Create your Plan

Evaluate your Approach

Evaluating your citizen science project is integral to managing where your project is going and what it is achieving, but also puts it in the best position to maximise your project's impact

There are a number of ways you can evaluate your citizen science project. The table below outlines some of the more common approaches:

Source: ECSA 2017

Focus	Indicators	Actors
Learning	Improved skills, knowledge gain, Personal development Behaviour change, attitudes, motivation	Participants, focus on Citizens
Scientific	Number of papers published Number of citations, number of grants Size and quality of scientific database Number of theses	Participants, focus on Scientists
Socio-ecological	Enhanced social capital, community capacity building Economic impact (job creation)	Community
Communication	Identification of audience Understanding needs of audience Collaboration with communication experts	Proposers, reviewers

For more information about evaluating your citizen science project check out this article or conduct some desktop research yourself.

It is recommended that you evaluate and integrate findings from this evaluation back into your project to consistently improve it. You should also involve your project participants in your evaluation to ensure that your project continues to be fit for them.

Consider Approvals, Permissions and Licensing

Define how you will Collect and Analyse your Data