What is the value of research to a park and recreation professional? How does research related to facilities and parks across the country help you form an actionable plan to improve the facilities and parks at your agency? While the immediate or long-term impacts of recreation and park research may not be as readily apparent as some other types of research, we know it will be a critical tool in enabling the success and potential growth of your agency.

When the word “research” is used, scientists, laboratories and microscopes likely come to mind for most. When we think of business research, we know that a competitive advantage or greater profits may result. Similarly, technology research provides us with new devices and tools to improve our standard of living. But what is the value of research in the park and recreation community?  

The data collected and analyzed in PRORAGIS™, NRPA’s online database and management tool, will enable you and your agency to more effectively manage your assets and advocate for your interests. The ability to objectively and comparatively assess the data related to your agency, your staff, and your programs and facilities provides you with a tool that can be used to improve the efficiency and quality of all you do and oversee. As you better understand your programs and parks, and compare them to similar entries in the database, opportunities for improved management and planning will result. Whether PRORAGIS helps you realize that your jurisdiction needs more dog parks, or makes you aware that you’re trying to stretch your maintenance crews too far, the data collected can help you and your agency.

Additionally, the data from PRORAGIS will also allow you to clearly present your elected officials with fact-based arguments to support your funding requirements. Recreation programs and park facilities are sometimes seen as expendable, making them easy targets for budget cuts. This is where recreation- and park-specific research can directly and positively impact your agency. Elected officials and those who control funding for your agencies are unlikely to gather and analyze the data themselves — the responsibility falls to the park and recreation professional to make these arguments. PRORAGIS will provide you with a way to gather and present this data to them. When your city council proposes a decrease in next year’s budget, you can use PRORAGIS to demonstrate that you’re running your programs and facilities more cost-effectively than other comparable agencies, and that your allocation of spending is right in line with state and national averages.

While NRPA is constantly striving to provide you with data and information that will prove invaluable toward meeting the goals of your agency, we need you to help. PRORAGIS relies on data collected from its users, so I urge you to visit www.nrpa.org/PRORAGIS today and input your agency’s data. Providing data about your department not only allows you to analyze and compare your data with that of other agencies nationwide, it also allows other agencies to do the same. Even though NRPA members are spread across the country, and all serve unique communities, we all share a passion and belief in the importance of parks and recreational programs. Development of a more robust system to share data will allow us all to advance toward our ultimate goal — protecting and growing parks and recreational opportunities in our communities and across the nation.

While the importance of recreation and park research may not be apparent to all, we know that it’s some of the most important research that exists. What’s the value of research? For the recreation and park professional, it is to provide data to make fact-based, objective decisions about our communities and their futures.

NRPA is excited to welcome Travis Smith, Ph.D., as the new director of research on the Membership and Professional Development team. Travis comes from an extensive research background with experience ranging from the biological sciences to military applications. Most recently, he served as partner and president of government solutions at AxHill LLC, a government consulting firm. He holds a B.S. in molecular biology from the University of Denver and a Ph.D. in cellular and molecular biology from Vanderbilt University.