A use-classification of parks by analysis of extremes: Final report of a recreation travel study
In this, the final report of a Recreational Travel Study undertaken by the Department of Highways, Ontario, the results of a Park User Survey are presented. The survey was performed in 1966, by the Department, in cooperation with the Department of Lands and Forests. Two kinds of visitors to the Provincial Parks of Ontario were surveyed in 1966: day-visitors, i.e. people who came to and left the Parks on the same day; and campers, who spent one or more nights at the Parks. It is the latter who are the main subjects of this report. There were 81 Provincial Parks in 1966, with camping facilities. In the two largest Parks two types of campers were surveyed, so that in effect the total number of camping populations sampled was 83. A randomly selected 2 percent sample yielded a sample size of roughly 5,000; although no tests of statistical significance were performed, the results obtained compared well with those obtained in earlier years with much larger samples (from 10 to 100 percent). The sample was intended to act as a "carbon tracer through the Parks system, to indicate the patterns of movement from Park to Park. To some extent it did act as such; it was found, for example, that the circular route travelled by tourists from the United States, around Lake Superior, was probably travelled in a counter-clockwise direction; the bulk of the campers entering at Sault Ste. Marie, camping at a Park in northeastern Ontario, continuing with Parks in northwestern Ontario, and leaving at Pigeon River or Rainy River. Strongly marked locational patterns were observed for a large number of attributes of the Parks - distance travelled, participation in the various kinds of recreational activities, education and occupation of the heads of camping parties, and so on. A technique was devised, "Analysis of Extremes", which made it possible to specify the attributes that were most distinctive of a Park or of a region. It was found that northwestern Ontario had Parks that were the whereas the regions with intermediate locations, northeastern Ontario and the Ptecombrian Shield south of the Frech River (Parry Sound, Muskoka, Haliburton, etc.), were also intermediate in character. The conclusion seems warranted that analysis of extremes, once it is given statistical rigour, will prove useful in establishing a use-classification of Provincial Parks, by indicating which groups of Parks have strong affinities with each other and strong antihtheses with other groups of Parks. The resulting classification of Parks will, it is hoped, allow planners of Parks and of highways to relate the physical characteristics of Parks to the attributes and activities of the campers who use them, so that, for any new Park that is planned for the future, it will be possible to predict who will campo there, from where they will come and where they will go to, in what numbers and using which highways; what the age, education and occupation mixes will be; what activities will be preferred or shunned; and, in general, what the total character of the Park will be. Ultimately, it should be possible to go a step further back, and decide where and when new Parks and highways should be provided, and what character they should be.
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | biblioteca |
| Published: |
Ontario (Canadá)
1969
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| Subjects: | RECREACION, TURISMO, ENCUESTAS, METODOS Y TECNICAS, PARQUE NACIONAL, CANADA, |
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| Summary: | In this, the final report of a Recreational Travel Study undertaken by the Department of Highways, Ontario, the results of a Park User Survey are presented. The survey was performed in 1966, by the Department, in cooperation with the Department of Lands and Forests. Two kinds of visitors to the Provincial Parks of Ontario were surveyed in 1966: day-visitors, i.e. people who came to and left the Parks on the same day; and campers, who spent one or more nights at the Parks. It is the latter who are the main subjects of this report. There were 81 Provincial Parks in 1966, with camping facilities. In the two largest Parks two types of campers were surveyed, so that in effect the total number of camping populations sampled was 83. A randomly selected 2 percent sample yielded a sample size of roughly 5,000; although no tests of statistical significance were performed, the results obtained compared well with those obtained in earlier years with much larger samples (from 10 to 100 percent). The sample was intended to act as a "carbon tracer through the Parks system, to indicate the patterns of movement from Park to Park. To some extent it did act as such; it was found, for example, that the circular route travelled by tourists from the United States, around Lake Superior, was probably travelled in a counter-clockwise direction; the bulk of the campers entering at Sault Ste. Marie, camping at a Park in northeastern Ontario, continuing with Parks in northwestern Ontario, and leaving at Pigeon River or Rainy River. Strongly marked locational patterns were observed for a large number of attributes of the Parks - distance travelled, participation in the various kinds of recreational activities, education and occupation of the heads of camping parties, and so on. A technique was devised, "Analysis of Extremes", which made it possible to specify the attributes that were most distinctive of a Park or of a region. It was found that northwestern Ontario had Parks that were the whereas the regions with intermediate locations, northeastern Ontario and the Ptecombrian Shield south of the Frech River (Parry Sound, Muskoka, Haliburton, etc.), were also intermediate in character. The conclusion seems warranted that analysis of extremes, once it is given statistical rigour, will prove useful in establishing a use-classification of Provincial Parks, by indicating which groups of Parks have strong affinities with each other and strong antihtheses with other groups of Parks. The resulting classification of Parks will, it is hoped, allow planners of Parks and of highways to relate the physical characteristics of Parks to the attributes and activities of the campers who use them, so that, for any new Park that is planned for the future, it will be possible to predict who will campo there, from where they will come and where they will go to, in what numbers and using which highways; what the age, education and occupation mixes will be; what activities will be preferred or shunned; and, in general, what the total character of the Park will be. Ultimately, it should be possible to go a step further back, and decide where and when new Parks and highways should be provided, and what character they should be. |
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