Methodology in Outdoor Research: Approaches from an alternative discourse

The research article is here. The author, Tony Rea, is a lecturer at the University of Plymouth, UK and University College Jarna, Sweden.

The author states that there is too much emphasis placed on 'outcome-based' methods of research and evaluation, or "the objectivisation of outcomes and the essentialising of participant responses." It mentions the English school 'league tables' as an example of this; we have a similar version of this in our Singapore school ranking survey.

This is the first time I have come across the word 'essentialisation'. A cursory online search for the meaning of the word revealed that this word is not that easily defined. My own take on its use in this context is how outdoor adventure education has been ‘essentialised’ such that it is commonly (or popularly) seen to be effective at helping to achieve certain learning or behavioural outcomes in participants e.g. working with others, building up self-esteem, leadership etc.

The author suggests that "much literature on outdoor learning programmes focuses on programme outcomes and that such research may value programme outcomes, such that can be observed and measured in some way, over participant experience."

He goes on to say:

...'impact' is viewed very broadly, to the extent that ‘impact on what?’ is rarely questioned. Rather, it is based upon the assumption that there exists a causal link between educational aims, objectives and pedagogy; and learning outcomes or benefits. Impact became a mantra of late twentieth century state schooling in Britain.

The author mentions that 'character' has been similarly essentialised, arguing that an individual’s behaviour in one situation may give little indication about their behaviour in different situations. For example:

If somebody backs out of a climbing activity because they are nervous or lack confidence, the implication is that this is a transitory state contextualised through the activity. If they are termed to be of 'weak character', or suffer low self-esteem the implication is of a personality trait in need of remedy or therapy.

Rea cites another author, Allison who proposes the use of alternative questions such as “what processes are at work in this situation, or what is the nature of the participant‟s experiences?”

Rea then suggests that storytelling or a participant’s narrative allows for a more nuanced, broader analysis of outcomes. He then describes his research conducted at a British residential outdoor adventure education centre.

The article concludes that a narrative approach to gathering data could (or should?) be considered along with the other ‘traditional’ or conventional forms of data collection and analyses.

Rea admits the limitations of this approach e.g. reader biases, but he did not address other practical considerations e.g. group size, time and participant profile. He did not suggest possible other applications of this method of evaluation, apart from his own research at the residential outdoor adventure education centre, involving presumably young children (curiously, he doesn’t disclose the children’s age).


Further reading
Essentialism (Wikipedia) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essentialism