The relationship between leisure theory and recreation practice

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between leisure theory and recreation practice, using a cognitive approach. Seventeen male and 3 female public leisure service managers took part in the investigation. A pile‐sort technique was used to ascertain the structure of the conceptual domain consisting of the Accreditation Standards of the National Recreation and Park Association (1991). The pile‐sort data were used to generate hierarchical clustering (HC) and multidimensional scaling (MDS) solutions. Both the HC and the MDS solutions indicated that these practitioners associate leisure theory and philosophy primarily with the programming process and that this area of knowledge is used most by mid‐level managers and front‐line staff. This investigation demonstrated a relationship between leisure theory and recreation practice for these practitioners and that researchers and practitioners may hold different meanings for the concepts of leisure theory and philosophy. Implications for future research are discussed.

Keywords:

• Leisure theory
• recreation practice
• theory‐practice gap