Leisure sciences: impractical? Impenetrable?

For more than 15 years now, the editors and associate editors of Leisure Sciences: An Interdisciplinary Journal without apology have proclaimed an interest in theory. Among the public--even among the reading public--are some to whom "theory" has a bad name. "That's a nice theory, but..." starts various arguments that theory is not applicable, realistic, or practical. Yet the author of one of the most widely used texts on behavioral research observed, "There is nothing more practical than a good theory" (Kerlinger, 1973).

These diametrically opposed views can be reconciled by acknowledging that not all theories are good theories. But the opposed views can be reconciled mainly by clarifying what theories are and how important they are to everyone. Simply put, a theory is an effort to explain a phenomenon. It is an effort to understand why this or that occurs or not.

To answer "why" questions one must look for potential causes or sources of influence, beginning with trying to determine what is related to the phenomena; for example, is knowledge of ecology related to participation in hiking? If they are related (or correlated), knowing one helps us predict the other. All advertising and marketing efforts--in fact, all reasoned decisions--are based on prediction. And the better our ability to predict, the better our ability to influence. It may be that people who hike develop an interest in ecology. If so, and we want to increase interest in ecology, promoting hiking would help. Theories, therefore, help us not only understand phenomena but also influence them. Though this is a simplified account, it illustrates the statement that nothing is more practical than a good theory.

Impenetrable writing is hard to excuse. Some of it can be eliminated; but communication problems may be inevitable because there always may be some potential readers lacking requisite background for or interest in basic science and research principles and concepts; and because some subjects are esoteric, some methods and techniques are complex, and words and phrases out-of-the-ordinary are needed to convey them. But phrases such as "flattening pyramids," "zero-based budgeting," or TQM" are to managers what "place attachment," "demand hierarchy," or "ANOVA" are to researchers.

Many research articles, especially those based on quantifying numeric data, also seem impenetrable because researchers are obligated to review previous research and explain their own research methods and findings in detail. This allows others to assess the findings and conclusions based on the adequacy and limits of how data were gathered and analyzed. It also allows others to "see for themselves," by replicating the study.

But readers do not have an obligation to read it all. Those who have no interest in replicating the study and who can trust editors to screen out inadequate studies and reports and unfounded statements and claims can skip the methods and findings section.

Making Research Popular

Perhaps these comments constitute "preaching to the choir," but the hope is that "Research Update" will become as widely read as any feature of Parks and Recreation and not something readers read out of obligation or think they should read but don't. We would like to see more readers routinely include scientific and scholarly articles on leisure, recreation, and related topics in their readings. The would have to include Leisure Sciences: An Interdisciplinary Journal, unique in that it is the only scholarly journal on leisure that is not produced by any agency, university, or professional group and receives no subsidy. It is published by Taylor and Francis, publishers of more than 100 scientific and scholarly journals, and it represents--in some respects--the maturation of leisure science and research in the leisure service field.

From Volume 14, Number 2 (1992) of Leisure Sciences thorough Volume 16, Number 1 (1994), 50% of the articles were devoted to discovering phenomena (variables) related to recreation or leisure activities and/or satisfaction or to testing relationships identified in earlier studies. This is clear in articles such as "Correlates of Self-reported Leisure among Adults with Mental Retardation" (Hawkins and Freeman, 1993).

In "Leisure and Perceived Wellness: A Field Investigation" (1993), Ragheb found that leisure participation and satisfaction were reated to perceived wellness. But the strongest relationship with perceived wellness was satisfaction with family life.

Improving Research

The next most common type of article (30%) focused on improving research, particularly ensuring that findings and condlusions were reliable and valid. This is clear in reports such as those by Tarrant and Manfredo (1993), which examined sources of bias in self-reports of participation, sources of bias due to non-response, ability to remember participation frequency, and the tendency to guess and "round off" to numbers ending in 5 or 0. In a related study, Stewart and Hull (1992) noted that measures of satisfaction with a recreation experience are influenced by when the measures are taken, i.e., during the experience, immediately after, or a few weeks or months after. Hellerstein (1993) examined how the use of averages can result in biased estimates, in this case the surplus value realized by consumers using parks and outdoor recreation areas.

