection techniques and skills.Joanna PhilippoffErin BaumgartnerAmerican Society for MicrobiologyarticleSpecial aspects of educationLC8-6691Biology (General)QH301-705.5ENJournal of Microbiology & Biology Education, Vol 17, Iss 1, Pp 51-55 (2016)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Biology (General) QH301-705.5
spellingShingle	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Joanna Philippoff Erin Baumgartner Addressing Common Student Technical Errors in Field Data Collection: An Analysis of a Citizen-Science Monitoring Project
description	The scientific value of citizen-science programs is limited when the data gathered are inconsistent, erroneous, or otherwise unusable. Long-term monitoring studies, such as Our Project In Hawai’i’s Intertidal (OPIHI), have clear and consistent procedures and are thus a good model for evaluating the quality of participant data. The purpose of this study was to examine the kinds of errors made by student researchers during OPIHI data collection and factors that increase or decrease the likelihood of these errors. Twenty-four different types of errors were grouped into four broad error categories: missing data, sloppiness, methodological errors, and misidentification errors. “Sloppiness” was the most prevalent error type. Error rates decreased with field trip experience and student age. We suggest strategies to reduce data collection errors applicable to many types of citizen-science projects including emphasizing neat data collection, explicitly addressing and discussing the problems of falsifying data, emphasizing the importance of using standard scientific vocabulary, and giving participants multiple opportunities to practice to build their data collection techniques and skills.
format	article
author	Joanna Philippoff Erin Baumgartner
author_facet	Joanna Philippoff Erin Baumgartner
author_sort	Joanna Philippoff
title	Addressing Common Student Technical Errors in Field Data Collection: An Analysis of a Citizen-Science Monitoring Project
title_short	Addressing Common Student Technical Errors in Field Data Collection: An Analysis of a Citizen-Science Monitoring Project
title_full	Addressing Common Student Technical Errors in Field Data Collection: An Analysis of a Citizen-Science Monitoring Project
title_fullStr	Addressing Common Student Technical Errors in Field Data Collection: An Analysis of a Citizen-Science Monitoring Project
title_full_unstemmed	Addressing Common Student Technical Errors in Field Data Collection: An Analysis of a Citizen-Science Monitoring Project
title_sort	addressing common student technical errors in field data collection: an analysis of a citizen-science monitoring project
publisher	American Society for Microbiology
publishDate	2016
url	https://doaj.org/article/bc88d35ba4fc4cfca851a6d0ff50646a
work_keys_str_mv	AT joannaphilippoff addressingcommonstudenttechnicalerrorsinfielddatacollectionananalysisofacitizensciencemonitoringproject AT erinbaumgartner addressingcommonstudenttechnicalerrorsinfielddatacollectionananalysisofacitizensciencemonitoringproject
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Addressing Common Student Technical Errors in Field Data Collection: An Analysis of a Citizen-Science Monitoring Project

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