--- title: "Younger, more educated U.S. adults are more likely to take part in citizen science research" description: "One-in-ten U.S. adults say they have taken part in citizen science in the past year, and 26% say they have ever done so." date: "2020-06-25" authors: - name: "Cary Lynne Thigpen" job_title: "Former Research Assistant" link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/cary-lynne-thigpen/" - name: "Cary Funk" job_title: "Former Director, Science and Society Research" link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/cary-funk/" url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2020/06/25/younger-more-educated-u-s-adults-are-more-likely-to-take-part-in-citizen-science-research/" categories: - "Comparison of Generations" - "Political & Civic Engagement" - "Science" - "Science Knowledge" - "Voter Participation" - "Younger Adults" --- # Younger, more educated U.S. adults are more likely to take part in citizen science research ![Zane Baker scans the skies for migrating raptors as part of an annual hawk watch event on Bradbury Mountain in Pownal, Maine. His data goes to a national database. (Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images)](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/FT_20.06.25_CitizenScience_feature.jpg) *Zane Baker scans the skies for migrating raptors as part of an annual hawk watch event on Bradbury Mountain in Pownal, Maine. His data goes to a national database. (Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images)* In recent years, a host of new ways have emerged for people with little or no formal science training to take part in scientific research projects. Such [citizen science](https://scistarter.org/citizen-science) often entails crowdsourcing data collection related to natural phenomena such as [birds](https://ebird.org/home) and [astronomical objects ](https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/hughdickinson/galaxy-zoo-clump-scout) – and, lately, [the COVID-19 pandemic](https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/citizen-science-and-covid-19-power-distanced-crowd) – but it can encompass a wide range of other activities. ![One-in-ten Americans have taken part in a citizen science activity within the past year](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/ft_2020.06.25_citizenscience_01.png) One-in-ten U.S. adults say they have taken part in an activity classified as citizen science in the past year, and 26% say they have ever done so, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted April 29-May 5. [collapsible icon="alt"] #### How we did this This analysis about Americans’ behavioral engagement with science and scientific research is based on a survey of 10,957 U.S. adults conducted from April 29 to May 5, 2020. Everyone who took part is a member of Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the [ATP’s methodology](https://www.pewresearch.org/methods/u-s-survey-research/american-trends-panel/). Here are [the questions used](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Topline-for-Citizen-Science.pdf) for this report, along with responses, as well as its [methodology](https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2020/05/21/trust-in-medical-scientists-methodology/). Other ways people have engaged with science and scientific research over the past year include taking part in a clinical or medical research study (6%) and giving money to support medical or science research (13%). For comparison, about two-in-ten adults (19%) and 44% of parents with a minor-age child say they have helped a child with a science project in the past year. ![Younger, highly educated more likely to have participated in citizen science](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/ft_2020.06.25_citizenscience_02.png) Younger generations and Americans with a postgraduate degree are more likely to have participated in some kind of citizen science activity. One-in-seven Millennial and Generation Z adults (14%) have taken part in a citizen science project over the past year, and a total of 34% have done so at some point in the past. By contrast, Baby Boomer and older adults are about half as likely to say they have participated in a citizen science activity in the past year. People with higher levels of education are more likely to have engaged in all five science-related activities on the survey, including citizen science. Among those with a postgraduate degree, 15% have done a citizen science activity in the past year, compared with 7% of those with a high school diploma or less. (For more information, see the detailed table below.) While a [recent Center study](https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2020/05/21/trust-in-medical-scientists-has-grown-in-u-s-but-mainly-among-democrats/) found a growing divide between political groups over their trust in scientists, citizen science tends to cut across party lines; 8% of Republicans and those who lean to the Republican Party say they took part in a citizen science project over the past year, as did 11% of Democrats and Democratic leaners. *Note: Here are [the questions used](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Topline-for-Citizen-Science.pdf) for this report, along with responses, as well as its [methodology](https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2020/05/21/trust-in-medical-scientists-methodology/).* [collapsible icon="alt"] #### Detailed table of results ![More educated U.S. adults are more likely to have participated in science-related activities](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/ft_2020.06.25_citizenscience_03.png)