Abstract
Improving our understanding of the role of information in leisure choices and more fully utilizing information as a recreation management and marketing tool will require documentation of what information people possess and how this information is utilized. Documenting familiarity with recreation areas, however, is a psychometric task that has received relatively limited attention to date. The following discussion contributes to this research area by presenting a conceptualization of familiarity, identifying the various methods of measuring this phenomenon, outlining the advantages and disadvantages of these methods, and reporting the reliability and validity of measures developed in a study of the public's familiarity with urban parks. Recommendations are made for improving the administration of familiarity questions in survey instruments, for increasing the reliability and validity of familiarity scales, and for further methodological research.