Person-place engagement among recreation visitors: A Q-method inquiry

Scope and method of study. Q methodology was used to examine person-place engagement among recreation visitors to a rural lake-based park. Q methodology was used because of its effectiveness in illuminating operant subjectivity, in this case subjective response to a rural outdoor recreation site. The Q sort procedure was used to gather data from subjects. Each subject accomplished a Q sort by rank-ordering a set of forty-two statements (Q set) provided by the researcher. The Q set was taken from prior in-depth interviews with visitors to the study area. Participants in the study were randomly selected from a list of persons who held annual permits for visiting the park.; Findings and conclusions. Factor analysis revealed four factors. The factors are person types constructed from analysis of all responses of the subject sample (P set). The following person types were found: (a) close-encounter escapists who seem to escape to the place to engage in sensory contact with non-human influences of the place, (b) time-out escapists who seek time-out occasions in a social context antithetical to their daily lives and find it predictably in a tranquil outdoor environment, (c) purposive dawdlers who seek direct exploratory experience with physical features of the place, and (d) place abstractors who acquire spiritual benefit in a tranquil, natural ambience. The demonstration of these four types of person-place interaction suggests that the naturalness and tranquility of the geographic site represents a primary facility for recreation and leisure among visitors to this resource-based outdoor recreation park.