Can Short-Term Citizen Science Training Increase Knowledge, Improve Attitudes, and Change Behavior to Protect Land Crabs?
Journal
Sustainability
Journal Volume
11
Journal Issue
14
Pages
3918
Date Issued
2019
Author(s)
Abstract
Citizen science projects are considered popular and efficient approaches to scientific research and conservation of sustainability. In addition, much research suggests that citizen science can improve participants' environmental and scientific literacy when they participate in surveys over a period of time. However, considerable research indicates that people in short-term training programs do not change their environmental literacy significantly. Nevertheless, studies have stated that these results might result from inappropriate evaluation methods. In this study, we used personal meaning mapping (PMM) to evaluate participants' knowledge, attitude, and behavior intention in relation to land crab protection. This method merges quantitative and qualitative dimensions, used in scientific knowledge research, which we extend to evaluate attitude and behavior intention. As a result, even with short-term training, we observe that participants' knowledge, attitude, and behavior intention significantly improves. Although some individuals exhibit no change in certain respects, we use PMM to understand the causes in detail. Taiwan is an island, famous for its fertile landscapes and biodiversity, and we anticipate finding efficient means to improve public environmental literacy. According to our research, public engagement in citizen science projects is an excellent approach to environmental education and conservation for sustainability. © 2019 by the authors.
Subjects
Citizen science training; Environmental literacy; Land crab conservation; Personal meaning mapping; Public engagement
Other Subjects
conservation management; crab; environmental protection; environmental response; human behavior; knowledge; literacy; local participation; mapping method; public attitude; sustainability; training; Gecarcinidae
Type
journal article