Types of Citizen Science

Citizen science includes a wide range of activities and is gaining increasing recognition among the public and within the area of research.

Understanding approaches to citizen science

Citizen science includes a wide range of approaches to involving the public in research. Some projects focus primarily on data collection, while others involve participants more closely in shaping research questions, methods and interpretation.

At UCL, we take a broad and inclusive approach to citizen science across disciplines and contexts. You can read more about this in the Principles for Citizen Science at UCL.

There are many ways that types and levels of citizen science can be understood, we have linked to a few others below. One particularly effective description of the different types of citizen science was designed by Professor Muki Haklay, from UCL's Department of Geography. In his model, he uses four modes as a framework for understanding how participation can occur at different stages of the research process, depending on the design and context of a project.

The four modes of citizen science

Haklay’s model describes four broad modes of citizen science, based on the roles participants play in research. It can help researchers and project leads think about how people will be involved, and what kinds of support, collaboration and recognition may be needed.

1. Crowdsourcing: In this mode, participants act as sensors by contributing observations, measurements or other forms of data. Participation is usually limited to data collection. A well-known example of this mode is RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch.
2. Distributed intelligence: Here, participants contribute to basic interpretation, classification or analysis, and may also participate in data collection. One example of this approach is Transcribe Bentham.
3. Participatory science: In this mode, participants help shape the research question or focus, as well as contributing to data collection. This creates greater opportunities for dialogue between researchers and participants. #UCLChemAirPoll is a good example of this mode.
4. Extreme citizen science: This is the most collaborative mode, where participants and researchers work together across multiple stages of the research process, including problem definition, data collection and analysis. Haklay’s work on Extreme Citizen Science at UCL also emphasises bottom-up approaches that respond to local needs, practices and cultures. For example, see projects run by the Extreme Citizen Science (ExCiteS) research group.

Haklay’s model shows that citizen science is not a single method, but a range of approaches to public participation in research. It can be applied across disciplines and supports researchers, and project leads in choosing an approach that fits with their aims, participants and wider research context.

References

There are links below to other commonly used models to show different ways of understanding citizen science; this is not an exhaustive list.

• Three main types of citizen science detailed in the chapter "Citizen Science for Observing and Understanding the Earth", (Muki) Haklay, M., Mazumdar, S., Wardlaw, J. (2018). [In: Mathieu, PP., Aubrecht, C. (eds) Earth Observation Open Science and Innovation.]
• Levels of engagement including the "Doing It Together Science" (DITOs) case study in the journal article "Citizen science impact pathways for a positive contribution to public participation in science", Skarlatidou, A. and Haklay, M. (2021). [In JCOM 20 (06), A02]