This exploratory study identified 18 factors influencing the choice of an educational-travel program and refined a typology of the older adult educational-travel participant. A mail questionnaire queried 963 Canadian and American participants, aged 45 to 92 years, who had enrolled in a fall 1997 Elderhostel Canada program, but not yet attended. The number of useable surveys was 811, representing an 84.2% rate of return. The analysis employed descriptive statistics, correlation, factor analysis, step-wise regression analysis, analysis of variance, and content analysis. / Five participant types were identified in this study: the Explorer, Activity-Oriented, Content-Committed, Convenience-Oriented, and Opportunist. Sixty-three percent of the population could be assigned to one of these categories; 22% were assigned to a combination of two categories; and 15% of the study population did not fit this typology. The two dominant participant types were the Activity-Oriented and the Explorer. / This study revealed 18 factors that influence the program choice of older adult educational-travel participants: Social, Comfort, Location, Attend alone, Attend Accompanied, Activity, Information, Cost, Program, Personal Limitations, Escape, Travel, Organizational Attributes, Accessibility, Previous Experience, Dates, Seasonal Influence, and Work. Using step-wise regression analysis, the program choice factors that best discriminated the various participant types were the Activity, Program, Location, Personal Limitations, Accessibility, and Organizational Attributes factors. An analysis of the mean scores revealed that six factors had the greatest influence on program choice: Organizational Attributes, Location, Program, Attending Accompanied, Social and Comfort.

This qualitative study explores how older adults, who are retired or contemplating retirement, make choices regarding their non-formal educational experiences. This national study collected data from 154 Elderhostel participants, aged 42 to 85 and, consistent with Moustaka's five phases of phenomenological analysis, triangulated the data from 17 focus groups, 10 in-depth interviews, and a demographic questionnaire. / The choice of Elderhostel as an educational venue for learning, and the specific course selection, were found to be influenced by 14 factors: location, travel, program, course content, accommodations, cost, dates, negotiation with travel partner, social, sites, personal requirements, escape, information, and the policies, philosophy and program requirements of Elderhostel. A participant typology emerged during the data collection and analysis and revealed six types of Elderhostelers: the activity oriented, geographical guru, experimenter, adventurer, content-committed, and the user. / The study of decision-making processes in education is in its infancy. This study paves the way for the doctoral study to expand on this foundation of knowledge by quantitatively investigating the 14 factors which were identified, defined, and examined in this study.

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This ethnographic, descriptive case study is concerned with an analysis of the Elderhostel experience at one specific university. Questionnaires, evaluation documents, observations, phototographs, and interviews were used in this study to describe the 1988 Elderhostel experience at North Texas State University. Thirty-three persons were initially asked to participate in this study. Twenty-nine agreed and actually completed the questionnaires, and 26 completed the program evaluation. The study is organized and presented in the following manner: Chapter I introduces the study. Chapter II presents a review of related literature addressing those studies directly concerned with the Elderhostel experience, those addressing motivational reasons for participation in adult education, and those dealing with learning abilities, interests, and goals of the elderly in general. Chapter III includes the methods and procedures used to collect and analyze the data. Chapter IV presents the descriptive and statistical analysis of the data, and Chapter V includes the summary, interpretations, conclusions, and recommendations that were derived from the analysis. Major findings of this study include a description of the organization and administration of the program, a description of the educational and co-curricular activities offered and how they were evaluated by the participants, and demographic and motivational data of the participants involved. The "average" participant can be described as white, married, female, retired, white-collar background, from an urban community, a mean age of 70, a mean educational level of 16.5 years, and an income in excess of $20,000 annually. The most frequent reason given for attending Elderhostel was "program content," and for attending North Texas State University, the "International Focus." On the basis of the findings of this study it can be concluded that the characteristics of older adults most likely to enroll in educational programs can be identified; the North Texas State University Elderhostel program is meeting the needs and interests of its participants; and the primary motivators for attending Elderhostel are instrumental in nature.