Research on Children’s Outdoor Play: Analysis of Published Journal Articles in Korea from 2005 to 2015

This study reviewed outdoor play articles published in Korea during past 10 years. The purposes were to determine the main themes of outdoor play articles and the research methods used in the studies. To summarize the main findings: (1) seven research themes were identified, with ‘outdoor play environment’ and ‘children’s outdoor play behaviors’ being the major research topics. (2) With regard to research method, approximately two-thirds of studies employed a quantitative methodology, with survey being the most frequent. However, when exploring the theme of ‘outdoor play experience,’ all studies used qualitative research methods such as participant observation, interview, or archival data collection.