Modules Overview

Broadening Participation in Biological Monitoring:
Guidelines for Scientists and Managers
David Pilz, Heidi L. Ballard, Eric T. Jones
©2005 Institute for Culture and Ecology

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This section provides the reader with a quick overview of the topics addressed in each of our modules.  It is intended to illustrate the range of pertinent topics and how they interrelate.  The major topics and issues to consider for a participatory monitoring project can be divided into three major stages:  Planning, Implementation, and Follow-through. The following table lists our modules and which stage they occupy.

Table 1—Stages and Modules of a Participatory Monitoring Project

Not every monitoring project that involves participants needs to address all of the stages or module topics in these guidelines; however, becoming familiar with them can help the user avoid obstacles and improve current or future projects.  Depending on the goals and context of a particular monitoring project, participants could be involved in any or all of the three stages of the project, or they might be involved with different levels of intensity and commitment at each stage.  For example, participants might be included in the Planning stage and invited to meetings to identify the goals and objectives of an upcoming monitoring project.  Or participants could be included in the Implementation stage of a monitoring project by involving them in data collection (in which case the Training, Safety, and Field modules would be most appropriate).  If a monitoring project has already collected data, participants can help examine the results and suggest further steps for disseminating the information to interested parties.  In this case, the Analysis and Reporting modules of the Follow-Through stage would be most useful.  The stages are simply conceptual; therefore the modules may be used independently, in any combination, or in any sequence, depending on the needs of each project and its participants.

Planning Stage
The importance of clear goals cannot be over-emphasized.  Developing clear goals for the monitoring project is the first step in determining whether a participatory approach is appropriate and will influence all the remaining parts of the project planning.  For example, the goal might be to collect presence/absence information on invasive weeds across a large area, in which case large numbers of participants can be involved with little training needed.  Conversely, the goal might be to inventory the entire flora of a park, possibly requiring extensive botanical training.  A project goal might primarily be to increase public awareness and education about management practices in an area, or it could be to ground-truth remote sensing data.  Each monitoring goal can lend itself to participant involvement in different ways and to differing extents.  Similarly, every monitoring project operates within an organizational structure that must be taken into account when involving participants.  While these guidelines provide an overarching synthesis of participatory monitoring literature and lessons from practitioners, many agencies and organizations provide publications or offices that can help the reader address their own organization’s peculiarities and requirements.

Documentation - Documenting a participatory monitoring project plan
Clear documentation, shared by all, can turn a participatory monitoring project into an exercise in building trust, conflict resolution and co-learning.  This module offers suggestions for how to document everything about the project so that anyone can review and understand the process and results.

Goals - Determining monitoring goals
Defining the purpose and intended results for monitoring goals can be a way of involving participants early in the project.  However, even if a project is already underway when participants become involved, taking the time to make sure everyone understands and agrees on the goals of the project will make the overall process more efficient and enjoyable.  This module alerts the reader to issues explored in greater depth in later modules, including the regulatory and landownership context in which a project is taking place.

Indicators - Selecting biological indicators
This module provides background on the use of biological indicators, organizations that can provide detailed information on the selection process, as well as ways to involve participants with local ecological knowledge in the selection of indicators.

Collaboration - Evaluating the usefulness and goals of collaboration
Before entering into a collaboration or participatory project, it is a good idea to evaluate the potential advantages and disadvantages to involving participants in biological monitoring.  Participants can be involved in any and all stages of a monitoring project and at varying levels of intensity.

Decisions - Making systematic and collaborative decisions
Making decisions in a clear, systematic, and jointly agreed upon manner will greatly improve trust between managers, participants, and stakeholders.  Participants can be involved in decision-making at any stage of the monitoring project process.  This module offers suggestions for ways managers can incorporate collaborative decision-making into their projects, including education, training, neutral facilitation, and general principles for making collaboration work.

Context - Evaluating the context of a participatory monitoring project
The political, social, cultural and economic context will likely affect project design and the type and extent of participant involvement.  This module suggests ways managers and stakeholders can cooperatively analyze the context of a project and the implications for project design that emerge from such analyses.

Organization - Organizing the structure of a participatory monitoring project
Participatory monitoring projects can involve several organizations, each with their own structures and goals.  This module offers suggestions for sponsorship organizations, defining roles and responsibilities, and developing contracts and formal agreements between organizations. The effectiveness of the project, and the ease of pursuing similar future projects, can be facilitated by explicitly defining the roles and responsibilities of each organization in the early stages of planning.

Participants - Recruiting, selecting, authorizing, and dismissing participants
This module offers suggestions about identifying participants, fostering leaders within the group, and setting ground rules for respectful behavior.  Also included are specific suggestions for working with representatives of stakeholder groups.

Communication - Developing good understandings and agreements
This module offers suggestions for addressing differing communication styles, perspectives, and languages among collaborating individuals and groups.  Although monitoring projects work better when effective communication builds trust between participants, managers, and scientists, such trust also is often an important goal.  Facilitation, communication, and trust-building are such important and specialized skills that this module includes suggestions for obtaining help.

