I have been wondering if observing or identifying organisms is more helpful to science. I understand a mix of both identifying and observing is ideal; however, I end up spending time identifying my own observations and barley provide community identifications anymore.
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Thereās no one-size-fits-all answer. Some people are better at getting to places other folks wonāt and respectfully observing things other folks donāt know how to. Likewise, some folks are really good at distinguishing important species characteristics that generalists donāt know to look for. Itās good to contribute what you can, how you can, in good faith.
Observations are especially valuable if they are (a) consistent in a given place or (b) are in a place that doesnāt have a lot of observations or (c) if they are using an ethical but unusual collection/observation method.
Identifications and annotations are especially valuable if they (a) are either leading or confirming/resolving an ID (b) if they are of relatively rarely documented species (c) if they are less charismatic species.
In most clades, there are more observers than identifiers, but not all observations have captured the sometimes subtle/difficult features necessary for ID. Once the computer has enough high quality data, the AI can help guide identifications. So the bottom line is that high-quality observations and identifications are both needed ā and that, whatever your level, the iNat community welcomes your participation!
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Wow. I checked out your profile, and youāre doing amazing work on isopoda. Iāve always been a generalist ā but specialists like you are especially valuable on iNat. It seems like your observational work is pretty unique and that you should keep doing what youāre doing!
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As many threads have said, there is no right or wrong answer here. If we are considering only data, as opposed to getting people interested in the non-human world, both are helpful. Observations can extend ranges, or give a sense of species abundance. Without identification those data are of less āuseā. I prefer the identification side of things, and work mostly with Noctuid moths. As Iāve said before, there are folks who take huge numbers of observations, and I know of at least one person who has 0 observations but almost half a million identifications! Basically, whatever floats your boat. Itās all good.
As @schizoform says, if you are doing observations and identifications of Isopods, thatās probably more āvaluableā than identifying Mallards.
EDIT I should have said āAs many threads āin the pastā have saidā. There have been lots of discussions about this topic.
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If you are able to do identifying of a group where there are few experts, that is really valuable (not saying any more or less valuable than anything else per se, just really valuable!). This is for two reasons.
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Identifying in an area without much expertise obviously increases good quality data that is available.
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Perhaps less acknowledged, identifying in a taxon with few identifiers is a huge encouragement to other observers! If observers feel their observations donāt get much attention or arenāt seen, itās pretty demotivating. Getting IDs from an expert is very validating for observers and often leads to more observations being made. Of course this means more work for IDers down the road, but itās a good problem to have!
In any case, any participation is valuable - keep up the good work!
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To function, iNaturalist needs both observers and identifiers. Any individual can perform one or both functions. Identifiers seem to be in shorter supply, so all things being equal, identifying is more useful (I think). However, all things are not equal. The importance of observations depends on the species, the place, any regular pattern of observation, etc., and doing what you donāt like will make you burn out sooner. So do whatās fun. It will be useful.
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If we talk about time, in ideal situation you should spend more time on othersā observations as thereāre just too many of them and little to no iders, it means if you observe a lot - id even more. Proportion is up to you, usually people say x2 of their observations, but itās not enough imo.
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The most important thing is that you do whatās fun to you. And you should only invest time as long as it is fun!
Personally i think good identifications are more important, because they encourage others to keep using iNaturalist.
If you want to be especially helpful, you could also do research outside of iNaturalist, and publish your findings. Iām saying this because you seem to have a special interest and expert knowledge in Isopods.
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I think realistically, identifying is more useful on the whole. As has been said quite a bit, there are not enough identifiers on here.
Although looking at your profile it looks like youāre doing both to pretty good in both camps.
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Personally, I think that observing is a little more important, because when you identify them, you are inside on a screen. When you observe, you are outside enjoying nature.
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Just like others have said it really is almost like a 50/50 split, although I would lean a bit more towards identification. Being able to spot an animal/plant/fungi is a great experience, but getting to identify it to the species level really helps the scientific community progress. Although of course being able to observe a rare species is also very much helpful!
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observations and IDās are equally helpful.
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Like other examples of commons-based peer production, our goal is to provide a place where you can participate in the way that suits and fulfills you. However you participate, you will be helping. 
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My $.02: Identifications in iNaturalist are useful for downstream data use primarily as a means of finding potentially relevant observations. If Iām looking for observations of Heterotheca hirsutissima, Iām going to search for observations of Heterotheca from areas where Heterotheca hirsutissima might occur, then Iām going to check the IDs on all observations that I might do anything with. So Iāll find observations identified as Heterotheca villosa, but not observations identified as Asteraceae. Iām not going to assume that identifications as either Heterotheca hirsutissima or Heterotheca villosa are correct.
