The EarthCaching Motivations was conducted in 2013-2014 by Sharon Locke, Georgia Bracey, and Rosey Morr. The aim of this research was to investigate who participates in EarthCaching activities, why they participate, and what they think they learn from participating. They found that the strongest motivator for EarthCaching was to learn more about the Earth. This was followed by motivations to learn more about geologic topics and a desire to be outdoors.
A full summary of this research project can be seen here.