Representative Rivers: An Experimental Research Program in River Recreation Management

Abstract

Earlier attempts at synthesizing research needs and priorities were not fruitful. It became an exercise in which I subconsciously tried to produce a document that was acceptable through peer review. I styled my writing and format after other analyses that I had read. It seemed the natural thing to do - to look just like the others so mine would be accepted. At the same time, I tried to be different. It became a matter of shifting chairs around the table, but somehow the dinner still looked the same. I did not really realize what I was doing until Drs. Workman and Becker, in separate reviews, pointed out the problem. They simply said I was not covering new ground or even looking critically at river-recreation management. The second attempt was more progressive in terms of reviewing previous research and management theory, and proposing a new approach to river recreation management research; but it was too disjointed to be effective in communicating the problems of present research and means of overcoming those problems. At least one thing became clear - most of the research done in recreation, particularly river recreation, was based on survey research designs which required a lot of data-crunching and liberal interpretation. As reproved by W. G. Workman, "Torture the data until nature confesses." In fact, much of the belief in the process of survey research appears to be related to the apparent ability to overcome inadequacies of research design by simply increasing sample size and then manipulating that data until some significant relationship is noted .