IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v15y2018i5p960-d145748.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Advice and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for Citizen-Science Environmental Health Assessments

Author

Listed:
  • Timothy M. Barzyk

    (National Exposure Research Laboratory, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, USA)

  • Hongtai Huang

    (Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA)

  • Ronald Williams

    (National Exposure Research Laboratory, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, USA)

  • Amanda Kaufman

    (Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, USA)

  • Jonathan Essoka

    (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region III, Philadelphia, PA 19103, USA)

Abstract

Citizen science provides quantitative results to support environmental health assessments (EHAs), but standardized approaches do not currently exist to translate findings into actionable solutions. The emergence of low-cost portable sensor technologies and proliferation of publicly available datasets provides unparalleled access to supporting evidence; yet data collection, analysis, interpretation, visualization, and communication are subjective approaches that must be tailored to a decision-making audience capable of improving environmental health. A decade of collaborative efforts and two citizen science projects contributed to three lessons learned and a set of frequently asked questions (FAQs) that address the complexities of environmental health and interpersonal relations often encountered in citizen science EHAs. Each project followed a structured step-by-step process in order to compare and contrast methods and approaches. These lessons and FAQs provide advice to translate citizen science research into actionable solutions in the context of a diverse range of environmental health issues and local stakeholders.

Suggested Citation

  • Timothy M. Barzyk & Hongtai Huang & Ronald Williams & Amanda Kaufman & Jonathan Essoka, 2018. "Advice and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for Citizen-Science Environmental Health Assessments," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-20, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:5:p:960-:d:145748
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/5/960/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/5/960/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sarah Alves & Joan Tilghman & Arlene Rosenbaum & Devon C. Payne-Sturges, 2012. "U.S. EPA Authority to Use Cumulative Risk Assessments in Environmental Decision-Making," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-23, May.
    2. Fernández, Roberto J., 2016. "How to be a more effective environmental scientist in management and policy contexts," Environmental Science & Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 171-176.
    3. Yago Martín & Marcos Rodrigues Mimbrero & María Zúñiga-Antón, 2017. "Community vulnerability to hazards: introducing local expert knowledge into the equation," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 89(1), pages 367-386, October.
    4. Davyda Hammond & Kathryn Conlon & Timothy Barzyk & Teresa Chahine & Valerie Zartarian & Brad Schultz, 2011. "Assessment and Application of National Environmental Databases and Mapping Tools at the Local Level to Two Community Case Studies," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(3), pages 475-487, March.
    5. Gary S. Young & Mary A. Fox & Michael Trush & Norma Kanarek & Thomas A. Glass & Frank C. Curriero, 2012. "Differential Exposure to Hazardous Air Pollution in the United States: A Multilevel Analysis of Urbanization and Neighborhood Socioeconomic Deprivation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-22, June.
    6. Ken Sexton, 2012. "Cumulative Risk Assessment: An Overview of Methodological Approaches for Evaluating Combined Health Effects from Exposure to Multiple Environmental Stressors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-21, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sandie Ha & Carrie Nobles & Jenna Kanner & Seth Sherman & Seung-Hyun Cho & Neil Perkins & Andrew Williams & William Grobman & Joseph Biggio & Akila Subramaniam & Marion Ouidir & Zhen Chen & Pauline Me, 2020. "Air Pollution Exposure Monitoring among Pregnant Women with and without Asthma," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(13), pages 1-16, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Leah Zilversmit Pao & Emily W. Harville & Jeffrey K. Wickliffe & Arti Shankar & Pierre Buekens, 2019. "The Cumulative Risk of Chemical and Nonchemical Exposures on Birth Outcomes in Healthy Women: The Fetal Growth Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-16, October.
