Why watch bees? Motivations of citizen science volunteers in the Great Pollinator Project

The benefits of citizen science to conservation, science, and socio-ecological systems as well as to participants themselves are increasingly recognized and valued, yet what motivates volunteers remains little studied and poorly understood. To better understand citizen scientists' motivations and how they benefit from their participation, we surveyed volunteers in the Great Pollinator Project, a conservation-related project in New York City. We conducted pre- and post-season surveys and focus group sessions to find out who the active volunteers were, their reasons for joining, what benefits of participation they experienced, as well as challenges they encountered collecting and submitting data. In comparison with results of several surveys of environmental and conservation volunteers, we found a similar range of motivators. However, while studies of motivations of environmental volunteers have indicated helping the environment as the strongest factor, interest in learning about bees—the subject of the study—was the top motivation of our citizen science volunteers. Helping or contributing to science was the second most cited motivator for participants in the project. Less strong were outdoor/recreation and social factors. We discuss some of the steps we took in response to participants' feedback in order to improve volunteer recruitment and retention. We also make additional recommendations for project design and research to enhance understanding of volunteer motivations, which will benefit volunteers themselves as well as strengthen their contribution to conservation outcomes.