  Recombination lines (RLs) of C II, N II, and O II in planetary nebulae (PNs)
have been found to give abundances that are much larger in some cases than
abundances from collisionally-excited forbidden lines (CELs). The origins of
this abundance discrepancy are highly debated. We present new spectroscopic
observations of O II and C II recombination lines for six planetary nebulae.
With these data we compare the abundances derived from the optical
recombination lines with those determined from collisionally-excited lines.
Combining our new data with published results on RLs in other PNs, we examine
the discrepancy in abundances derived from RLs and CELs. We find that there is
a wide range in the measured abundance discrepancy Delta(O+2) = log O+2(RL) -
log O+2(CEL), ranging from approximately 0.1 dex up to 1.4 dex. Most RLs yield
similar abundances, with the notable exception of O II multiplet V15, known to
arise primarily from dielectronic recombination, which gives abundances
averaging 0.6 dex higher than other O II RLs. We compare Delta(O+2) against a
variety of physical properties of the PNs to look for clues as to the mechanism
responsible for the abundance discrepancy. The strongest correlations are found
with the nebula diameter and the Balmer surface brightness. An inverse
correlation of Delta(O+2) with nebular density is also seen. Similar results
are found for carbon in comparing C II RL abundances with ultraviolet
measurements of C III].
