Action
Video tool
DATA AWARENESS ACTION
Video tool
Type of tool: Artefact
Phase: Action
INDIVIDUAL REPORT RESULTS
How to give back results
The Challenge
We often focus too much on data collection, but we forget to provide citizens with timely feedback on the data they collected about themselves. Waiting for results to be published in academic journals can be too long for citizens who spent time and energy collecting the data for the study. Designing feedback mechanisms for different stages of the project is very important to sustain citizens’ engagement over time .
¿How to give feedback to participants about the results of the study?
The Tool
This is a personalized report sent to each participant that took part in the data collection. This is sent soon after the completion of the data collection and before the analysis of the whole set of data is completed.
Download the toolbox
We share with you some resources that can be useful to carry out this activity.
Discover the tool in action!
Read the case study and understand how this tool has been used in a real citizen science project.
Individual report results on air pollution and mental health
CitieS-Health Barcelona Pilot
What
In the CitieS-Health Barcelona pilot, citizens collected data through a diffusion NO2 tube and daily surveys on an app. After a few weeks from the end of data collection, we sent by email to each participant a report containing some basic analysis of the data they collected.
Why
To return information to citizens who spent time and energy in the data collection.
To encourage citizens’ reflections on the data and foster citizens’ input to the data analysis.
How
List of the data Provide a complete overview of the data the participant has collected.
Facilitate interpretation Additional information can be provided to enable participants to better contextualize and interpret the data. For example, if you provide the participant with the level of air pollution they were exposed to during the study, it may also be helpful to provide information on limits imposed by national or international regulations. In this way, the participant can better interpret the relevance of their own value. Another idea is to provide information that allows participants to compare their results with others. How well did I perform compared to the other study participants?
Discuss limitations It is important to clearly explain the limitations of the report so that participants do not make erroneous and hasty interpretations and analysis.
Automate the production of the report Various software can be used to automate the production of the report, which might be especially important if you have a high number of participants.