DISSERTATION RESEARCH: The Cultural Basis of Leisure Participation

这项研究将考察一项似乎已经从美国文化中消失的休闲活动，这是宾夕法尼亚州中部自1873年以来一直存在的一个农业营地和集市。该项目涉及宾夕法尼亚州立大学休闲研究系一名学生的论文研究。该项目将描述和记录博览会的文化，并理解为什么参加博览会的参与者选择这样做。将从三个年龄组中抽取36名举报人。来自参与者观察和使用Zaltman隐喻引出技术的半结构化深度访谈的数据将用于为每个信息提供者创建展会的心理地图。所创造的新知识将进一步加深我们对表现性文化及其对美国农村社区的意义的理解。此外，这项研究将有助于培养一名年轻的社会科学家。

This study will examine a leisure activity that appears to have all but faded from American culture, an agricultural encampment and fair in central Pennsylvania that has existed since 1873. The project involves dissertation research by a student in the leisure studies department of Pennsylvania State university. The project will describe and document the culture of the fair, and to understand why participants attending the fair chose to do so. Thirty-six informants will be sampled from three age cohorts. Data from participant observation and semi-structured, in-depth interviews using the Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique will be used to create a mental map of the fair for each informant. The new knowledge to be created will further our understanding of expressive culture and its significance to a rural American community. In addition the research will contribute to the training of a young social scientist.