EAST ST LOUIS ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT
LA 341 Fall 1998

Practical 7--

Recreation Opportunity Spectrum: 
Self-test of the concept

The basic idea behind ROS is that people should be provided with a range of recreation opportunities so that individual tastes can be appropriately accommodated. The important "spectrums" represented in the ROS include the following: Managerial setting: some areas will be free of evidence of management restrictions, others will be clearly marked with directions and facilities to support and define use.


In-class survey

The class undertook a survey to investigate their own experiences and expectations regarding Primitive recreation, and an investigation of how they would allocate their own resources to different parts of the ROS.


Personal experience and expectations:

The questions in this section generally followed the format: ... and asked respondents to describe the expoerience, then give numerical estimates for the following: The full range of questions, themselves picked to represent a "spectrum" of user expectations, was as follows: The responses of the 22 people present in class were compiled in an Excel spreadsheet and the results charted to show relationships between the five spectrum questions above for each of the detail questions:


How many days was it?

days 1, 2 3 - 5 6-10 11-15 15-30 30 +
desired primitive 0 6 7 5 1 3
self primitive 3 9 3 2 3 0
parents' primitive 4 7 7 0 3 0
self national park 2 6 9 5 0 0
self beach resort 0 4 11 6 1 0
chart


What accommodation would be chosen?

accommodation tent campsite cabin house condo hotel
desired primitive 16 0 2 0 0 4
self primitive 18 0 2 2 0 0
parents' primitive 9 1 3 2 0 3
self national park 7 8 1 1 0 5
self beach resort 3 0 0 2 0 17


How many in the party?

# in party 1 2 3-5 6-10 11-20 20 +
desired primitive 0 9 10 3 0 0
self primitive 1 7 3 3 4 3
parents' primitive 0 9 7 4 0 0
self nat'l park 0 9 9 5 0 0
self beach resort 0 16 4 2 0 0


How many miles from home?

miles from home <100 100-200 200-500 500-1000 1000-2500 2500+
desired primitive 1 0 0 8 6 2
self primitive 7 3 4 2 6 1
parents' primitive 5 2 2 4 4 1
self nat'l park 0 0 0 4 14 4
self beach resort 0 0 0 5 7 6


Approximate $$$ spent per person?

$$$ per person <100 100-200 200-500 500-1000 1000-2500 2500+
desired primitive 2 7 2 6 2 6
self primitive 10 4 5 3 0 0
parents' primitive 6 5 5 3 1 0
self nat'l park 0 0 11 4 7 0
self beach resort 0 0 4 9 10 0


What is your preference for each category of recreation?

primitive semi-p, no motors semi-p, motors roaded nat'l rural urban
27 17 14 16 13 13


What % of your annual budget goes to each category?

primitive semi-p, no motors semi-p, motors roaded nat'l rural urban
23 15 10 16 14 20


Modified: 25 October 1998, Brian Orland
EAST ST LOUIS ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT