Crowdsourcing as a method of transdisciplinary research—Tapping the full potential of participants

•Transdisciplinary research, citizen science and crowdsourcing are contrasted.•Identification of new opportunities for participation in transdisciplinary research.•Analysis of crowdsourcing as a transdisciplinary research method. Within the scope of citizen science projects, crowdsourcing has already expanded into scientific application areas. In this, its scientific potential is only partly exhausted, however. It will be shown that transdisciplinary research is made up in content and structural aspects in such a way that crowdsourcing can fully unfold as a research method through varied participation possibilities, reflective processes and use of contemporary technical possibilities. Furthermore, mutual learning, understanding and the dissemination of knowledge strongly profits from effects that even result automatically in this context. The scientific application of crowdsourcing represented here makes high demands on project management, but it is expected to turn out as an effective research method precisely in the area of transdisciplinary research.