Redefining the boundaries of citizen social science to avoid a repackaging of common social science methods.
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| Title: | Redefining the boundaries of citizen social science to avoid a repackaging of common social science methods. |
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| Authors: | Freiling, Isabelle1 (AUTHOR) isabelle.freiling@utah.edu, Matthes, Jörg2 (AUTHOR) joerg.matthes@univie.ac.at |
| Source: | Technology in Society. Sep2024, Vol. 78, pN.PAG-N.PAG. 1p. |
| Subject Terms: | *Research personnel, Citizen science, Social interaction, Acquisition of data, Social boundaries |
| Abstract: | Citizen science (CS) means including volunteers alongside professional researchers in the research process. CS is predominantly and traditionally used in natural sciences, but also increasingly in social sciences. The understanding of traditional CS is oftentimes completely transferred to citizen social science, which we argue is inadequate. As social sciences study human interactions, they involve people in their data collection all the time. Commonly used social science methods therefore already cover one type of CS that is defined by including volunteers mainly in data collection: contributory CS. This overlap creates an urgent need for redefining the boundaries of citizen social science. We argue for only calling those projects citizen social science that go beyond contributory projects to avoid the mere repacking of commonly used social science methods. • Transferring the definition of traditional citizen science to citizen social science is inadequate. • Common social science methods include citizens in data collection. • Common social science methods thus already cover one type of traditional citizen science. • Only projects including volunteers beyond data collection should be called citizen social science. • A narrower definition of citizen social science avoids a repackaging of common social science methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| Database: | Education Research Complete |
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