Park and recreation development simulator : a paradigm for decision-making in resource allocation

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to devise and operationalize a game which would constitute a surrogate for reality in resource allocation in decision-making. The game was constructed to determine whether it was possible to demonstrate cause and effect relationships which affect decisions in recreational resource allocation. A secondary objective was to determine if specified characteristics of a participant could be correlated with the degree of his success in selecting the most desirable alternatives to achieve a previously selected management goal. The game was designed to employ a manually operated model and utilized a non-zero-sum player reward system. The scenario was abstracted from a case study of the Wheeling Park Commission, Wheeling, West Virginia, and specifically the development and operation of Oglebay Park. Data were obtained from the following sources. 1. Individual student scores on college Entrance Examination Board tests, Graduate Record Examination scores from the Counseling and Testing Center, Texas A&M University. 2. All participant characteristics and background information from Texas A&M University records. 3. Data pertaining to each student's game performance from game records maintained by the player and verified by the game referee. These data represented 102 individual participants and were subjected to analysis of variance to examine relationships between participant data classes and game results. Subsequently, the data were treated with multiple regression analysis to re-examine selected dependent variables and to examine specific combinations of independent variables. Three regression equations were employed to treat each of the three dependent variables selected for regression analysis. ...