Accompanying Data for "Stakeholder and rightsholder engagement in environmental research: Lessons from Canadian scholars engaging diverse groups"

Accompanying Data for "Stakeholder and rightsholder engagement in environmental research: Lessons from Canadian scholars engaging diverse groups".

This dataset contains responses from an online questionnaire examining stakeholder and rightsholder engagement in community-engaged environmental research in Canada. The survey was administered using Qualtrics between August and October 2023 to academic researchers (faculty and postdoctoral fellows) who had led environmental research projects involving stakeholders and/or rightsholders between 2018 and 2023.

The questionnaire collected both quantitative (e.g., multiple-choice, Likert-scale) and qualitative (open-ended) responses related to project characteristics, engagement processes, perceived success, challenges, and lessons learned. Topics include project objectives, geographic scope, motivations for engagement, methods of participant recruitment and involvement, definitions of success, and reflections on best practices.

The dataset is provided in CSV format and represents de-identified responses. Personal identifiers (e.g., names, institutions, email addresses) have been removed. In cases where respondents consented, project names and locations may be included; otherwise, anonymized descriptors are used. Some variables include missing values due to optional questions or participant choice to skip items.

This dataset supports a mixed-methods analysis combining thematic coding of qualitative responses with descriptive quantitative summaries. It is intended to inform research and practice on stakeholder and rightsholder engagement in environmental research, particularly within the Canadian context.

The study received ethics approval from the Brock University Research Ethics Board (REB# 22-142-HOLZER), and all participants provided informed consent prior to participation.