Research Methods for Leisure, Recreation and Tourism

Management, Marketing and Sustainability

Ercan Sirakaya-Turk, Muzaffer Uysal, William Hammitt, Jerry Vaske, Ercan Sirakaya-Turk, Muzaffer Uysal, William E Hammitt, Jerry J Vaske

• Publisher: CAB International
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781780647494
• eBook ISBN: 9781786390516
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Hospitality, Travel & Tourism Industry
• Index: Business

Praise for the previous edition: 'To write a good textbook is only possible with pedagogic sensitivity, significant educational experiences, and research practice. This book is evidence that the editors possess all three qualifications. A student-friendly publication introducing plenty of examples and case studies (and) encouraging students to acquire the skills needed... this book (is) a winner.'Annals of Tourism Research 39(3), 2012.Describing the fundamental elements of research methods for leisure, recreation and tourism, this new edition of a popular textbook is updated throughout. It covers the measurement of variables, sampling, questionnaire design and evaluation methods, and also a wider discussion of writing proposals, communicating research findings, cross-cultural research, and the use of new technologies in conducting research. This new edition includes: - new and expanded material on visual research methods, nonparametric tests and sampling to encompass growing areas of research interest;- pedagogical features and extra citations to create a cohesive learning experience for students; and- numerous examples from tourism and recreation literature in every chapter, tying theory into scenarios students could face in their careers.Written by internationally renowned researchers in an accessible style, this book introduces both undergraduate and graduate students to the vital skills they will need to succeed in the leisure, recreation, tourism and hospitality industries.

chapter 1

Research Methods for Leisure, Recreation and Tourism

Ercan Sirakaya-Turk and Muzaffer S. Uysal

Learning Objectives

After studying this chapter, you will be able to:

1. Understand the importance of studying research in leisure, recreation and tourism.

2. Understand research and research process.

3. Learn how to formulate research problems and implications of research.

4. Identify and differentiate between various types of variables.

5. Know research typologies.

Chapter Summary

This chapter introduces the nature and importance of research in leisure, recreation and tourism. Research in this broad field is a process by which we produce new information and knowledge to answer questions, help managers solve problems and make effective decisions. The process is planned and systematic in its approach and is free from bias. Specifically, the process may consist of the formulation of research questions and ideas, identification of research concepts, development of the theoretical model that guides and underpins the research process, data collection, testing hypotheses, analysis and feedback to theory, and generating new questions. This chapter provides research typologies that include exploratory research, descriptive research and explanatory research. Exploratory research is intended to develop familiarity with a topic in order to generate new insights. The chapter further introduces the concept of the unit of analysis in research.

An Introduction to Research in Leisure, Recreation and Tourism

The purpose of this introductory chapter is to familiarize you with the main concepts of the entire book. We will explain why you need to learn the process of conducting research with a few examples in the realm of leisure, recreation and tourism research. We will then review the actual process involved in carrying out a research project, concepts used throughout the book, and examples from past student projects that might help you think about your own research topic for the semester. Typically, instructors teaching research methods classes require their students to learn research methods with a hands-on project in your own area of interest. Thus, we need you to start thinking about an original research idea and the process early on, so that you can see the end of the tunnel before you even start doing the project. While we will give you enough details about how to proceed with each step in the upcoming chapters, you must picture the entire process before you even start reading the following chapters. This approach will help you use your time efficiently, so you can complete the research paper required by your instructor on time. Some of the concepts we introduce in this chapter will be repeated over and over again, so do not worry if you don’t understand them the first time. Repetition will lead to clarification and better understanding of what some might call ‘the dry concepts’.

A research methods class is unlike any other course you have taken before; it requires you to be critical, detail-oriented, questioning, constantly thinking, and find new ways of writing and rewriting. Don’t be scared; many students like you who have taken this class before have graduated. Some learned very well to the extent that they have decided to pursue a career in research; you may not want to go that far, but this class will help you formulate, organize and write your thoughts in a logical manner. You will become a better consumer of research and a more informed citizen as you learn to attack flaws in logic and arguments. Make sure that you read the real-world examples presented in research boxes and other student projects to get an idea of why research is an important function in our society, global economy and in our disciplines. The following case illustrations represent the vast realm of research and how we go about investigating these interests. The example, shown in the first research box, is about a group of students who wanted to run their own nightclub; the second box contains illustrations of a few student ideas and questions and the significance of their study answers.

