Peter A. Witt

Integrating Constraints and Benefits to Identify Responsive Target Markets for Museum Attractions

The three research questions addressed by this study were (1) What were the major constraints that inhibited museum-goers from visiting museum attractions in Galveston, Texas? (2) What benefits did museum-goers seek from their visits? and (3) Can these constraints and benefits be meaningfully interpreted to identify target groups that are likely to be either more or less responsive to marketing efforts directed at them? A systematic sample of 1,083 museum-goers responded to an instrument containing six constraint domains and five benefit domains. Their domain scores were used to group respondents into five constraint clusters and four benefit clusters. The benefit and constraint clusters were cross-tabulated to form a 20-cell matrix. Interpretation of the matrix led to the selection of four target markets likely to yield the greatest return on marketing effort.

Factor Structure of Leisure Behavior for High School Age Youth in Three Communities.

The recreation activity preferences for high school age youth in three Midwest cities were factor analyzed and resulting structures compared. For each city, four stable factors were derived. These ...

The measurement of perceived freedom in leisure.

ABSTRACTThis paper describes the development, reliability, and validity of five scales designed to measure perceived freedom in leisure. The scales are based on attribution theory and the concepts of flow, arousal theory, and playfulness. Scales appear to have acceptable levels of both alpha and test-retest reliability. Initial indications of validity based on interscale correlations, factor structure, and correlation with other variables are also acceptable. The value of the scales for assessment and basic research on the state of mind view of leisure are discussed.

Leisure, Recreation, and Play from a Developmental Context.

Participation in activities and experiences defined as play, recreation,and leisure has important developmental implications for youth. Elements and characteristics of leisure experiences contribute directly to the development of identity, autonomy, competence,initiative, civic duty, and social connections. Whether in informal or formal, appropriately structured and organized programs,leisure experiences can help facilitate adolescent development in these areas. For example, one of the defining elements of leisure is that it is characterized by free choice and self-determination. Programs that promote leadership, choice, autonomy, and initiative can help adolescents deal with developmental challenges associated with this age group. Leisure experiences can also promote civic engagement and provide important peer-to-peer, peer to-adult, and peer-to-community connections. The social context of leisure is important to adolescent development in that it provides opportunities to learn empathy, loyalty, and intimacy in their group activities, as well as to negotiate with peers, resolve conflict,and work together for communal goals. In addition, adolescents often report positive emotional experiences in leisure, which can serve as a relief from the stress they feel in other areas of their lives and contribute to positive psychological adjustment and well-being. A case study is used to show how planned, purposive programs can be used as critical components of efforts to contribute to adolescent development.

Change and stability in leisure constraints: a comparison of two surveys conducted four years apart.

Using data from a questionnaire administered to the same population (Alberta, Canada) in two surveys conducted four years apart (1988 and 1992), this paper investigates three issues related to the replication of research on leisure constraints and the interpretation of temporal changes in the experience of constraints: (1) the magnitude of changes in the reporting of constraints over time; (2) the extent to which such changes are a function of differences in sample or population characteristics; and (3) stability or variability of relationships between aspects of constrained leisure and socio-economic sources of variation. The comparison showed very little temporal change in aspects of leisure constraints, measured with respect to the unfulfilled desire to start a new activity and responses to 15 constraints items. Moreover, the majority of significant differences were accounted for by differences in the age and income structures of the two samples. Also, socioeconomic variations in constraints remained stable over time.KEYWORDS: Leisure constraints, sum research, leisure trends, replication.INTRODUCTIONLack of replication is one of the most serious problems of leisure research (Godbey, 1989), since there is little assurance that patterns of leisure behavior identified in studies conducted at particular times and in specific places hold true elsewhere. More importantly, failure to replicate previous research may mean that regularities in patterns of association between leisure behavior and explanatory or dependent variables cannot be generalized with any reasonable degree of certainty, thus attenuating the development of leisure-related theory. Until recently, the growing sub-field of leisure constraints research has been no exception to this lack of replication. It is true that some efforts to re-test earlier findings have begun to appear, for example McGuire et al.s (1989) re-examination of research conducted by Jackson and Dunn (1988), and papers by Searle and Brayley (1992), Hultsman (1992) and Jackson and Rucks (1993) on an issue first examined by Jackson and Dunn (1991). However, none of these studies has represented an exact replication of a previous investigation.Roughly every four years since 1979, the Alberta government has conducted a large-scale questionnaire survey among the adult population of the Province of Alberta, Canada. These surveys have collected information about the recreation and leisure behavior, perceptions, motivations and preferences of Albertans. One of the most notable aspects of the surveys has been the inclusion of a series of questions about the kinds of constraints that people may encounter in fulfilling their leisure aspirations. While this constraints information, together with that from the other sections of the questionnaires, has been collected primarily for the purposes of recreation forecasting, planning and management, it has also proven useful from an academic standpoint. Results of the surveys have been published in the leisure research journals (e.g., Jackson, 1983, 1990a; Jackson & Dunn, 1988; Searle & Jackson, 1985) and are freely available to leisure scholars and practitioners for secondary analysis (Ross, 1990).Various modifications have been made to the constraints-related components of the surveys as knowledge about constraints has increased and as the requirements of the government have evolved. From one perspective, these changes are beneficial, in the sense that the questions have been based on the most recent concepts and have provided information relevant to immediate practical and applied needs. On the other hand, incommensurate data from the various surveys have limited the potential for charting and explaining changes over time (see, for example, Jackson, 1990b; Jackson & Dunn, 1991).In this context, the key feature of the 1992 survey was its exact replication of the content, questions and wording of its 1988 counterpart. …

Meaningful Involvement Opportunities in Ropes Course Programs

Ropes course research rarely investigates how program design and delivery contributes to program outcomes. This study used experience sampling and meansend analysis to 1) compare the meaningful involvement opportunities provided by two alternate ropes course design and delivery approaches, Challenge by Choice (CbC) and Inviting Optimum Participation (I-OPt), and 2) describe program design and delivery attributes effecting participant outcomes. The experience sampling data showed a significant main effect for the degree of meaningful involvement during high (belayed) ropes course activities. Follow-up ANOVAs indicated I-OPt programs participants experienced significantly more choice. Means-end analysis revealed I-OPt participants were more likely to mention low activities and group efficacy and less likely to mention anxiety while the reverse was true for CbC participants.

