Research Methods for Tourism Students

Ramesh Durbarry, Ramesh Durbarry

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781351336185
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Commerce
• Subtopic: Industrie de l'hôtellerie, du voyage et du tourisme

This introductory guide offers innovative ideas and strategies to students undertaking their first social science research work. Academically rigorous yet accessible, it uses a systematic step-by-step approach to illustrate the research process and its applications to the tourism industry. Students are presented with numerous examples and case studies, linking theory with practice.

The textbook provides a balanced coverage of both qualitative and quantitative methods, accompanying students throughout the process of selecting a research topic and specifying research questions, aims and objectives. A range of pedagogical features such as discussion questions, practical tips and examples enable students to review the literature, understand models and methodologies, analyse and interpret data (quantitative and qualitative) and ultimately write up their findings.

Featuring contributions by a group of academics with expertise in their respective fields, the book provides a comprehensive and engaging introduction to research methods. This is an essential resource to tourism students and will also be of interest to researchers in any social science subject.

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PART I

Nature of research and process

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Chapter 1

Introduction

Ramesh Durbarry

Research is an exciting process as it adds to knowledge, curiosity and understanding of phenomena. How we look at a phenomenon depends on many factors, such as the way we think, our research philosophies, personal experience and the way we have learned to look at matters. The ability to conduct research and to interpret information is a key skill in both the academic and commercial worlds. There is no escaping from research, as nearly all jobs rely on research skills at some point.

So what is research? Why do we research? How we conduct research? These are some questions which we look at in this textbook. There is not a single formula to adopt to conduct research and we do not aim or attempt to provide one. This book is meant to be a guide on making appropriate decisions at each step of the research process.

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1.0 Chapter objectives

Whether you are writing an essay, a project, carrying out a dissertation or a doctoral thesis, research into the subject matter is required. If you are undertaking an undergraduate or a postgraduate degree, you will most probably have to write a dissertation. This textbook will surely be a very useful companion to assist you in carrying out such a task.

Let’s begin by explaining what a dissertation is. A dissertation is regarded as a structured piece of writing on a certain subject matter, which you have chosen, to seek out answers to some research questions which you are investigating. It is a scholarly piece of work where you are demonstrating your capability to conduct research independently. Compared to an essay, a dissertation is organised into chapters and there is a more thorough examination of the subject matter. It will include debating ideas from previous scholarly writings, application of research methods, collecting data, analysing and discussing findings, and providing concluding remarks.

In this chapter, we explain what carrying out research is all about. After studying this chapter, you will be able to:

• understand what research is;

• appreciate briefly the different types of research;

• recognise the importance of research in tourism; and

• have an overview of the structure of this textbook.

1.1 What is research?

When students are asked to conduct research in the form of a dissertation, many students hastily jump to start designing a questionnaire and collecting data. Collection of data is certainly not what research is all about, but is undoubtedly part of it. According to the Concise Oxford English Dictionary (2011) the term research is defined as ‘the systematic investigation into and study of materials and sources in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions’. The word research has a French origin and is rooted in the term ‘search’. At a closer look, research (re-search) implies search again. Almost in all studies, a researcher conducts a search (on existing knowledge) and then performs another search (re-) to generate new knowledge.

What is research?

It is the systematic investigation of data and inquiry to provide explanations, establish relationships, carry our experimentation or test hypotheses to generate (new) knowledge.

To you, what is more important is the phrase ‘systematic investigation’. This means that the research is well thought out and carefully designed. We will look at these when we discuss the research process and research design. Research is carried out when we have a central question or problem we want to resolve. We first try to clearly formulate our question and then decide how we are going to answer it by looking at how others have addressed the problem. Creswell (1994, p. 51) defines research as a study that advances a research question and reports the data to answer the question.

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1.2 Types of research

There are different types of research, which are explored later, but are briefly described below:

• Descriptive research: describes a particular phenomenon, focusing on the issue of what is happening, rather than why it is happening. This type of research increases your knowledge and you start getting an idea of the subject matter.

