By Grant Cushman

A survey of several Illinois recreation and park systems was conducted to discover what types of research the professionals and their districts needed. Because of time and resource restrictions only 75 out of approximately 403 of these systems were selected for the survey. The criteria used for the selection of the sample was an assessed valuation of $75,000,000 and above. Since only twenty responded to a mailed Opinionnaire, a limitation of the study is that the number of the respondents to the Opinionnaire represented only approximately one-quarter of the selected sample.

However, because the purpose of the Opinionnaire was merely to seek out problem areas which researchers could investigate, and was in no way an attempt to be a structured research study aiming for valid generalizations, the authors feel the response rate is adequate. Much of the survey data is shown in chart and graph form. Some observations concerning the data are summarized below. Overall Topics: Finance drew the greatest response, followed by personnel and staffing, programming, areas and facilities, and administration. The difficulty of not being able to devise mutually exclusive and exhaustive topics was overcome by including the category "other" under each topical heading.

Finance: The majority of questions in the other category, which include 35% of response were concerned with fees and charges, and profits. Of greatest number of responses (27.5%), followed by taxing (17.5%), accounting (15%), and bond-the remaining categories, budgeting showed the ing (5%). (Table 2)

Personnel and Staffing: Of the responses under this topic, 26.8% were concerned with training, 21% with selection, 18.1% each with motivation and board-staff relations, 15.3% with scheduling, and 1.7% with "other." The most frequent concern was with how to select, train and motivate employees. (Table 3)

Programs: The three problem areas of activities, participation and evaluation each drew a response of 28.6%. Within each of the categories the most frequent responses were in those problem areas concerned with methods of evaluating programs and the design of adequate tools to validly assess recreation need and demand. (Table 4)

Areas and Facilities: Within each of these categories the major concern was with standards and guides for developing land and facilities. Respondents questioned the adequacy and usefulness of current standards under different situations and conditions. The other areas that drew high responses were the criteria for selection of park and recreation consultants, and methods for acquiring land. (Table 5)

Illinois Parks and Recreation July/August, 1975

Administration: Responses from policy formulation and coordination were predominant, each with 35.3.% A common concern among respondents was the usefulness, adequacy, and preparation of the policy manual. Coordination with outside agencies, rather than within the parks and recreation system itself, drew a high response rate and especially those questions concerned with the advantages and disadvantages of merging park districts which share common borders. (Table 6)

Other Concerns: Of those responses that could not be classified under the selected topical headings, questions regarding public relations, the status of the profession, and trends and future developments in recreation and parks, were most frequent.

Agency Research: While 62.5% of the respondents indicated that their agency does not have a budget available for research, 81.3% were favorable to allowing their agency to serve as a research setting. 62.5% of the respondents indicated that their agency conducts some type of research.

Clearly, from the data gathered, there are some trends which indicate areas for future research. Some of these areas are:

1. Study of the adequacy and usefulness of current standards and guidelines used for acquiring, locating and developing areas and facilities;

2. research into evaluatory techniques used in the assessment of programs;

3. a broad analysis of personnel and staffing techniques, and especially those dealing with the selection, training and motivation of employees at all levels of the agency;

4. comparison and analysis of budgetary and accounting methods and an evaluation of these in terms of differing agency operations;

5. a descriptive review of fees, charges and profits in Illinois recreation and park systems and the prescription of some normative guidelines;

6. analysis of the content of policy manuals and the usefulness of the same;

7. research into the feasible and optional size of recreation and park systems within the constraints of local conditions.

8. research into the application of public relations techniques in recreation and park systems; and

9. continued re-assessment of the status of the profession, including trends and future developments.

Final Comments:

While the survey data are encouraging in that they indicate areas for future research, agencies should realize that research conducted based upon these suggestions will be subject to various situational constraints. For example, results obtained from research in one community are not automatically generalizable to other communities.

It is hoped that the collected data will (1) act as a stimulus for university-based interdepartmental cooperation in the analysis and study of the problem areas; (2) serve as an idea resource for undergraduate and graduate research; (3) provide another input into improving university recreation and park curricula; and (4) with increased funding it will serve as a base for the development and conduct of a more comprehensive and detailed survey on areas of needed research.

(Editor's Note: At the 1973 state conference, an educational session was held to determine what types of problems the practioners wanted researched. The above are the results of a survey which was conducted to provide a, basis for the session.

Mr. Grant Cushman is a native of New Zealand and a doctoral candidate, in Recreation and Park Administration at the University of Illinois.)

Illinois Parks and Recreation 23 July/August, 1975