Perceived freedom in leisure and satisfaction: Exploring the factor structure of the perceived freedom components of the leisure diagnostic battery

Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine the factor structure among the five component measures of perceived freedom in leisure within the Leisure Diagnostic Battery. Matrixes of correlations from three previous studies were subjected to confirmatory factor analysis procedures. The three studies included samples of adolescents, young adults, and mid‐life adults. Results provided support for the existence of a perceived freedom factor, as hypothesized, but they also pointed to the appropriateness of considering a second, correlated factor that may be interpreted as a global need approach to leisure satisfaction. On the basis of these results, a global need leisure satisfaction scale is proposed.

The impact of socialization on youth program outcomes: a social development model perspective.

This study employs a mixed-methods design and a social development model (SDM) to examine the role of socialization processes within an international immersion program for adolescents. Longitudinal data from 108 participant and 49 comparison group members are analyzed using structural equation modeling procedures. Qualitative data are also used to assess participants’ perceptions of these processes. The quantitative findings indicate that the SDM fits the data well and partially mediates the growth of observed recreation program outcomes. The qualitative findings offer additional insights into the role of within program socialization processes.

Positive youth development practices in recreation settings in the United States.

Abstract Recreation programs sponsored by park and recreation departments in the United State are moving beyond simply offering programs designed to reduce at-risk youth deficit behaviors to approaches that include the broader focus of positive youth development for all youth. Using the Developmental Assets Model and the Protective Factors/Resiliency framework, language and practice are moving from a “fun and games” approach to one that includes supplying the supports and opportunities necessary to enable youth to thrive. Building on ideas such as “Problem free is not fully prepared” and “Fully prepared is not fully engaged,” programs have been paying more attention to services that do more than reduce violence, problem use of drugs and alcohol, and unprotected sex among adolescents, to approaches emphasizing young people and families as partners in shaping and delivering services; developing comprehensive service systems that encompass home, school and non-school settings; along with serving the needs of all youth in the community, not just those labeled at-risk. In this paper these approaches to services are described along with case examples of how selected communities are applying these principles in their youth work efforts.

Readership Is More Important Than Publication Outlet

When I worked at the University of Ottawa, Canada in the 1970s, I often traveled back and forth to the United States to visit family and friends. From Ed Jacksons study of where academics in Canada and the United States choose to published their work, we learn that the crossing of the intellectual border may be a rarer experience.I must admit that on first reading Jacksons piece, I found little to get excited about. Despite the impressive database and meticulous analysis, I was not sure there was anything to be particularly bothered by, beyond the curiosity of looking at the data. But after a second reading, it seemed to me that Jacksons data and discussion raise or lead to some useful insights about whom we North Americans talk to and where we chose to publish.Jackson discusses several explanations for the relative country-bound article submission decisions of North American scholars, although he makes a case that Canadians are more likely to publish in journals in the United States, than the other way around. There are several reasons for this pattern, some of which Jackson discusses and others which it seems to me are worthy of explication.To me, the most important factor impacting publication preferences are beliefs about who has access to and reads each journal. How available is each journal in each country? If I am trying to achieve wide distribution of my thoughts and ideas, I want my manuscript to be in a journal that has the chance of reaching the widest possible readership. Thus, my manuscript submission decisions are based on who will be able to read the published piece: how available is each journal in Canada, the United States and elsewhere; and what journal databases abstract each journal. Several of the journals that Jackson reviewed are available and read in both the United States and Canada, but some more so than others. Some of the journals are included in journal databases that are regularly searched, others have less visibility.Interestingly, I suspect Jackson, a well-published Canadian academic, chose to submit his article to the Journal of Leisure Research (JLR), rather than one of the five other North American journals he reviewed, because JLR as the largest subscription base and is considered by many to be the most prestigious of the journals on his list. The journal also has an editor interested in provocative submissions that will engender discussion and attract commentaries. There might have been one other journal from the six he reviews that would have commanded near the same level of attention, but I suspect JLR was the best and wisest choice.Second, since all academics answer to an annual review process at their universities, reputation of the journal is also important. (Reputation is largely a subjective opinion. Please do not quote this as the justification for a flawed study of journal reputation!) Reputation is partly tied to potential readership, but is also related to the prestige of the articles published in a journal over time. I will initially send my manuscript to the most prestigious journal that publishes papers in the subject area of my manuscript. If the manuscript could be published in one of several journals, I would guess that a publication in JLR or Leisure Sciences (LS) would count more in the review process at many universities than one in the Journal of Applied Recreation Research (JARR). This may be a flawed assumption on the part of academic personnel committees, but I suspect one that guides many article submission decisions.Third, as noted, most academics want to send their manuscripts to the appropriate subject-matter journal (although during my 22 years of journal editing, it is also clear that some people count prestige as the more important criteria and submit their manuscript to the wrong journal). Thus, I would not choose Therapeutic Recreation Journal or Loisir et Societe for a manuscript dealing with evaluation of after-school program outcomes. …