Abstract

This interpretive research is an attempt to examine how people make sense of or give meaning to wilderness in their lives. A theoretic and methodology employed in this study called Sense-Making, developed by Dervin , allows the interpretation of a person's reality and micro-moments of experience to be framed within the respondent's view of reality. Data were analyzed using a qualitative interpretive approach. This research hypothesized that patterns exist in the way people make sense of the term wilderness; while patterned there is a wide spectrum of meanings--both stereotypic framings and 'state of mind' referents; for a given individual there are disparate meanings of wilderness at different times; and the meanings that people have for wilderness will relate to the situation, the material conditions of their lives, and exposures to wilderness. ;A sample of Ohio State University undergraduate and graduate students were interviewed using a Sense-Making instrument developed for the research. The participants were divided into two main groups depending on the belief that they had or had not visited wilderness. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed. ;Some of the more powerful results of this research were that visitors and non-visitors had a similar idea of wilderness; this corresponded largely with the legal definition of wilderness, even though few of the participants knew that such legislation existed. The fact that the definitions corresponded so highly suggests that a common definition of wilderness is present in the American culture. Reactions to the activities allowed in federally protected wilderness varied, but for the most part the participants did not agree with many of the activities. Wilderness also had a very powerful spiritual connotation for participants in both groups; media played a major role in defining wilderness, but some form of natural or wilderness experience was considered important to help give meaning to wilderness. Participants considered the experience a holistic encounter which could not be replicated by any medium, even the new technology of Virtual Reality. ;A Fields of Wilderness Experience model was developed from the data and existing literature. It has three main components: physical landscape characteristics, aesthetic qualities, and solitude