Public participation in research, known as citizen science, has a unique opportunity to strengthen society’s connection with science, but this potential has not been effectively explored. The framework of science capital – encompassing an individual’s science-related experiences, attitudes, thoughts, and feelings – provides a useful lens to explore this relationship by accounting for a breadth of social and cultural influences beyond the intervention itself. Therefore, this thesis aimed to explore how citizen science experiences interact with participants’ science capital. It accomplished this by developing an accessible investigation into Drosophila melanogaster self-medication behaviour, allowing participating young people to make novel scientific contributions to behavioural and evolutionary ecology. Their science capital was then evaluated using a mixed methods approach, complementing a quantitative survey with qualitative focus groups to better understand their lived experience of science capital and citizen science. Analysis revealed that, despite participants having relatively high quantitative levels of science capital, the qualitative data differentiated individuals’ motivations for participating in citizen science beyond what the survey alone could indicate. Their intentions ranged from strengthening their existing interests in science to gaining career-specific experience, suggesting that societal outcomes are unlikely to be made more effective by targeting audiences according to their quantitative science capital alone. As a result, citizen science projects intending to support societal connections with science should first seek to understand the science capital of their volunteers and how they intend to use it in their participation.
Citizen science in behavioural ecology
Jarvis, E. (Author). 22 Apr 2026
Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis › PhD