Data from: Diversifying large-scale participatory science: The efficacy of engagement through facilitator organizations

Large-scale, scientist-led, participatory science (citizen science)
projects often engage primarily participants who are White, wealthy, and
well-educated. Calls to diversify contributory projects are increasingly
common, but little research has evaluated the efficacy of suggested
strategies for diversification. We engaged participants in Crowd the Tap
through facilitator organizations like Historically Black Colleges and
Universities (HBCUs), predominantly White institutions (PWI), high school
science classrooms, and corporate volunteer programs. Crowd the Tap is a
contributory project focused on identifying and addressing lead
contamination in household drinking water in the United States. We
investigated how participant diversity with respect to race, ethnicity,
and homeownership (a proxy for income) differed between participation
facilitated through a partner organization and in unfacilitated
participation in which participants came to the project independently. We
were also interested in which facilitators were most effective at
increasing participant diversity. White and wealthy participants were
overrepresented in unfacilitated participation. Facilitation helped
increase engagement of people of color, especially Black households, and
lower-income households. High schools were particularly effective at
engaging Hispanic or Latino participants and HBCUs were important for
engaging Black households. Ultimately, our results suggest that engagement
through facilitator organizations may be an effective means of engaging
diverse participants in large-scale projects. Our results have important
implications for the field of participatory science as we seek to identify
evidence-based strategies for diversifying project participants.