Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Use Of Biomarkers In Outdoor Education Research: Promises, Challenges, And The Development Of Evidence, Alan Ewert

Research in Outdoor Education

While widely used in research connected with outdoor education, self-report data can be subject to a number of issues related to validity and generalizability. This paper argues that biomarkers present another type of evidence that is equally or even more rigorous than self-report data. The paper describes several types of biomarkers that are commonly measured in other disciplines along with how data from those biomarkers are collected. Data from a recent study using two biomarkers commonly used for measuring stress is presented as an example of how the use of biomarkers can broaden the body of evidence being developed in …