Incentives - Understanding motivations, concerns, and anticipated benefits
This module provides examples of the variety of incentives participants might have for becoming involved in a project, both as stakeholders and as individuals.  Discussing these incentives during the planning stage can help avoid conflict later.  Also included are suggestions for finding common ground among participants and insuring that everyone benefits from the experience of being involved in the monitoring project.

Design - Involving participants in project design
While many people initially assume that participation in a monitoring project is limited to helping with data collection, some of the most successful projects involve participants in the project design or are initially designed by community groups.  Stakeholders generally have a variety of skills and expertise they can contribute to a monitoring project.  This module offers suggestions for how to determine if collaborating with participants on project design is appropriate, and if so, ways to match their roles in the project to the knowledge, skills or abilities that each possesses.

Resources - Obtaining and allocating funds, resources, and support
Involving participants in a monitoring project can affect the budget in a number of ways, especially by creating opportunities to leverage funds from sources that support public participation in natural resource management and science.  Although monitoring projects sometimes involve volunteers, participants can be compensated for their time and effort in a variety of ways.  Thorough budgeting and tracking of expenditures can be especially important to the development and maintenance of clear agreements among participants.  Also included are suggestions for fundraising, in-kind contributions, and community support.

IMPLEMENTATION STAGE
Although it might be ideal to include participants in the early stages of a monitoring project (in order to build trust and establish common goals) many of the benefits of participation can still be effectively achieved by involving participants after a project has begun.  The Implementation Stage consists of such topics as training, safety, planning field activities, creating sampling designs, devising data collection procedures, and ensuring the data are of high quality and handled responsibly.

Training - Providing participants with requisite training
This module discusses development and documentation of training programs to suit the needs of the project and match the skills of participants. Any skills that are needed to conduct a participatory monitoring project, and that are lacking among participants, are potential candidates for training.  However, training can be time-consuming or costly, so resources and time can be saved by assigning priorities, matching training to needs, and investigating cost-effective training strategies.   Appropriate and documented training helps ensure good communication, data credibility, safety, and self-esteem.

Safety - Ensuring safety and planning for emergencies
This module offers suggestions for creating and documenting safety and emergency plans that ensure everyone has a safe and enjoyable experience while collecting monitoring data.

Field - Planning field activities
Careful planning of logistics for fieldwork is essential to the smooth operation of a monitoring project.  Involving participants in fieldwork need not be significantly more time-consuming if travel, schedules, equipment, safety and support activities are explained and clearly discussed before fieldwork begins. 

Sampling - Developing sampling designs and data collection procedures
Experts should create sampling designs, but participants are more likely to implement sampling protocols carefully and appropriately if they understanding the rationale behind the design.  Participants might also be able to lend insights that make the design more efficient. Understanding the reasoning behind the chosen sampling designs and protocols will enhance participant understanding of, and trust in, the monitoring results.

Quality - Ensuring the quality and credibility of collected data
Developing a quality assurance plan does much to effectively address concern on the part of managers and scientist about the credibility of data collected by participants. Many projects use third party auditing to alleviate concerns about data quality.  This module offers suggestions for developing a quality assurance plan, quality control procedures, a quality assessment plan and other ways to address the issue of data quality.

Data - Making arrangements for handling, storing, and using data
This module discusses data handling, backup, filing, compatibility with other databases, and accessibility.  Also addressed are issues of data ownership, use, and distribution; topics that are of particular importance in the context of former grievances or mistrust among collaborators.

FOLLOW-THROUGH STAGE
Even if participants were not involved in the Planning or Implementation stages of a monitoring project, involving them in the analysis and reporting of the monitoring data can ensure that results are useful to stakeholders and might help build trust for the next monitoring project.   This Follow-Through stage is yet another opportunity for participants and managers to learn from each other and to determine the next steps for the monitoring project and the collaborative relationship that has been built.

Analysis - Arranging for periodic data analysis
Although statistical analyses should be conducted by experts, participants can contribute insight and local expertise to the review and interpretation of the results.  This module offers suggestions for anticipating the time and money required to conduct periodic analysis of monitoring data, as well as ways to involve participants in interpretation of the results.

Reporting - Arranging for reporting results
Disseminating project results to interested parties, and ensuring they are used, is a follow-up process that rewards participants with the feeling that their time and efforts were worthwhile.  If monitoring results are being used to resolve conflicts over land management, prior agreements about how results are reported and used can prevent or alleviate subsequent animosity. This module offers suggestions for reporting results, addressing concerns, archiving publications, and making sure everything is disseminated in formats and languages that all stakeholders can understand.

Evaluation - Evaluating and improving the project
Evaluation of a participatory monitoring project mirrors the cyclical process of adaptive forest management.  As with adaptive management, the process (implementation, monitoring, evaluation, adjustment) is most effective when it is inclusive of all stakeholders and points of view.  This module offers suggestions for ways to continually evaluate whether the participatory monitoring project is meeting both its biological and collaboration goals and to revise the process if goals are not being met.

Celebrations - Ensuring the project is rewarding and widely appreciated
Rewarding and celebrating everyone’s contributions to the monitoring project helps sustain motivation and is fun.  Public acknowledgement is usually highly appreciated and provides a forum that also enhances community appreciation and support.

©2005 Institute for Culture and Ecology