Prompt 9 & 10
Three things I know for certain about outdoor recreation research:
Research within the field of outdoor recreation has a wide range!
There are many uses for outdoor recreation research.
Outdoor recreation research uses a variety of methods in order to collect data.
Throughout OUTD 2511 I have learnt many new things! As one of the only non outdoor recreation students I have experienced a whole new program that is very different from my own (social work). While the two programs are different they can be combined, as we attempted with our podcast/research project to understand how outdoor recreation can be used as a therapeutic resource specifically for university students. I did not go into this course thinking I’d be able to combine the outdoors with my passion for well-being but I did! I have learned about the importance of research; contributing new ideas about society and the multiple methods in which that is done by (Neuman et al, 2017). This is important in both everyday living and the academic settings, we need both to improve human understanding as well as keep the information relevant. If research came out a long time ago, and there is now research claiming the opposite is now true does not mean the previous research was wrong, but that it has changed since that last time. I had never really thought about research within the outdoor recreation field, honestly I didn't have much information on outdoor recreation at all prior to this class but I have come to the understanding that it is just another focus of research. Research methods including qualitative and quantitative, case study, survey, interview, random and non-random assignment just to name a few are valid methods and formats of research to take place in any topic of study (Neuman et al, 2017).
Three things I am still confused by:
While not directly covered in our class, I am unaware of the differences between honours thesis, masters, and doctorate level research.
Is research a mandatory part of outdoor recreation?
Can research be more harmful than good?
I took this class as an elective because I wanted to learn about research; specifically because I have been debating if a master's degree was something I want to pursue. For a long time I thought very little of myself and that there was no way I could do that because a master’s degree was for “smart” people. I predict that I used this as an excuse to limit myself and have now started considering if a masters/research is something I want to do rather than if I can do it. What the heck does this have to do with the things I'm confused by; I’ll let you know. I was wondering what the differences are between the levels of research as you move up the scale you might call it. If a master's degree is seen as a step further than your undergraduate honours thesis; what is the actual difference? While this was never something this course set out to answer, it is still a question I have. Moving forward, I understand research is important but is it a mandatory part of outdoor recreation? Can someone be as valuable to the outdoor recreation field without completing research? I want to think yes, but does that then undermine those who do complete research? Lastly, more specifically our most recent guest speaker has me thinking if research can be damaging to one's reputation. This speaker discusses an issue within her own study that didn’t receive criticism but could have. This makes me wonder and worry that research can be taken as something offensive. While we dedicated a large portion of this course to understanding ethics; the process of making sure research is held to a reasonable standard and that damage is not occurring from the process of research (Neuman et al, 2017). Do ethics protect the researcher as well? In this changing society it is difficult to start research knowing what will and will not be socially appropriate at the time of publication/ end of the research process.
Three things I know for certain about me as an outdoor recreation researcher:
I am passionate about mental well being no matter what field I am in.
I respect the field of outdoor recreation, but it is not a good fit for me.
I agree with the interpretive approach to social science research.
I think the most I can say about myself as an outdoor recreation researcher is that I am not one and that is okay! For those who don’t know, I am a second year social work student and the first two years of social work are mainly electives. I tried to take a wide range of courses, in case social work wasn't for me. There were many programs I thought I might switch into before taking the course; psychology, gerontology, and now outdoor recreation. I’m glad to have gotten the opportunity to try out different fields and know what is right for me. I think this also provided me a deeper understanding of my passion for social work as even though I was in a different field I still wanted to combine social work into what I am doing. Lastly, I have learnt that I am an interpretive researcher and I would hope others would also look at research from an approach that considers multiple perspectives rather than looking for one correct answer (Neuman et al, 2017). I think this can help new research into light.
Three areas I need to spend time developing/learning in order to feel more confident in my skills:
I struggle to find a balance between too vague and too specific when looking into potential thesis’s.
I would like to further my knowledge of outdoor recreation as therapies and how I would research their success.
I think a big struggle for me is confirmation bias; I want to find research that supports my ideas rather than exploring what is out there.
Throughout this process of informal research I feel as though we learn things such as ethics and bias. I think we lack information on how to actively be aware and complete research without actually doing these things. I recognized the first step to preventing something is to be aware of what it is and why it is an issue. A skill I need to work on is confirmation bias, while it makes sense to have a hypothesis of your research results. I think I took this to an extreme. For example; our research question “Does outdoor recreation work as a therapeutic resource for university students” I was pretty confident going into this research that it would benefit. To be honest, I was thinking how could outdoor recreation cause more stress as a university student? I can see outdoor recreation as maybe less effective than other therapies but I wasn't looking into that. I think working on skills prior could've been beneficial. As well I think practising and working with a professional on thesis could have been helpful. While we had many meetings I would have liked to work on the process of creating a thesis rather than doing it once and getting approval.
References:
Neuman, W. L., & Robson, K. (2017). Basics of Social Research (Canadian Edition) (4th Edition). Pearson Education Canada. Retrieved from: https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/books/9780134649078
Hey!
Since your blog is one of the first ones posted again, I am going to reblog it again this week!
First of all, I think social work and outdoor recreation go hand in hand really well. I know of many adventure therapy companies that hire social workers for field work. Would you consider yourself a social worker in the field of adventure therapy? Perhaps, you might want to put some more research in here!
I also don't know a lot about the differences between undergraduate and graduate study research. It is also something that I would like to find out more about as I make my way through the ORPT program. I am currently considering doing my Bachelor of Education at Queens after ORPT, followed by a masters in outdoor education at University of Northern British Columbia. I never saw myself as smart or as an engaged learner but over my time in university I have learned that if you put your mind into learning you can become 'smart'. Smart is what you make it.
As a 2nd/3rd year university student I have began to focus on my outdoor recreation university electives. We have a number of electives that focus on therapeutic recreation. Looking at these courses from the lens of a social work degree would provide a deeper understanding to the field of adventure therapy, land-based therapy and other therapeutic platforms. Perhaps something to consider in the future if you still have any electives left.
All the best,
Laura