Weissinger, Caldwell, and Mobily (1993) examined whether using recreation major students as research subjects resulted in distorted or biased results as they are not necessarily representative of their age group or even of students in their age group. Gitelson, Kerstetter, and Guadagnolo (1993) examined how incentives and different ways of posting mail surveys influence response rates. From this quick illustration of articles on methods, one can see how these studies are related to each other, to the confidence we can place in findings, and thus to the applicability of scientific research to our ability to predict and influence.

About 10% of the articles are aimed primarily at advancing theory. To cite one example, Watson and Niccolucci (1992) examined the various ways previous experience are measured, analyzed, and used. Their analysis led to suggestions about forming questions and scales and determining what statistical procedures to use.

The remaining 10% of the articles in recent issues of Leisure Sciences primarily were historical in nature. Sylvester (1994), in "Leisure, Science, and Religion in 17th Century England," related how Aristotle's ideas about leisure were transformed by Puritanism and by Francis Bacon's perceptions of science. In "The Recreation Profession, Capital, and Democracy," Stormann (1993) suggested that the profession's philanthropic and public-sector roots do not fully reflect the intrusion of consumer sovereignty into participatory democracy. Henderson (1992) examined the contribution of several women, referred to as "invisible pioneers," to the recreation movement.

Categorizing Research

Another way of categorizing the contents of Leisure Sciences is by topic. Space limits preclude providing much detail on any one topic. But here is a brief review of some of the principal research thrusts in our field. Seven topic areas thread through the past two volumes.

* Participation in and satisfaction with outdoor recreation, including fishing and hunting and "non-consumptive" uses of wilderness. Researchers have studied the impacts of research and technical change on wildland recreation (Begnston and Xu, 1993), substitutability of some time period, access, activity, or setting for some other (Brunson and Shelby, 1993), and how people become attached to settings in which they recreate. Moore and Graefe (1994) also studied people's attachments to recreation settings and distinguished dependence from emotional attachments.

* Motivation, which is generic to studies of behavior in general but sometimes is addressed directly and exclusively. Examples inclue studies of motivations to and satisfaction with vacation(s) (Lounsbury and Polik, 1992) and motivations to join and remain a member of voluntary organization (Caldwell and Andereck, 1994).

* Consumer behavior, which essentially is also a form of motivation research. One study suggested that couples' vacation behavior depended to some degree on how pleasurable a vacation is seen to be and on what the vacation conveys about the couple that is positive (Madrigal, Havitz, and Howard, 1992). Another study (McCarville, Crompton, and Sell, 1993) indicated that the price consumers expected to pay to participate in programs varied with the information and messages about outcomes if the price is not increased.

* Constraints which may limit or preclude participating in one or many recreation activities. Jackson and Rucks (1993) observed that some reasons people stop participating in an activity are different from reasons they do not take up an activity in the first place. Raymore, Godbey, Crawford, and vonEye (1993) reinforced earlier findings that there are three types of constraints to participation in leisure activities--intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural--and the intrapersonal constraints had to be relatively weak before the interpersonal ones were felt; and both had to be relatively weak before structural constraints were felt.

* Ethnic origins and cultural differences. Recently reports in Leisure Sciences were studies of ethnic factors influencing the use of outdoor recreation areas by those of Mexican decent (Floyd, Gramann, and Saez, 1993) and of the recreation activity patterns of elderly Chinese-Americans.

* The value of recreation and equity in the way recreation resources and opportunities are distributed. In addition to studies of recreation's value, both for priced and non-priced opportunities, are studies of equity or distributive justice. Crompton and Lue (1992), for example, studied people's preferences for how resources should be allocated. Reiling, Chen, and Trott (1992) studied the possible discriminatory effects of increasing fees.

* Influencing of gender and feminist perspectives of leisure. Representative of this leisure research thrust are studies by Shaw (1992) and Firestone and Shelton (1994). Both studies provided insights on domestic work and leisure and gender differences in the distribution and perception of domestic activity such as family leisure.

These seven research thrusts are not exhaustive but do cover a significant portion of the interests of leisure researchers in recent years. They also reflect the interests of the many leisure-related fields and the interests of the age.

