Development of a Family Recreation Agenda

Keywords

family leisure, family recreation, Delphi technique

Abstract

Family life is receiving a surge of attention from politicians, media, and social scientists (Kelly, 1997). While a rich heritage of family leisure research has been developed and reviewed (Freysinger, 1997; Hawks, 1991; Holman & Epperson, 1984; Kelly, 1997; Orthner & Mancini, 1990; Shaw, 1997), no systematic approach has guided this body of work or necessarily connected the divergent themes. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to develop such an agenda. To do so, a Delphi technique (Delbecq, Van de Ven, & Gustafson, 1975; Moeller & Shafer, 1987) was utilized to collect input from experts concerning the direction they felt research in family recreation should take. A list of 22 academics and professionals were identified using the Nominal Group Process. Of the 22 initially contacted, 19 agreed to participate in the study. The panel was asked to respond to the following question, “What topics, issues and specific research questions ought to be addressed and answered to build the body of knowledge in family recreation?” The initial responses were organized around themes and the panel then ranked the research topics and questions. The final round of the process asked for clarification and feedback. A list of 20 general topic areas for future research was identified, the top five were: Developing Healthy and Successful Families, Increasing Family Cohesion, Improving family functioning, Examining demands for family time, and Defining family and family structure. The top 10 research questions were also identified.

Original Publication Citation

Freeman, Patti A., Brian J. Hill, and Christy Huff. 2002. “Development of a Family Recreation Agenda.” LARNet; The Cyber Journal of Applied Leisure and Recreation Research. (http://www.nccu.edu/larnet/abstracts.html, March, 2002)

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2002

Publisher

The Cyber Journal of Applied Leisure and Recreation Research

Language

English

College

Marriott School of Business

Department

Experience Design and Management

University Standing at Time of Publication

Full Professor

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