RESEARCH SERVICES
For a number of years, in partnership with the Recreation Association of Nova Scotia, at their annual conference, the Centre would host a Research Symposium. The purpose was to provide practitioners with the opportunity to hear from researchers what projects they were engaged in and what implications there were for professional practise. Presenters included both academic researchers and practitioners engaged in applied research projects. The format was that of a standard research symposium with 15 minutes for presentation and 10 minutes for discussion. The event was very popular and attracted presenters from a far away as Ontario. Those wishing to present had to submit an abstract which a committee would review and make selections of papers for presentation. Each symposium would generally include the presentation of 10-12 papers, with the full abstracts being published afterwards.
By the 80s, many municipalities and organizations were seeing the need for research to assist with decision making, and the best ways to allocate scarce resources. There were private consultants offering such services but the fees were high, most did not have a background in recreation and leisure, and frequently a cookie cutter approach was used to produce a report such as a master plan using generic data rather site specific information. As a result, monies were being expended but the results were not particularly useful. So the Centre established a Research Services program to assist with the development of initiatives such as master plans, feasibility studies, opinion polls, needs assessments, marketing plans, interest surveys, and program assessments. Clients included municipal recreation departments, provincial government departments, facilities, sport organizations, institutions, festival and event planners, and provincial recreation organizations.
The services available included completing an entire study to assistance with any the following steps of a research initiative depending upon the inhouse expertise groups had available: developing a research proposal, conducting literature reviews, designing the methodology, developing data collection instruments, sampling, data collection, data analysis, and report writing. Centre staff would also work with agency staff to train them to carry out specific components of the research process.
By the 80s, many municipalities and organizations were seeing the need for research to assist with decision making, and the best ways to allocate scarce resources. There were private consultants offering such services but the fees were high, most did not have a background in recreation and leisure, and frequently a cookie cutter approach was used to produce a report such as a master plan using generic data rather site specific information. As a result, monies were being expended but the results were not particularly useful. So the Centre established a Research Services program to assist with the development of initiatives such as master plans, feasibility studies, opinion polls, needs assessments, marketing plans, interest surveys, and program assessments. Clients included municipal recreation departments, provincial government departments, facilities, sport organizations, institutions, festival and event planners, and provincial recreation organizations.
The services available included completing an entire study to assistance with any the following steps of a research initiative depending upon the inhouse expertise groups had available: developing a research proposal, conducting literature reviews, designing the methodology, developing data collection instruments, sampling, data collection, data analysis, and report writing. Centre staff would also work with agency staff to train them to carry out specific components of the research process.
The Centre was involved with a wide range of contract research initiatives between the mid 1980s and mid 90s including the following examples:
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