Dear Friends and Colleagues:

Here are the best bets for finding research about the impact of adventure programs. You can probably find lots more by typing "Research Adventure-Based Program" in your web search engines.

Hope this is beneficial.

Kevin Witt
Director, Camp and Retreat Ministries
kwitt@gbod.org

• ACA compiled a Meta Analysis on all the research they could find on camping several years back. Within that compilation there may be some on adventure learning research. You can reach ACA at 1-800-428-CAMP. Marge Scanlin would know about that compilation project and how to get the findings.

 
• The Association for Challenge Course Technology might know where to find research on the impact of adventure programming on youth and youth at risk.

 
• The Association for Experiential Education is another good bet for possible leads on research.

 
• Other sources of info:
  • Family Adventure Therapy: Overview, Theory, and Research
  • A Program Evaluation Tool for Measuring the Impacts of Corporate Adventure Training
  • Adventure Therapy Bibliography (from Peter Weinberg's MA thesis; references up to year 2000)
  • Youth Adventure-Based Program for Developing Youths' Assets (Centre for Youth & Society, University of Victoria, Canada)
  • Adventure Education and Outward Bound: A Meta-Analysis by John Hattie and colleagues
  • Evaluation and Research of Adventure-Based Training & Development (Cornell Team Building)
  • Article by Jim Sibthorp, Journal of Leisure Research
  • Adventure-based research, by Sarah Hammer, University of Michigan School of Social Work
  • Outdoor Programs: Summer Camps, Wilderness Programs, Adventure Therapy, by Focus Adolescent Services
  • How are Adventure Education Program Outcomes Achieved?: A review of the literature, by Marcia D. McKenzie (pdf)
  • Article on EdWeek.org (free registration required to view article)
  • Resources for Outdoor & Experiential Education
  • Research Connections: A Periodic Research Update in the Fields of Outdoor Adventure Programming, Leadership Training, Camping Education, and Outdoor Experiential Therapy, vol. 2, no. 2, Indiana University (pdf)
  • Why Adventure? The Role and Value of Outdoor Adventure in Young People's Personal and Social Development, A Review of Research by Jon Barrett and Dr. Roger Greenaway, commissioned by the Foundation for Outdoor Adventure (1995)
  • Outdoor Education Research & Evaluation Center
  • Research Connections: A Periodic Research Update in the Fields of Outdoor Adventure Programming, Leadership Training, Camping Education, and Outdoor Experiential Therapy , vol. 4, no. 3, Indiana University (pdf)

Posted April 1, 2005.

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