1 – Decide on a Topic & Research Question

  • The topic must have a clear focus on recreation in Canada
  • There must be a perceived need for more and new information on this topic
  • The topic must be one that is reflected in recreation-related scholarly journals
  • Come up with a research question
    • See “The Research Question” for further details

2 – Find an Agency Advisor

 This person:

  • is currently employed in a full-time capacity in the field of recreation (or “allied field”)
  • works for a recreation organization, or for an organization which has a consistent, formal recreation-related function (or is interested in such)
  • has the authority to make a commitment to this project on behalf of the organization they work for is authorized to communicate with the student and the Instructor using an official work email address and letterhead
  • is not currently enrolled in Rec 4400 or Rec 4300
  • has the authority to help the student gain access to certain agency documents, personnel, and program sites
  • agrees to advise the student as the project progresses
  • agrees to read the Final Paper and judge whether the information is useful to the field
  • see the document titled “Concept of Applied” for further details regarding criteria for the Agency Advisor)

3 – Get Approval from Course Instructor

  • The student must get approval of their research question from their Instructor before proceeding with the research past Week #3
  • No major paper will be accepted if it does not have this approval

4 – Engage in Research

  • The major paper will involve two kinds of research – primary and secondary research
  • The primary research includes interviews, observations, and content analysis of field-based documents.  
  • The secondary research will involve literature from scholarly journals and from publications from the field the experiential learning process.