• Explanatory research: this type of research involves explaining why something happens, and assessing causal relationships between variables.

• Exploratory research: this takes place where there is little or no prior knowledge. Thus there is a need for an initial exploration before more specific research can be undertaken. Exploratory research is generally followed up by further research that tests any ideas or hypothesis generated.

• Predictive research: this forecasts future phenomena, based on the interpretations suggested by explanatory research.

The two main approaches to conducting research are: quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative research is said to be an inquiry into a social or human problem, based on testing a theory composed of variables, measured with numbers and analysed with statistical procedures, in order to determine whether the predictive generalisations of the theory hold true (Creswell, 1994, p. 2). Creswell (1994, p. 1) defines qualitative research as an inquiry process of understanding a social or human problem, based on building a complex, holistic picture, formed with words, reporting detailed views of informants and conducted in a natural setting.

The choice of using a particular approach depends on the researcher’s ability to master it. Almost any research problem can be studied using either a quantitative or qualitative approach. Your philosophical position will influence the approach that you choose. For example, positivists tend to rely more on a quantitative approach, while interpretivists use qualitative approach. Many researchers, for pragmatic reasons, use both approaches to study a problem (a mixed method approach) to provide more support to their study results. In fact, the idea of using different methods to arrive to the same result is called triangulation.

In your research, you may be using an existing theory or aiming to test a proposition. However, how clear you are about the theory or your proposition at the beginning of your research raises an important question concerning the design of your research project (Saunders et al., 2003). This involves whether you are using a deductive or an inductive approach. In a deductive approach, you will be using an existing model or even developing a theory, stating a hypothesis and collecting data to test it, whereas in an inductive approach, you will be developing the theory or proposition based on data collection and analysis. Your philosophical thoughts also influence to a certain extent how to approach the research; for example, positivists tend to use a deductive approach, while interpretivists tend to use an inductive approach (but this is not always the case).

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1.3 Why research in tourism?

With the growing importance of tourism, travel and leisure activities, the industry is becoming a global phenomenon and has particularly experienced rapid growth in the post-1945 period. The tourism industry is one of the largest and fastest growing industry sectors of the global economy, with the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) finding that:

Tourism has become one of the world’s major trade categories. The overall export income generated by inbound tourism, including passenger transport, exceeded US$ 1.2 trillion in 2011, or US$ 3.4 billion a day on average. Tourism exports account for as much as 30 per cent of the world’s exports of commercial services and 6 per cent of overall exports of goods and services. Globally, as an export category, tourism ranks fourth after fuels, chemicals and food.

(WTO, 2012)

The tourism industry has become not only the world’s largest industry but has significant economic, social, cultural and environmental impacts. Predominantly, tourism was viewed as an economic activity and as an engine of growth for many developed and, especially, developing countries (Crompton and Richardson, 1986; Sinclair and Stabler, 1997). Tourism is an interesting field as it is interdisciplinary. Tourism has been braced by economists, geographers, sociologists, anthropologists, ecologists, environmental scientists and psychologists, among others. It is, hence, no surprise that a particular phenomenon could be investigated from various disciplines. Tourist behaviour, for instance, could be analysed by sociologists, economists and psychologists.

There are many topics which have warranted research at international, regional and national level and from the demand side (tourists) to the supply side (the tourism industry). Since the Brundtland Report in 1987 (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987), attention has been drawn to tourist experience, behaviour on sustainable tourism and the impact of climate change has on tourism and vice versa. To appreciate the vast literature researched in tourism, the best places to start reading are the tourism related journals such as:

• Annals of Tourism Research

• International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management

• Journal of Hospitality Management

• Journal of Hospitality Management and Tourism

• Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management

• Journal of Hotel & Business Management

• Journal of Tourism Studies

• Journal of Travel Research

• J...