Abstract
Human–animal interaction (HAI) is an interface between two complex organisms; variables specific to the human (e.g., biology, learning history, personality), the animal (e.g., species, breed, biology, learning history, personality), and the situation (e.g., setting, length of interaction, treatment goals) impact how the human and animal interact and potential outcomes of the interaction. In addition to laboratory experiments testing basic phenomena, large-scale data collection is needed to parse out information on each variable as it relates to animal-assisted intervention (AAI). The citizen-science approach, which involves the public participating in the scientific process, could be useful in such an endeavor. Beyond individual studies addressing one variable at a time, the citizen-science approach could be used to grow large databases of many variables relevant to AAI. This chapter provides an example of the citizen-science approach applied to AAI. The study demonstrates the potential to gather data from a pool of nonscientists, capitalizing on the growing number of people and pets providing animal-assisted services.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Altman, D. G. (1991). Mathematics for kappa. In D. Altman (Ed.), Practical statistics for medical research (pp. 406–407). London: Chapman & Hall.
Barker, S. B., Knisely, J. S., McCain, N. L., & Best, A. M. (2005). Measuring stress and immune response in healthcare professionals following interaction with a therapy dog: A pilot study. Psychological Reports, 96(3), 713–729.
Bensky, M. K., Gosling, S. D., & Sinn, D. L. (2013). The world from a dog’s point of view: A review and synthesis of dog cognition research. Advanced Studies in Behavior, 45, 209–406.
Bird, T. J., Bates, A. E., Lefcheck, J. S., Hill, N. A., Thomson, R. J., Edgar, G. J., et al. (2014). Statistical solutions for error and bias in global citizen science datasets. Biological Conservation, 173, 144–154.
Bonney, R., Ballard, H., Jordan, R., McCallie, E., Phillips, T., Shirk, J., & Wilderman, C.C. (2009). Defining the field and assessing its potential for informal science education. A CAISE Inquiry Group Report. Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education (CAISE), Washington, DC.
Brunner, J. (2004). Life as narrative. Social Research, 71, 691–711.
Burgess, H. K., DeBey, L. B., Froehlich, H. E., Schmidt, N., Theobald, E. J., Ettinger, A. K., et al. (2017). The science of citizen science: Exploring barriers to use as a primary research tool. Biological Conservation, 208, 113–120.
Chubak, J., & Hawkes, R. (2016). Animal-assisted activities: Results from a survey of top-ranked pediatric oncology hospitals. Journal of Pediatric Oncology Nursing, 33(4), 289–296.
Citizen-Science Association. (2019). Home page. www.citizen-science.org.
Coleman, J., Green, B., Garthe, R., Worthington, E., Barker, S., & Ingram, K. (2016). The Coleman dog attitude scale (C-DAS): Development, refinement, validation, and reliability. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 176, 77–86.
Cooper, C. (2016). Citizen science: How ordinary people are changing the face of discovery. New York, NY: Overlook Press.
Equine-Assisted Growth and Learning Association. (2019). Our organization. Retrieved from https://www.eagala.org/org.
Fratkin, J., & Baker, S. C. (2013). The role of coat color and ear shape on the perception of personality in dogs. Anthrozoös, 26, 125–133.
Glenk, L. (2017). Current perspectives on therapy dog welfare in animal-assisted interventions. Animals, 7(2), 7.
Gray, P. B., & Young, S. M. (2011). Human–pet dynamics in cross-cultural perspective. Anthrozoös, 24(1), 17–30.
Haklay, M. (2013). Citizen science and volunteered geographic information: Overview and typology of participation. In Crowdsourcing geographic knowledge (pp. 105–122). Dordrecht: Springer.
Hecht, J., & Spicer Rice, E. (2015). Citizen science: A new direction in canine behavior research. Behavioural Processes, 110, 125–132.
Herzog, H. (2011). The impact of pets on human health and psychological well-being: Fact, fiction, or hypothesis? Current Directions in Psychological Science, 20(4), 236–239.
Krueger, K., Esch, L., & Byrne, R. (2019). Animal behaviour in a human world: A crowdsourcing study on horses that open door and gate mechanisms. PLoS One, 14(6), e0218954.
Ladd, D., & Barker, S. (2017). Dogs on call in a patient library. Journal of Hospital Librarianship, 17(1), 22–29.
Lavrakas, P. J. (2008). Self-selection bias. Encyclopedia of survey research methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Lynn, P. (2004). Sampling error. In Encyclopedia of social science research methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Mirkó, E., Kubinyi, E., Gácsi, M., & Miklósi, Á. (2012). Preliminary analysis of an adjective-based dog personality questionnaire developed to measure some aspects of personality in the domestic dog (Canis familiaris). Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 138(1–2), 88–98.
Pet Partners. (2019). About. Retrieved from https://petpartners.org/about-us/.
Porcher, J., Cousson-Gélie, F., & Dantzer, R. (2004). Affective components of the human-animal relationship in animal husbandry: Development and validation of a questionnaire. Psychological Reports, 95(1), 275–290.
Roetman, P., Tindle, H., & Litchfield, C. (2018). Management of pet cats: The impact of the cat tracker citizen science project in South Australia. Animals, 8(11), 190.
Shen, R. Z., Xiong, P., Chou, U. I., & Hall, B. J. (2018). “We need them as much as they need us”: A systematic review of the qualitative evidence for possible mechanisms of effectiveness of animal-assisted intervention (AAI). Complementary Therapies in Medicine, 41, 203–207.
Shuller, D. Y., & McNamara, J. R. (1976). Expectancy factors in behavioral observation. Behavior Therapy, 7(4), 519–527.
Silvertown, J. (2009). A new dawn for citizen science. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 24(9), 467–471.
Stewart, L., MacLean, E. L., Ivy, D., Woods, V., Cohen, E., Rodriguez, K., et al. (2015). Citizen science as a new tool in dog cognition research. PLoS One, 10(9), e0135176.
The Telegraph. (2013, February 20). “Houdini” horse escapes from stable and frees friends. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aseg-w0hA_c&t=57s.
Thornton, G. C., & Zorich, S. (1980). Training to improve observer accuracy. Journal of Applied Psychology, 65(3), 351.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Fournier, A.K. (2019). Studying Animal-Assisted Intervention Through Citizen Science. In: Animal-Assisted Intervention. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32972-3_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32972-3_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Pivot, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-32971-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-32972-3
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)