Testing a continuous measure of recreation specialization among birdwatchers

Recreation specialization is a framework that can be used to explain the variation among outdoor recreationists’ preferences, attitudes, and behaviors. Recreation specialization has been operationalized using several approaches, including summative indices, cluster analysis, and self-classification categorical measures. Although these approaches measure the multiple dimensions of the framework, they may not reflect the relative contribution of the dimensions to individuals’ degree of engagement. We illustrate an approach that uses second-order confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) factor scores as weights to determine a person’s degree of recreation specialization and compares the CFA-based results to those derived from cluster analysis. This approach permits the use of a broader set of statistical tests when compared to categorical specialization measures and provides information about the distribution of responses. Data were collected from an online survey of eBird registrants from the United States.