Attributes of Chicago trail areas

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a study designed to identify the important attributes of trail areas in Metropolitan Chicago for four day‐use activities: bicycling, cross‐country skiing, day hiking, and jogging. In an attempt to minimize both the potential biases of researchers and the response biases resulting from any one survey method, four different procedures were used to ascertain the attributes that recreators use in evaluating trail areas. The four methods were: the semantic differential, the grid‐sorting method of Personal Construct Theory, a ranking method, and an open‐ended response method. The analyses indicated that five trail attributes are the primary determinants of trail area preferences. These five are: type of trail surface, trail terrain, length of trail, number of changes in view, and proximity to residence. A separate and subsequent research design was used to show that the five trail area attributes identified here are predictors of actual trail usage.

Key words:

• trail area attributes
• environmental management
• day use activities
• preference functions