Development and validation of an Outdoor Leader Experience Use History instrument

Expertise gained in naturalistic settings has been shown to affect decision-making in a variety of ways. Outdoor leader decision-making is often cited as one of the most important competencies that professionals in the field possess. This abstract describes the conceptualization, development, and validation of an instrument designed to measure the personal and professional experience levels of outdoor leaders-the Outdoor Leader Experience Use History (OLEUH). The OLEUH represents one method to generate empirical measurement in what has historically been an intuitive arena. Researchers have utilized a method known as "experience use history" (EUH) to measure the multi-dimensional motivations of recreationists to participate, constraints to participation, subjective perceptions, and the influence of past experience on recreation behavior. The OLEUH serves as a preliminary effort to develop a psychometrically sound instrument for the measurement of overall outdoor leader expertise for use in future research, training and professional development.

A pool of 12 researchers and practitioners with expertise in the fields of outdoor leadership, adventure recreation, and experience use history were asked to submit, review and respond to a list of factors that they felt would encompass the experience of an outdoor leader. A sample was obtained in order to generate reliability and validity data for the OLEUH from outdoor leaders at two Outward Bound schools (N= 103) during their respective staff trainings. Internal consistency reliability for the OLEUH was estimated by computing Cronbach's Alpha ([alpha]) for the eight subscales resulting in an overall reliability coefficient of .775. In order to estimate construct validity, a factor analysis was conducted using principal axis factoring with varimax rotation for these data. A two-factor model was returned explaining 55.43 percent of the variance in this data set. Due to the conceptual structure of the data the factors were named the professional factor and the personal factor, and factor loadings generally correspond to the conceptual structure of the instrument.

T scores were generated and grouped and represented in radar graphs by group means in order to estimate interaction and to provide a visual representation. The T scores for each subscale were transformed into grid coordinates and the area of each polygon was calculated. A one-way ANOVA was conducted to test differences in grouped means resulting in significant differences (p

Potential uses for the OLEUH include the assessment of staff development needs (individually and as a group), and use as a research variable for investigating the effect of experience on leader performance, decision-making, and program and participant outcomes. The OLEUH also generates a graphic representation of an individual's experience patterns. The conceptual structure of the measurement would also allow for translation to other areas of experience (leisure service providers, land managers, as well as subsets of experiential educators).

Shayne Galloway, Indiana University/National Park Service

Shayne Galloway currently serves as Visiting Lecturer at Albright Training Center, Grand Canyon National Park in partnership with Indiana University and the Eppley Institute for Parks and Public Lands. He may be reached at sgallowa@indiana.edu

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