Gamification for Improving Accessibility and Supporting Behaviour Change in Citizen Science

Citizen science (CS), the participation of volunteers in the process of scientific data collection, data analysis, or classification, often requires volunteers to repeatedly participate and engage with the project. Gamification—the application of game elements outside traditional gaming—has attracted significant attention in the CS community to improve this participation and engagement in volunteers. Gamification could also be useful in supporting outcomes of a CS project, such as behavioural change of the volunteer beyond the project. However, understanding best practices for its use across different projects remains limited. To address this gap, this study examined CS experts’ perspectives on the use of gamification and its capacity to inspire behaviour change in CS volunteers. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 17 CS experts from different disciplines, with differing expertise and perspectives, to understand the potential to inspire behaviour change through CS in terms of broadening CS access and/or behaviour changes beyond the project. A theoretical lens of the COM-B model was used to structure responses around three key factors of capability, opportunity, and motivation to examine whether CS participation can improve volunteer capability, highlight opportunities for volunteers, or motivate them to engage in behaviour advocated by the project. Reflexive thematic analysis revealed that gamification can be useful in improving the accessibility of CS projects for a more diverse range of participants and supporting behaviour change, primarily through enhancing the capability and opportunity factors of the COM-B model.