Faculty Page -- Robert C. Burns, Ph.D.

Robert C. Burns, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
325 Percival Hall
WVU Division of Forestry
Morgantown, WV 26506-6125
T: (304) 293-2941 ext. 2416
F: (304) 293-2441
Robert.Burns@mail.wvu.edu

Highest Education:

Ph.D., The Pennsylvania State University (Leisure Studies), 2000

Areas of Study:

Courses Taught at WVU:

• RPTR 335: Managing Recreation, Parks and Tourism Organizations
• FOR 470X: Philosophical Foundation- Recreation Park
• RPTR 714: Human Dimensions of Natural Resource Management

Recent Projects:

Region 6 National Visitor Use Monitoring (NVUM): Includes data collection/data entry/data analysis and writing technical management reports for nearly 20 of the Region 6 National Forest units since 2000. This study examines visitation patterns, economic impacts of recreation, recreation experience, user characteristics, constraints to recreating, and management/facilities preferences. This research effort is part of a larger, nationwide visitor use study being conducted by the USDA Forest Service’s Southern Research Station, in Athens GA. Partners include Alan Graefe (Penn State), Don English (USFS) and Jim Absher (USFS).

Region 6 Fee Demonstration: Includes monitoring and evaluation of the Region 6 Fee Demonstration project, including four telephonic surveys, numerous focus group interviews, and two years of on-site user surveys. This research effort focuses on understanding the impacts of recreation fees on users and non-users of Region 6 National Forests, understanding the condition of recreation fee sites, and the types of annual recreation passes desired by recreationists in Region 6. Partners include Alan Graefe (Penn State Don English (USFS) and Jim Absher (USFS).

Outdoor Recreation Customer Satisfaction: Research focuses on customer satisfaction/service quality at US Army Corps of Engineers and USDA Forest Service outdoor recreation settings. Conducted on-site data collection at over 20 Corps of Engineers reservoirs and over 20 National Forest units. Partners include Alan Graefe (Penn State and Jim Absher (USFS).

State Budgeting Office Practices: Research focuses on US states’ budget office practices Involved in 30-year longitudinal study of state budget office practices, including performance measurement and budget director/staff roles in state budgeting offices.

Recent Publications:

Burns, R.C., and Lee, R. (2004).

The ups and downs of state budget process reform: Experience of three decades. Public Budgeting and Finance, 24 (3), 1-19.

Lee, J., Graefe, A., and Burns, R. (2004).

Structural analysis of service quality, satisfaction, and behavioral intention among forest visitors. Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing, 17(1), 73-82.

Burns, R.C., Graefe, A.R., and Absher, J. (2003).

Alternate measurement approaches to recreational customer satisfaction: Performance-only and importance-performance gap scores. Leisure Studies, 25(4), 363-380.

Lee, R.D., and Burns, R.C. (2003).

State budget directors: Characteristics, experience, and attitudes. Public Budgeting and Finance, 23(2), 125-151.

Lee, R.D., and Burns, R.C. (2000).

Performance measurement in state budgeting: Advancement and backsliding from 1990 to 1995. Public Budgeting & Finance, 20(1), 38-50.

Burns, R.C., and Graefe, A. (in review).

Toward understanding the impact of recreation fees on extremely low-income residents in the Pacific Northwest Journal of Park and Recreation Administration.

Burns, R.C., and Graefe, A. (in review).

Market segmentation and customer satisfaction at water-based outdoor recreation settings. Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing.

Burns, R.C., Graefe, A., and Bright, L. (in review).

Constraints to outdoor recreation in Pacific Northwest national forests: Exploring perceptions of respondents whose households include persons with disabilities. Journal of Leisure Research

Manning, R., Bacon, J., Graefe, A., Kyle, G., and Burns, R. (2001)

“I never hike alone”:  Security on the Appalachian Trail.  Parks and Recreation 36, (7).(pp 50-56)