The better we understand all of these matters, the better equipped we are to shape conditions. There really is nothing more practical than a good theory.

References

Allison, M and Geiger, C. (1993) Nature of leisure activities among Chinese-American elderly. Leisure Sciences, 15, 309-319.

Bengston, J and Xu, Z. (1993) Impact of research and technical change in wildland recreation: evaluation issues and aproaches. Leisure Sciences, 15, 251-272.

Brunson, M. and Shelby, B. (1993) Recreation substitutability: a research agenda. Leisure Sciences, 16, 67-74.

Caldwell, L. and Andereck, K. (1994) Motives for initiating and continuing membership in a recreation-related voluntary association. Leisure Sciences, 16, 33-44.

Crompton, J. and Lue, C. (1992) Patterns of equity preferences among Californians for allocating park and recreation resources. Leisure Sciences, 14, 227-246.

Firestone, J. and Shelton, B. (1994) A comparison of women's and men's leisure time: subtle effects of the double day. Leisure Sciences, 16, 45-60.

Floyd, M, Gramann, J., and Sanez, R. (1993) Ethnic factors and the use of public outdoor recreation areas: the case of Mexican Americans. Leisure Sciences, 15, 83-98.

Gitelson, R., Kerstetter, D., and Gudagnolo, D. (1993). Research note: the impact of incentives and three form of postage on mail survey response rates. Leisure Sciences, 15, 321-327.

Hawkins, B. and Freeman, P. (1993) Correlates of self-reported leisure among adults with mental retardation. Leisure Sciences, 15, 131-147.

Hellerstein, D. (1993) Correcting for bias when average values are used to compute changes in consumer surpluses. Leisure Sciences, 14:15, 337-345.

Henderson, K. (1192) Invisible pioneers? The impact of women on the recreation movement. Leisure Sciences, 14, 139-153.

Jackson, E. and Rucks, V. (1993) Reasons for ceasing participation and barriers to participation: further examination of constrained leisure as an internally homogeneous concept. Leisure Sciences, 15, 217-230.

Kelly, J. (1992) Counterpoints in the sociology of leisure. Leisure Sciences, 14, 247-253.

Kerlinger, F. (1973) Foundations of Behavioral Research, Second Edition. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, p. 10.

Lounsbury, J. and Polik, J. (1992) Leisure needs and vacation satisfaction. Leisure Sciences, 14, 105-119.

Madrigal, R., Havitz, M., and Howard, D. (1992) Married couples' involvement with family vacations. Leisure Sciences, 4, 287-301.

McCarville, R., Crompton, J., and Sell, J. (1993) The influence of outcome messages or reference prices. Leisure Sciences, 16, 17-31.

Ragheb, M. (1993) Leisure and perceived wellness: a field investigation. Leisure Sciences, 15, 13-24.

Raymore, L., Godbey, G., Crawford, D., and vonEye, A. (1993) Nature and process of leisure constraints: an empirical test. Leisure Sciences, 15, 99-113.

Reilings, S., Cheng, H-T., and Trott, C. (1992) Measuring the discriminatory impact associated with higher recreation fees. Leisure Sciences, 14, 121-137.

Shaw, S. (1992) Dereifying family leisure: an examination of women's and men's everyday experiences and perceptions of family time. Leisure Sciences, 14, 271-286.

Stewart, W. and Hull, R. (1992) Satisfaction of what? Post hoc versus real-time construct validity. Leisure Sciences, 14, 195-209.

Stormann, W. (1993) The recreation profession, capital and democracy. Leisure Sciences, 15, 49-66.

Sylvester, C. (1994) Leisure science and religion in 17th century England. Leisure Sciences, 16, 1-16.

Tarrant, M. and Manfredo, M. (1993) Digit preference, recall bias, and non-response bias in self reports of angling participation. Leisure Sciences, 15, 231-238.

Watson, A. and Niccolucci, M. (1992) Defining past experience dimensions for wilderness recreation. Leisure Sciences, 14, 89-103.

Weissinger, E., Caldwell, L., and Mobily, K. (1993) Use of recreation majors as research subjects: differences between majors and non-majors on leisure related variables. Leisure Sciences, 14, 327-335.