2017 Volume 41 Issue 4 Pages 398-415
In science education research so far, a kind of dichotomy between science experts and the lay public has often been popularly presupposed, and little attention has been paid to those in between, who continue to engage in scientific practices after finishing their schooling as non-professional scientists. They can be called ‘amateur scientists’, and are the target of this study. The purpose of this study is to explore possible or probable factors (internal motivation and socio-cultural contexts) by which amateur scientists can continue to commit themselves to their scientific practices, and generate a hypothetical model of these factors and their interrelationships. In order to tackle this issue, investigations were made to identify the motivations of amateur scientists and the socio-cultural factors around them through a semi-structured interview (using the Modified-Grounded Theory Approach). A hypothetical model was then generated, explaining the reasons why these amateur scientists could continue to devote themselves to their favorite scientific practices.
