Use of Visual Research Methods to Measure Standards of Quality for Parks and Outdoor Recreation

Abstract

Visual research methods have been adapted and incorporated into measuring standards of quality for parks and outdoor recreation. This paper reviews and assesses this research. Visual research methods offer several potential advantages over conventional narrative/numerical questions to measure standards of quality. For example, visual methods can help “standardize” such research, focus more directly and exclusively on the treatment variables under study, offer a more elegant means of communicating variables that are difficult or awkward to describe in narrative/numerical terms, and can be used to represent conditions that are difficult to find in the field or that do not currently exist. Research suggests that visual research methods may be most appropriate in frontcountry or other high use density contexts, may result in more valid or realistic estimates of visitor standards of quality in such applications, meet generally accepted standards of validity, and may be methodologically robust. Technological and societal trends suggest that visual research methods may continue to evolve into more dynamic formats and offer opportunities for expanded applications in the future.