Date of Award

12-2007

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Legacy Department

Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management

Committee Chair/Advisor

Norman, William C

Committee Member

McGuire , Francis A

Committee Member

Backman , Sheila J

Abstract

ABSTRACT


Quilters have been traveling to regional, national, and international symposia since the beginning of the quilt revival in the 1970's (Bonesteel Films, (Producer), 2005, The Great American Quilt Revival, UNC-TV). These events have attracted large crowds, mostly women, yet there is little data about their travel behavior (L. Brodsky, Country Heritage Tours, personal conversation October 29, 2007). In response to the lack of information on quilting travel, this research was undertaken to determine if quilting experience, skill level and level of serious leisure predict quilting travel behavior.
This thesis examines experience use history in quilting (i.e., number of years quilting, number of days per month, number of days per week, and number of hours per day), quilters' skill level, and level of serious leisure as predictors of quilting travel behavior (i.e., number of day trips, number of overnight trips and number of destinations visited for quilting). Data were collected from participants (N=199) of the Quilters of South Carolina (QSC) fall retreat. A survey instrument was used to examine experience use history, skill level, and serious leisure using the 54-item short form Serious Leisure Inventory and Measure (Gould, 2005) as predictors of the travel behavior of quilters over a two-year period.
The results from the analyses revealed that experience use history and skill level and serious leisure dimensions failed to predict day trip and number of destinations visited, but skill level was a significant predictor of overnight trips.

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