Additionally, scientific efficacy was positively related to participation via reward motivation. This indicates that rewards for citizen science projects may not lead to more involvement independent from prior scientific involvement. People who already feel scientifically empowered are more likely to participate because they may feel like they have a higher chance of succeeding. 

Reward Motivation and Participation 

 External reward motivation is defined as the extent to which students participate to win citizen science awards; this may play a role in stimulating citizen science participation. 

State University of New York at Stony Brook

 This study explored the predictors and outcomes of youth participation in citizen science. Past research has found a link between young people’s scientific attitudes and their scientific engagement. Three critical aspects of attitudes are interest, efficiency, and motivation.

Predictors of Participating in Voluntary Political Research

Heiss, Raffael, et al. “Citizen Science in Schools: Predictors and Outcomes of Participating in Voluntary Political Research.” SAGE Open, Oct. 2021, doi:10.1177/21582440211016428.

Citizen Science in Schools: Predictors and Outcomes of Participating in Voluntary Political Research

Efficacy is described as the belief that one has that one can execute the action required to produce given attainments. In this context, political and scientific efficacy is assessed as the perceived competence to engage and contribute to scientific research and political activities

Efficacy(Citizen Science in Schools: Predictors and Outcomes of Participating in Voluntary Political Research)

External Reward Motivation

It was found that certain groups of students were more likely to participate in citizen science, and said participation did positively impact the student’s scientific attitudes. However, there was a correlation between non-participation and negative scientific attitudes. Students were more likely to participate in citizen science projects if they were motivated by learning and had higher interests in science and politics. 


Participation and Scientific Attitudes 

Females were more likely to be motivated by learning and thus were more likely to participate. This corroborates past research, demonstrating that females are more intrinsically motivated and self-determined to succeed in education and thus participate in voluntary educational activity. 

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