Furthermore, Mitchell says, the scientists who design research projects have to write study protocols that take citizen scientists into account. “You have to develop specific protocols [for citizen scientists] and then go out and measure to test the results [they get] for reliability,” adds Geraldine Tierney, an ecologist and research scientist at the State University of New York in Syracuse. Tierney says protocols should limit what citizen scientists are asked to do. They may be asked to identify, document, and count 5 or 10 easily recognized plants that serve as indicator species rather than be expected to recognize all species in a given area. Good guide books and other printed materials can help volunteers do that.