A Mixed Methods Evaluation of the Pinery Provincial Park Smartphone Application Pilot Project by Andrew James MacDonald A thesis presented to the University of Waterloo in fulfilment of the thesis requirement for the degree of Master of Arts in Recreation and Leisure Studies Waterloo, Ontario, Canada 2019 © Andrew James MacDonald 2019 AUTHOR’S DECLARATION I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. This is a true copy of the thesis, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I understand that my thesis may be made electronically available to the public. ii Abstract Pinery Provincial Park is the first provincial park in the Ontario Parks system to launch a custom-built smartphone application. This application, titled “Explore Pinery,” was launched in January of 2016 and acts as an information dashboard for Pinery and encourages outreach and participation in citizen science activities. Despite the perceived success of this pilot project, it has not been systematically assessed or evaluated. A review of the literature shows that no comprehensive evaluation approach exists for unique and innovative projects such as this one. As such, a mixed methods evaluation was employed to holistically evaluate the Explore Pinery smartphone application. A qualitative analysis aimed to illuminate how Explore Pinery aids staff in achieving Pinery’s management objectives and a quantitative analysis aimed to understand how Explore Pinery influences visitor experiences. A thematic analysis illuminated a complex relationship between Explore Pinery and Pinery’s management objectives and that Explore Pinery encourages visitors to become environmentally responsible, dedicated park users. Regression analyses discovered that Explore Pinery does not detract from visitors’ nature connectedness, sense of place, and education levels. Attitude towards technology was revealed to be the most significant factor that determined if Explore Pinery positively impacted visitors’ experiences. Overall, Explore Pinery aids park staff in achieving on-going management objectives and best contributes to visitors with positive attitudes towards technology. Ultimately, park-specific smartphone applications are management tools that can be deployed by park managers to engage visitors in a modern world. This methodological approach can be used to evaluate future park-specific smartphone applications. iii Acknowledgements I would like to thank Dr. Bryan Grimwood for his support, valuable feedback, and supervision of this research project. He continues to push the boundary of my knowledge and encourages me to see things in ways I never would have without his guidance. I would also like to thank my committee member, Dr. Steven Mock, for his continued support on all things quantitative without which half this thesis would not have been possible. I would like to hugely thank Alistair MacKenzie, Natural Heritage Education and Resource Management Supervisor at Pinery Provincial Park for his support and enthusiasm from day one on the Explore Pinery smartphone application. Without your encouragement and approval this project never would have seen the light of day. Thank you to the Friends of Pinery for their support and for funding Explore Pinery. Without their resources this project never would have been possible. A big thank you to everyone who was involved at Pinery Provincial Park for their friendly support and eagerness to help in any way possible as well as anyone who was a participant. Lastly, I would like to thank my family, friends, and partner for their endless love and support. I particularly would like to thank my father, who is always reminding me that I can achieve anything I set my mind to, and to never feel as though I’ve worked a day in my life by doing the work I love everyday. iv Table of Contents AUTHOR’S DECLARATION ................................................................................................... II ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................. III ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................................... IV LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................... IX LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................................... IX CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Background ...................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Purpose Statement and Research Objectives ................................................................... 4 1.3 Significance of Research .................................................................................................. 5 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................... 7 2.1 Parks and Protected Areas ................................................................................................ 7 2.2 Pinery Provincial Park Management Plan ........................................................................ 9 2.2.1 Protection objective. ................................................................................................. 9 2.2.2 Heritage appreciation objective. ............................................................................. 10 2.2.3 Recreation objective................................................................................................ 10 2.3 Visitor Demographics .................................................................................................... 11 2.3.1 Pinery Provincial Park visitor demographics. ......................................................... 13 2.4 Visitor Management ....................................................................................................... 14 2.4.1 Park services. .......................................................................................................... 15 2.4.1.1 Outdoor education. .......................................................................................... 15 2.4.1.2 Citizen science. ................................................................................................ 18 2.4.1.3 Innovative technologies. .................................................................................. 19 2.5 Overlap ........................................................................................................................... 20 2.5.1 Explore Pinery. ....................................................................................................... 20 2.6 Types of Assessments within Explore Pinery Subdisciplines ........................................ 21 2.6.1 Parks and protected areas. ....................................................................................... 21 v 2.6.2 Outdoor education. .................................................................................................. 22 2.6.3 Citizen science. ....................................................................................................... 24 2.6.4 Innovative technologies. ......................................................................................... 26 2.7 Assessing Explore Pinery ............................................................................................... 27 2.7.1 Education and awareness. ....................................................................................... 28 2.7.2 Sense of place. ........................................................................................................ 29 2.7.3 Satisfaction. ............................................................................................................. 29 2.7.4 Nature connectedness.............................................................................................. 30 2.7.5 Overall experiences. ................................................................................................ 31 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................ 33 3.1 Evaluation Approach ...................................................................................................... 33 3.2 Philosophical Foundations ............................................................................................. 33 3.3 Case Study Methodology ............................................................................................... 36 3.4 Research Ethics .............................................................................................................. 39 CHAPTER 4: QUALITATIVE STUDY ................................................................................... 42 4.1 Qualitative Methods ....................................................................................................... 42 4.1.1 Qualitative interviews. ............................................................................................ 42 4.1.2 Qualitative procedures. ........................................................................................... 43 4.1.3 Qualitative analysis. ................................................................................................ 48 4.1.4 Step five and six re-evaluation. ..............................................................................