    2. Devon C. Payne-Sturges & Thurka Sangaramoorthy & Helen Mittmann, 2021. "Framing Environmental Health Decision-Making: The Struggle over Cumulative Impacts Policy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-21, April.
    3. Gregory C. Pratt & Monika L. Vadali & Dorian L. Kvale & Kristie M. Ellickson, 2015. "Traffic, Air Pollution, Minority and Socio-Economic Status: Addressing Inequities in Exposure and Risk," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-18, May.
    4. Kathleen Hibbert & Nicolle S. Tulve, 2019. "State-of-the-Science Review of Non-Chemical Stressors Found in a Child’s Social Environment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(22), pages 1-27, November.
    5. Melissa Robson-Williams & Bruce Small & Roger Robson-Williams & Nick Kirk, 2021. "Handrails through the Swamp? A Pilot to Test the Integration and Implementation Science Framework in Complex Real-World Research," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-23, May.
    6. Raoul S. Liévanos, 2018. "Retooling CalEnviroScreen: Cumulative Pollution Burden and Race-Based Environmental Health Vulnerabilities in California," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-26, April.
    7. Sam Popple & Kïrsten Way & Richard Johnstone & Richard Croucher & Peta Miller, 2023. "A comparative analysis of Inspector responses to complaints about psychosocial and physical hazards," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(1), pages 234-249, January.
    8. Timothy M. Barzyk & Sacoby Wilson & Anthony Wilson, 2015. "Community, State, and Federal Approaches to Cumulative Risk Assessment: Challenges and Opportunities for Integration," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-26, April.
    9. Esther Min & Deric Gruen & Debolina Banerjee & Tina Echeverria & Lauren Freelander & Michael Schmeltz & Erik Saganić & Millie Piazza & Vanessa E. Galaviz & Michael Yost & Edmund Y.W. Seto, 2019. "The Washington State Environmental Health Disparities Map: Development of a Community-Responsive Cumulative Impacts Assessment Tool," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(22), pages 1-16, November.
    10. Miguel Ángel López-Navarro & Jaume Llorens-Monzonís & Vicente Tortosa-Edo, 2013. "The Effect of Social Trust on Citizens’ Health Risk Perception in the Context of a Petrochemical Industrial Complex," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-18, January.
    11. Kathleen Kerr & Gayle Morse & Donald Graves & Fei Zuo & Alain Lipowicz & David O. Carpenter, 2019. "A Detoxification Intervention for Gulf War Illness: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(21), pages 1-27, October.
    12. Birute Balseviciene & Liuda Sinkariova & Regina Grazuleviciene & Sandra Andrusaityte & Inga Uzdanaviciute & Audrius Dedele & Mark J. Nieuwenhuijsen, 2014. "Impact of Residential Greenness on Preschool Children’s Emotional and Behavioral Problems," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-14, June.
    13. Nikolay Rashevskiy & Natalia Sadovnikova & Tatyana Ereshchenko & Danila Parygin & Alexander Ignatyev, 2023. "Atmospheric Ecology Modeling for the Sustainable Development of the Urban Environment," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-24, February.
    14. Rui Wang & Yingying Yang & Renjie Chen & Haidong Kan & Jinyi Wu & Keran Wang & Jay E. Maddock & Yuanan Lu, 2015. "Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices (KAP) of the Relationship between Air Pollution and Children’s Respiratory Health in Shanghai, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-15, February.
    15. Kristen Burwell-Naney & Sacoby M. Wilson & Siobhan T. Whitlock & Robin Puett, 2019. "Hybrid Resiliency-Stressor Conceptual Framework for Informing Decision Support Tools and Addressing Environmental Injustice and Health Inequities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-19, April.
    16. Anand & Prodyut Bhattacharya, 2023. "Urbanites’ perceptions of green spaces and their roles in effective management: a survey-based study from Delhi, India," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 13(1), pages 31-42, March.
    17. Ming Zhong & Kairong Lin & Guoping Tang & Qian Zhang & Yang Hong & Xiaohong Chen, 2020. "A Framework to Evaluate Community Resilience to Urban Floods: A Case Study in Three Communities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-21, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:5:p:960-:d:145748. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.