Her research area is tourism communications and the study of people collecting and using information to plan and take vacations. She also studies resident attitudes on tourism and natural resource issues, and survey and evaluation research techniques. She has many research studies and reports with Offices of Tourism, Convention and Visitor Bureaus, regional planning groups for particularly on park lands and trails, and various research units of USDA Forest Service. She is an associate editor for: Journal of Travel Research, Journal of Leisure Research, and Loisir. She is active in the National Park and Recreation Association, the International Travel and Tourism Association, and locally in Livingston County MSU Extension and the Southeast Livingston Recreation Authority.