The primary purpose of this study was to identify and validate the components of a community recreation needs assessment framework that will accurately facilitate the leisure need data of community recreation clientele. The content of such a framework was generated by an investigation of those variables which: (1) restrain or prevent the use, or accurate use, of community recreation needs assessment, defined as restraining forces, and (2) enable or facilitate the use, or accurate use, of community recreation needs assessment, defined as enabling forces.

Data collection consisted of a review of literature, in depth interviews, a postcard questionnaire, and a mailed survey. Following the analysis of respondent demographics and agency attitudes on community recreation needs assessment (CRNA), two analyses were performed to investigate the components of CRNA. The first analysis investigated the significance level of the enabling and restraining forces of the CRNA process. A t-test was run on all items for the total population, comparing the mean of each item to 2.5 which is a response of neutral. Following the t-test, a one-way analysis of variance was used to determine if any differences existed among the means of the three levels of community size for each of the variables.

In the second analysis, a conceptual framework was developed to support further investigation into the mechanisms which result in meeting community needs. Based on an overall review of the literature, the enabling and restraining variables were organized into concepts, constructs, and items. Each concept and construct set was analyzed for internal consistency using Cronback's Alpha, item deleted, to produce a measure of reliability that denoted the strength of the relationships among the items of each set and allowed an assessment of the homogeneity of each set of items and constructs. An item to total score correlation of the Pearson Product Moment correlation, item deleted, was used to examine the relationship of each item to its own construct, each construct to its own concept, and each concept to the whole, and was also used to examine the relationship of each item to other constructs within its own concept, and the relationships of each construct to other concepts.

Twenty-eight of 30 individuals responded to the survey questionnaire. Of the 92 restraining and enabling variables, 59 were found to be significantly greater than neutral, while none of the items were found to be significantly less than neutral. Significant differences were found to exist for seven variables at the .05 level for the three levels of community size. The analyses of the conceptual framework provided information detailing the strengths and weaknesses of the items, constructs, and concepts in relation to the reliability, validity, and relative appropriateness that each has to the CRNA process.