Relationships between motivations, activities and settings: the recreation opportunity spectrum within the Delaware State Park system

Abstract

The Recreation Opportunity Spectrum (ROS) was first developed by the US Forest Service to classic lands available for recreation by activities, settings, and visitor expectations. This paper examines the relationship between these three criteria within the Delaware State Park System. Respondents were asked to rank the importance of 22 reasons for visiting a state park, and to report their preferences for 18 activities available at Delaware state parks. Factor and cluster analyses were used to reduce these data to general motivation factors and activity preference groups. The relationships between these new variables and the state park setting in which they occurred were examined. This study demonstrates that there is a relationship between park visitors' activity preferences, their motives for visiting a park, and the setting attributes which are available.

Parent Publication

• Proceedings of the 1997 Northeastern Recreation Research Symposium

Citation

Vogelsong, Hans; Graefe, Alan R.; Confer, John J., Jr.; Solan, Dave S.; Kramp, Jennifer K. 1998. Relationships between motivations, activities and settings: the recreation opportunity spectrum within the Delaware State Park system. In: Vogelsong, Hans G., comp, ed. Proceedings of the 1997 Northeastern Recreation Research Symposium; 1997 April 6 - 9; Bolton Landing, NY. Gen. Tech. Rep. NE-241. Radnor, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station. 124-127.