Trade-offs in motivating volunteer effort: Experimental evidence on voluntary contributions to science.
Digitization has facilitated the proliferation of crowd science by lowering the cost of finding individuals with the willingness to participate in science without pay. However, the factors that influence participation and the outcomes of voluntary participation are unclear. We report two findings fr...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2019-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0224946 |
| _version_ | 1818833666823946240 |
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| author | Elizabeth Lyons Laurina Zhang |
| author_facet | Elizabeth Lyons Laurina Zhang |
| author_sort | Elizabeth Lyons |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Digitization has facilitated the proliferation of crowd science by lowering the cost of finding individuals with the willingness to participate in science without pay. However, the factors that influence participation and the outcomes of voluntary participation are unclear. We report two findings from a field experiment on the world's largest crowd science platform that tests how voluntary contributions to science are affected by providing clarifying information on either the desired outcome of a scientific task or the labor requirements for completing the task. First, there is significant heterogeneity in the motivations and ability of contributors to crowd science. Second, both of the information interventions lead to significant decreases in the quantity and increases in the quality of contributions. Combined, our findings are consistent with the information interventions improving match quality between the task and the volunteer. Our findings suggest that science can be democratized by engaging individuals with varying skill levels and motivations with small changes in the information provided to participants. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T02:22:33Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a744aba701d54e60a39b126c9c27ce2e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T02:22:33Z |
| publishDate | 2019-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-a744aba701d54e60a39b126c9c27ce2e2022-12-21T20:40:06ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032019-01-011411e022494610.1371/journal.pone.0224946Trade-offs in motivating volunteer effort: Experimental evidence on voluntary contributions to science.Elizabeth LyonsLaurina ZhangDigitization has facilitated the proliferation of crowd science by lowering the cost of finding individuals with the willingness to participate in science without pay. However, the factors that influence participation and the outcomes of voluntary participation are unclear. We report two findings from a field experiment on the world's largest crowd science platform that tests how voluntary contributions to science are affected by providing clarifying information on either the desired outcome of a scientific task or the labor requirements for completing the task. First, there is significant heterogeneity in the motivations and ability of contributors to crowd science. Second, both of the information interventions lead to significant decreases in the quantity and increases in the quality of contributions. Combined, our findings are consistent with the information interventions improving match quality between the task and the volunteer. Our findings suggest that science can be democratized by engaging individuals with varying skill levels and motivations with small changes in the information provided to participants.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0224946 |
| spellingShingle | Elizabeth Lyons Laurina Zhang Trade-offs in motivating volunteer effort: Experimental evidence on voluntary contributions to science. PLoS ONE |
| title | Trade-offs in motivating volunteer effort: Experimental evidence on voluntary contributions to science. |
| title_full | Trade-offs in motivating volunteer effort: Experimental evidence on voluntary contributions to science. |
| title_fullStr | Trade-offs in motivating volunteer effort: Experimental evidence on voluntary contributions to science. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Trade-offs in motivating volunteer effort: Experimental evidence on voluntary contributions to science. |
| title_short | Trade-offs in motivating volunteer effort: Experimental evidence on voluntary contributions to science. |
| title_sort | trade offs in motivating volunteer effort experimental evidence on voluntary contributions to science |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0224946 |
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