Dataset Information

Trade-offs in motivating volunteer effort: Experimental evidence on voluntary contributions to science.

ABSTRACT: Digitization has facilitated the proliferation of crowd science by lowering the cost of finding individuals with the willingness to participate in science without pay. However, the factors that influence participation and the outcomes of voluntary participation are unclear. We report two findings from a field experiment on the world's largest crowd science platform that tests how voluntary contributions to science are affected by providing clarifying information on either the desired outcome of a scientific task or the labor requirements for completing the task. First, there is significant heterogeneity in the motivations and ability of contributors to crowd science. Second, both of the information interventions lead to significant decreases in the quantity and increases in the quality of contributions. Combined, our findings are consistent with the information interventions improving match quality between the task and the volunteer. Our findings suggest that science can be democratized by engaging individuals with varying skill levels and motivations with small changes in the information provided to participants.

SUBMITTER: Lyons E

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6871885 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Trade-offs in motivating volunteer effort: Experimental evidence on voluntary contributions to science.

Lyons Elizabeth E Zhang Laurina L

PloS one 20191121 11

Digitization has facilitated the proliferation of crowd science by lowering the cost of finding individuals with the willingness to participate in science without pay. However, the factors that influence participation and the outcomes of voluntary participation are unclear. We report two findings from a field experiment on the world's largest crowd science platform that tests how voluntary contributions to science are affected by providing clarifying information on either the desired outcome of ...[more]

PMID: 31751358

Similar Datasets

Project description:Immune system functioning and maintenance entails costs which may limit investment into other processes such as reproduction. Yet, the proximate mechanisms and 'currencies' mediating the costs of immune responses remain elusive. In vertebrates, up-regulation of the innate immune system is associated with rapid phagocytic production of pro-oxidant molecules (so-called 'oxidative burst' responses). Oxidative burst responses are intended to eliminate pathogens but may also constitute an immunopathological risk as they may induce oxidative damage to self cells. To minimize the risk of infection and, at the same time, damage to self, oxidative burst activity must be carefully balanced. The current levels of pro- and antioxidants (i.e. the individual oxidative state) is likely to be a critical factor affecting this balance, but this has not yet been evaluated. Here, we perform an experiment on wild-caught painted dragon lizards (Ctenophorus pictus) to examine how the strength of immune-stimulated oxidative burst responses of phagocytes in whole blood relates to individual oxidative status under control conditions and during an in vivo immune challenge with Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Under control conditions, oxidative burst responses were not predicted by the oxidative status of the lizards. LPS-injected individuals showed a strong increase in pro-oxidant levels and a strong decrease in antioxidant levels compared to control individuals demonstrating a shift in the pro-/antioxidant balance. Oxidative burst responses in LPS-injected lizards were positively related to post-challenge extracellular pro-oxidants (reflecting the level of cell activation) and negatively related to pre-challenge levels of mitochondrial superoxide (suggesting an immunoregulatory effect of this pro-oxidant). LPS-challenged males had higher oxidative burst responses than females, and in females oxidative burst responses seemed to depend more strongly on antioxidant status than in males. Our results confirm the idea that oxidative state may constrain the activity of the innate immune system. These constraints may have important consequences for the way selection acts on pro-oxidant generating processes.

Project description:BackgroundIn an energy-limited environment, caloric investments in one characteristic should trade-off with investments in other characteristics. In high pathogen ecologies, biasing energy allocation towards immune function over growth would be predicted, given strong selective pressures against early-life mortality.MethodologyIn the present study, we use flow cytometry to examine trade-offs between adaptive immune function (T cell subsets, B cells), innate immune function (natural killer cells), adaptive to innate ratio and height-for-age z scores (HAZ) among young children (N = 344; aged 2 months-8 years) in the Bolivian Amazon, using maternal BMI and child weight-for-height z scores (WHZ) as proxies for energetic status.ResultsMarkers of adaptive immune function negatively associate with child HAZ, a pattern most significant in preadolescents (3+ years). In children under three, maternal BMI appears to buffer immune and HAZ associations, while child energetic status (WHZ) moderates relationships in an unexpected direction: HAZ and immune associations are greater in preadolescents with higher WHZ. Children with low WHZ maintain similar levels of adaptive immune function, but are shorter compared to high WHZ peers.ConclusionsReduced investment in growth in favor of immunity may be necessary for survival in high pathogen contexts, even under energetic constraints. Further, genetic and environmental factors are important considerations for understanding variation in height within this population. These findings prompt consideration of whether there may be a threshold of investment into adaptive immunity required for survival in high pathogen environments, and thus question the universal relevance of height as a marker of health.Lay summaryAdaptive immune function is negatively associated with child height in this high pathogen environment. Further, low weight-for-height children are shorter but maintain similar immune levels. Findings question the relevance of height as a universal health marker, given that costs and benefits of height versus immunity may be calibrated to local ecology.

Dataset Information

Trade-offs in motivating volunteer effort: Experimental evidence on voluntary contributions to science.

Publications

Trade-offs in motivating volunteer effort: Experimental evidence on voluntary contributions to science.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets