1 Chapter 3 Leisure as Behavior, Setting and Time ( 休閒是行為、情境與時間 )

2 The Challenge of Defining and Measuring Leisure: Mapping the Terrain ( 定義與測量休閒的挑戰 )  Approaches to defining and operationalizing leisure can be classified according to two criteria — phenomena ( 現象 )and definitional vantage point ( 定義位置點 ).  Two types of Phenomena are typically distinguished — objective ( 客觀 ) and subjective ( 主觀 ).  Objective definitions equate leisure with certain types of activity and/or time.

3 The Challenge of Defining and Measuring Leisure (cont ’ )  Subjective definitions contend that leisure is associated with the occurrence of certain types of mental states, perceptions, meanings, needs satisfied, and/or experiences.

4 The Challenge of Defining and Measuring Leisure (cont ’ )  The second way to distinguish among leisure definitions and measures is according to the definitional vantage point ( 定義位置點 ) taken by the researcher when studying leisure.  Regardless of whether the researcher is studying behavior, settings or mental states, what is defined as leisure can be based either on the viewpoint of the researcher (external) or that of the person being studied (internal).

5 Research Approaches to Defining Leisure Type of Phenomena Definitional Vantage Point External Internal Objective Activity, setting, or time period is defined by the researcher as leisure or nonleisure. Activity, setting, or time period is defined by the participant as leisure or nonleisure. Subjective Experience, satisfaction or meaning associated with involvement is defined by the researcher as leisure or nonleisure. Experience, satisfaction or meaning associated with involvement is defined by the participant as leisure or nonleisure.

6 Classifying Leisure Definitions and Measures ( 釐清休閒定義與測量 )

7 Type of Phenomena ( 現象的類別 )  When leisure is defined as “ what people do, ” researchers have used measures based on the activities in which they participate and the amount of time they spend engaged in these activities.  This approach generally involves measuring the number of specific activities or general categories of activities participated in by individuals, the frequency of participation in these activities, and the amount of time they are involved.

8 Type of Phenomena (cont ’ )  When leisure is defined in terms of what people think and feel, researchers use measures that reflect mental experience while engaged in leisure activities and the satisfactions or meanings derived from these involvements.  The mental world of leisure is populated by conscious experiences including emotions, moods, satisfactions, cognitions, attitudes, and beliefs.

9 Definitional Vantage Point: External and Internal ( 定義位置點 : 內部與外部 )  If an external vantage point is adopted, what constitutes leisure is determined by the researcher and is based on viewpoints other than those of the individual or people being studied.  External definitions of leisure are based on what people in a social group or society actually agree to be leisure and researchers often share these beliefs if they are members of the same group or society.

10 Definitional Vantage Point: External and Internal (cont ’ )  If an internal vantage point is adopted by the researcher, the definition of leisure is based on the perception or construal of the behavior, setting or experience as leisure by the individuals being studied.  By using the individual ’ s own definition of leisure, researchers will get a more accurate picture of how much leisure people feel they have and what is meaningful to them, which in turn may also allow a clearer understanding how leisure impacts on their lives.

11 Definitional Vantage Point: External and Internal (cont ’ )  Personal definitions of leisure can be expected to be influenced by and consistent with the values and beliefs of the group and society of which people are members.  Construal is an important idea for understanding all aspects of human behavior and experience and the influence of the social environment.

12 Definitional Vantage Point: External and Internal (cont ’ )  The social psychological perspective is based on a belief in the importance of taking into account both socially derived or external, as well as personal or internal definitions of behavior, settings and experience to fully understand human behavior.

13 Back to the Video Arcade  A combination of the these approaches is often used for determining if someone is engaged in leisure.  If an observer were to see a person in a video arcade and playing a video game (objective) and overheard this individual say she was having a good time (subjective), the observer would likely assume that this engagement was leisure for that person.

14 Back to the Video Arcade (cont ’ )  Of course, the observer could confirm the observation and external definition by approaching the player and asking if she felt that what she was doing was leisure — adopting an internal definitional vantage point.  Approaches have been developed that utilize not only objective and subjective approaches when studying the leisure of individuals, but that also define leisure from the external and internal vantage points.

15 Measuring Leisure Behavior and Time ( 測量休閒行為與時間 )

16 Introduction  When researchers have attempted to conceptualize and measure leisure, they have more frequently been interested in assessing overall patterns of leisure activity engagement and time usage.  When leisure time is of interest, researchers typically measure the amount or duration of the time spent by people engaging in leisure activities or settings.

17 Introduction (cont ’ )  As data collection strategies, leisure behavioral inventories and time diaries have been used most frequently when leisure style is defined as activity, setting, or time.  Recently, with the growth of studies of single specific activities, there has been a corresponding growth in the number of studies reported using direct observation with qualitative research method.

18 Leisure Behavior Inventories ( 休閒行為量表 )  See figure 3.2 (p. 61).  Ragheb (1980) developed a leisure behavioral inventory containing 41 activities. These 41 activities were grouped into 6 categories by the researcher (Figure 3.3, p.63).

19 Time Diaries ( 時間日誌 )  Typically, researchers have people record in a diary the sequence and duration of the activities in which they engage over a specified period.  They have been used to examine how much time people in different segments of society and at different life-cycle stages spend at paid work, leisure, house work and family obligations, and how these patterns change from weekdays to weekends.

20 Time Diaries (cont ’ )  Typically, respondents carry the diaries for one or two weekdays and one weekend day. The entries can be weighted to provide time-use estimates from a complete week of 168 hours. Sometimes a typical weekday and weekend day are described from the data.  Researchers (in Canada,1992) found that time spent in leisure activities was relatively similar from Monday to Thursday, then increased on Friday and was highest on Saturday and Sunday.

21 Time Diaries (cont ’ )  However, Saturdays and Sundays differed substantially.  Saturdays were days of domestic work and shopping as much as they were days of leisure. Much of Saturday ’ s leisure was taken up with outings.  On the other hand, Sundays were days of sleep, rest, family contacts, childcare, and mostly passive leisure. For men, this meant watching TV.

22 Time Diaries (cont ’ )  Being employed, married and having young children amplified the difference between the amount of leisure available to men and women.  Bella (1989) suggested that some of the time that women spend in role-related activities and caring for family members may be experienced as leisure. She argues that there are significant differences in the way men and women define leisure that are due to their different social roles.

23 Time Diaries (cont ’ )  See figure 3.4 (p. 65)

24 Direct Observation ( 直接觀察 )  Direct observation may take the form of in- depth interviews, participant observation and case study.  Information collected from direct observation can be quantitative or qualitative.  In the study of the play of children, a variety of scales have been developed for directly observing and quantifying children ’ s activity in natural settings.

25 Strengths and Limitations of These Approaches ( 這些方法的優缺點 )  The strength of direct observation lies in the ability of the researchers to provide rich detail about all aspects of the activity under study.  Although in-depth, direct observation can be very time consuming for the researcher and field research observations are very personal.

26 Strengths and Limitations of These Approaches (cont ’ )  Infrequent activities may be more accurately measured with the leisure behavior inventory rather than the time diary approach.  When measuring daily or frequently occurring activities (e.g., exercising, watching TV), the time diary appears to be the superior approach.  However, a sporting event, the theater or a vacation are not likely weekly events and may be missed in the time-diary studies.

27 Strengths and Limitations of These Approaches (cont ’ )  There is no standard list of activities that researchers agree constitute leisure, and inventories differ substantially on the specificity of the activities they include.  Some researchers use a large number of very specific activities, whereas in other studies, researchers have used only a small number of very broad activity categories such as mass media, reading, social, outdoor, sports, spectator, cultural and hobby activities.

28 Strengths and Limitations of These Approaches (cont ’ )  Inventories typically require that respondents report participation at a time substantially removed from the actual involvements themselves or over lengthy periods of time.  Research has demonstrate that inaccuracies in recall are quite likely for inventory approach if the recall period in length.

29 Strengths and Limitations of These Approaches (cont ’ )  Time diaries usually require more of a time commitment from the respondents, making it more difficult to recruit participants.  Time diaries require more time and effort to administer as the respondents have to be trained in their use, and it also takes much more time to code and analyze the data.  The researcher also has to assume that the week and days studied are typically in the life of the respondents.

30 Internal Vantage Point of the Participant ( 參與者的自身觀點 )  Researcher typically assume that specific activities have a common meaning or are defined as leisure by everyone in the study.  However, activities that constitute leisure are likely to differ by culture and subculture, gender, age and even personality.  Also, the same individual may view activity to be leisure on one occasion and something else on a second occasion.

31 Internal Vantage Point of the Participant (cont ’ )  Shaw (1984) found differences in what was seen as leisure by men and women.  The men in her study were much more likely than the women to perceive externally defined obligated activities as leisure.  Cooking, shopping, and childcare were defined as leisure more often by males.

32 Internal Vantage Point of the Participant (cont ’ )  Shaw (1984) suggests that men feel less obligation and more freedom of choice with respect to these activities than do women.  Shaw illustrates that the same individual can perceive the same activity differently at different times — an activity whether externally defined as leisure or nonleisure can be perceived as leisure on one occasion and nonleisure on another.

33 Progress in Definition and Measurement  Knowing what the people being studied personally define as leisure, rather than relying on researcher imposed judgments, provides a more sensitive approach to measuring the quantity and quality of leisure experienced  The above approach may better allow researchers to establish the relationship between leisure and other aspects of their lives, such as mental health, the quality of life, work, successful retirement and so forth.

34 The End... Thank You!

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