• Fitness & Health
• Sport & Exercise Science
• Physical Education
• Strength & Conditioning
• Sports Medicine
• Sport Management
• Dance

Using ‘review of literature’ in recreational research

This is an excerpt from Applied Research and Evaluation Methods in Recreation 2nd Edition by Diane C. Blankenship,Natalia B. Lowe,Jeffrey R. Farr.

At the recreation facility where you work, the staff has been perplexed about the low involvement of the local Costa Rican immigrants in the programs and services provided by the agency. The staff has tried various marketing techniques to inform the residents about the facility and programs. However, these efforts have failed to motivate the residents to take advantage of the programs, services, and facilities, all of which are within walking distance of their homes. During a recent staff meeting, this topic was discussed, and Alice—the group’s newest member, who was fresh out of college—mentioned that they should do some type of research project to identify cultural elements within the Costa Rican community, including leisure interests, preferences, and barriers to participation. It was agreed that learning more about these aspects of Costa Rican immigrants could provide greater programming opportunities for the recreation facility to meet their needs. As Alice was already managing a new initiative at the facility, the director appointed you as the leader of the research team. You realize that your knowledge about the local Costa Rican community and their culture is limited at best. You decide that the best first step in this project is to gather information about Costa Rican immigrants to build the research team’s foundational knowledge about this ethnic minority group. This information-gathering process is best done by conducting a review of literature.

On the surface, the review of literature sounds very intimidating, especially to young professionals who have nightmares of term papers about Shakespeare or World War II. In actuality, however, this process serves a very valuable purpose for every study. It is likely that when you begin the research process you have very limited or no information related to the research problem or subject area. The review of literature enables you to gain the necessary background information on the problem; otherwise, you would wander blindly into and through the research process. While a written review of literature may not end up in a final presented document, you cannot move forward in the research process until this step is completed. This step helps professionals develop a thorough understanding of the problem, including the issues related to the problem and what has been done in the past to study and resolve the problem.

More Excerpts From Applied Research and Evaluation Methods in Recreation 2nd Edition

---