Also, my opinion is that the āResearch Gradeā designation has no information value for indicating the potential usefulness of observations for research. So, while I certainly understand people like getting things to āResearch Gradeā, ultimately I think that designation has a useful role internal to iNaturalist but not for research.
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(The exception to the above, for what itās worth, would be people like Mark Egger. If he identified a Castilleja, Iāll trust his ID unless I have a compelling reason not to. In estimating how valuable your own identifications are, it might be worth considering whether or not there taxa in which you have that kind of expertise. That kind of self-assessment is, of course, made difficult by innumerable psychological traps! Depending on our own psychological idiosyncracies, weāre likely to wildly over- or under-estimate.)
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The main Explore page says 2,042,940 observers, 237,469 identifiers. Iām inclined to say we need more identifiers on just the fact that less than 12% of users have made at least one identification at any level on someone elseās observation. āThatās a plant!ā or even āthatās lifeā once for someone else and youāre an identifier.
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but then - how many observers dip in for a day - never to be seen or heard of again? Not such a problem with ātoo manyā observers.
And how many identifiers plug away steadily at their chosen taxon / geography? I am continually reassured and encouraged when I find ā¦ the right identifier to help us with this one ā¦ There is so much kind and willing knowledge available across iNat!
For example - I have unutterably no idea what this is, but am sure the ID is now correct.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/109224586
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Thereāre definitely too many observations for the amount of iders we have, that doesnāt mean we need to stop observing, only that everyone should start iding.
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A fine example of how iNat works when it really works. Iāve also seen examples with Noctuid moths. Without observations identification is useless. But in this platform IDās do matter, not only for research, but to keep new folks interested.
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I agree with @schizoform that there is no one-size-fits-all answer.
From my perspective, observations are most useful when they are adding something new to the species reported in an area. This might include a species that has not been reported nearby, a species that is widely found in landscaping or as pets but is discovered surviving in the wild in an area where it was not known to survive. Also, observations in general are useful in areas where there is not a lot of data.
The same person reporting an individual that has already been reported is not only not that useful, it often hinders use of the site because there are more records to look through.
However sometimes reporting the same individual in the same place can be very useful if youāre providing high-quality, open-licensed (ideally CC0, CC-BY, or perhaps CC-BY-SA, I dislike the NC or ND licenses) photos showing the species at different times of year, and showing aspects that are not usually photographed. For example, I find people frequently photograph nice closeups of seed cones of most conifers, but I often struggle to find as many and as high-quality photos of the pollen cones. Similarly good photos of leaf scars are often hard to find, and in some species, like ashes or walnuts, those are useful for ID.
So likeā¦basically with the observations, I think the question is: does this contribute something new?
With identifications, I think there is a degree to which all correct IDāing is useful. I think it is especially important to correct incorrect IDās, especially on research-grade observations, because these make the data lower-quality. I also think IDāing is super useful when there is a post by someone who is really trying to figure out what something is, because then you help that user immensely, and you may help them to make future IDās. In these cases (whether a disputed ID or just showing someone how to ID something they donāt know how to ID) it is most valuable not just to do the ID, but to explain how you IDāed the thing.
The cases where I donāt explain are cases where it seems clear what the thing is and we just need a second ID to get it to research grade. But in these cases IDing is still important.
Also, I want to point out that there is an interaction between āimportant IDāsā and āimportant observationsā. I.e. if an observation reports something out-of-range, or at the edge of its range, or otherwise noteworthy, then correct ID becomes even more important. SImilarly, if youāre photographing something specifically to contribute to the public domain / creative commons of images available for educational purposes, such as with the intent of the photographs being used on wikipedia, in the ID guides I write, or for any other purpose, then correct ID becomes even more important, because you donāt want incorrect information propagating!
So there is a degree to which I place higher prioritization on IDāing observations that have open licenses and high-quality photographs.
Lastly, I think both observations and IDās are more useful on observations that have more accurate geolocation and habitat information. Just showing a plant for instance, doesnāt say much, but if you have an accurate pin on the map and you can see the topography, and especially if there are comments about habitat, like the soil conditions, the observation provides more useful information. This can be a ānewā thing, like sometimes I see things slightly unusual, like maybe a black oak or southern red oak growing in a wet bottomland area, which is noteworthy because most texts describe these species as having a preference for dry upland areas.
So yeah! A lot of stuff goes into what I prioritize for IDās. I often bookmark observations I think are important or interesting and return to them later because they seem higher priority to me, whereas others I just say ānot sure what this isā but it doesnāt seem very important and I just skip over them.
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