%0 Journal Article
%T The Accuracy of Behavioural Data Collected by Visitors in a Zoo Environment: Can Visitors Collect Meaningful Data?
%A Rachel L. Williams
%A Sue K. Porter
%A Adam G. Hart
%A Anne E. Goodenough
%J International Journal of Zoology
%D 2012
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2012/724835
%X Volunteer data collection can be valuable for research. However, accuracy of such data is often a cause for concern. If clear, simple methods are used, volunteers can monitor species presence and abundance in a similar manner to professionals, but it is unknown whether volunteers could collect accurate data on animal behaviour. In this study, visitors at a Wetlands Centre were asked to record behavioural data for a group of captive otters by means of a short questionnaire. They were also asked to provide information about themselves to determine whether various factors would influence their ability to collect data. Using a novel analysis technique based on PCA, visitor data were compared to baseline activity budget data collected by a trained biologist to determine whether visitor data were accurate. Although the response rate was high, visitors were unable to collect accurate data. The principal reason was that visitors exceeded the observation time stated in the instructions, rather than being unable to record behaviours accurately. We propose that automated recording stations, such as touchscreen displays, might prevent this as well as other potential problems such as temporal autocorrelation of data and may result in accurate data collection by visiting members of the public. 1. Introduction Animal behaviour data are important across the field of biological sciences, from evolution and population biology to ethology in captive or domesticated animals. However, collecting these data is time consuming. Given that the duration of data collection for behavioural studies can range from several weeks [1, 2] to several years [3], funding professional researchers can be prohibitively expensive for many studies, especially those conducted by zoological parks and wildlife organisations [4, 5]. However, animal behaviour is of considerable interest to the general public (or at least a subset of the public with environmental and zoological interests), and many people spend considerable time observing animals as a hobby (e.g., watching pets, wild birds, or animals in zoos). Professionals could use this interest to recruit volunteers to record animal behaviour. There are many advantages of using volunteers to collect data. Volunteers can collect data at little or no financial cost to the organisation running the project [4¨C6]; indeed large numbers of untrained members of the public have been collecting biodiversity data for wildlife organisations for several decades. For example, in 2011, over 600,000 members of the public took part in the Royal Society for the
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijz/2012/724835/