Research Box 1.1. So many bars, so little time!

College students are always interested in where to go and what to do during their free weekends. One of the popular recreation activities for some is going to clubs and bars. Students who were taking a research methods class with one of the authors of this book had to conduct original research as their term project. Among the members of a student team was one student who was already managing a nightclub, thus had experience, and wanted to go solo in opening up his own nightclub/bar after graduation. He convinced his fellow group members to conduct a market feasibility study to determine the business potential for such a club among the many existing clubs in a college town. He wanted to know what type of music he should play and whether or not to provide live music; why students should prefer his bar to others; what type of students frequent which bars; how much do they spend when out and about; and, more importantly, how much would they be willing to spend for drinks and food during their night out.

The project began with listening to customers in the bar managed by the leader of the group. He spoke to potential customers informally while they were having their beers. After sharing what he found with his group, they went out one night to question more students and to recruit a few of them for intensive interviewing about all aspects of their research. Their focus group with bar patrons provided the necessary information for a more in-depth, longer and more standardized form of research (survey research) with appropriate scales that included like/dislike, agree/disagree statements that probed bar patrons on their motivations to frequent bars, the types of bars they frequent, their reasons, their likelihood of visiting under certain pricing of liquor and beer, students’ concept of a new bar and whether these bar patrons would like their new bar concept, and, most importantly, whether they would become a customer. The idea took a semester to form. Framing their questions in a way that was free from bias, accurate, free from value words, the design of the questionnaire, the selection of a procedure that would give them a variation of responses that might come close to being representative of all potential bar patrons (population), the implementation of data collection and so on were all part of this process.

What they found at the end of their research process was that there were plenty of bars and clubs for college-age students, but none for older adults age 26 and above who liked a ‘classy’ atmosphere, dress-to-impress, big-city-type of club where pricing did not matter as much. They could command higher prices for the type of club they were going to offer. The student ended up opening the bar for no more than US$50K initial investment and, after having a great time and making a good living for over three years, sold it for US$375K and moved out of the college town to a larger city.

Research Box 1.2. Examples of student research ideas and their relevance.

Typical research questions asked by students	Real-world connection: significance of answers
What do students do during their leisure time? How satisfied are they with leisure service offerings?	Finding the answers to these descriptive questions can help create better programming for recreation facilities and public schools, understand the role of free time and leisure within the lives of students, and how leisure could be structured so it is beneficial for students and society in general. For example, many university recreation centres continuously monitor the use levels of various recreation activities and facilities, and satisfaction levels with them. Accordingly, they add or discontinue some leisure activities and recreation programmes, and improve facilities’ equipment and work out schedules of their clients.
How do tourists make their trip decisions and what influences them? What stages do they go through when choosing among destinations?	The answers to these types of decision-making questions help develop effective advertising and promotion strategies tailored to different stages of the consumer buying process. For example, Marriott Corporation taps into this research model during their advertising. The advertising is aimed at reminding people of the solution to the potential problem of what to do with relatives when they come to town for a visit. The advertising offers Residence Inns as an alternative lodging option. It uses an upside-down house as a picture and adds ‘Does this remind you of your house when relatives come to visit?’ It literally suggests that ‘Marriott can help avoid chaos at home. Hosting people should not be a cause for stress at home.’
Why do women not participate in traditional ‘men’s sports’, such as football?	Equal access to recreation and leisure facilities to female students is mandated by law. An extension of this line of management application is to understand how women could be made welcome in the existing facilities without much investment on the part of the facility management. Understanding the reasons why women do not participate in activities traditionally dominated by men would not only satisfy the equal access mandate of the law by modifying the existing facilities, but also make existing facilities run more efficiently and to optimum capacity.
How and why is dining important for the health of a hospitality industry?	Understanding recreational dining experiences and patterns such as frequency/time, foods consumed, entertainment, and décor can help the hospitality industry at a tourism destination determine what foods, services and environments their customers dislike or enjoy. As a result, decision makers can improve services based upon these findings and serve their target customers better.

Why Study Research Methods in Leisure, Recreation and Tourism?

You see and read research every day. Regular opinion polls about a particular societal issue, political polling, restaurant guest surveys, airport comment cards, even polling of coaches to determine the rankings of best football teams represents some types of research. Why do you have to learn such a dull topic? Are you taking it because it is a required class for most higher education programmes in our field? On top of this, you might have heard about higher expectations placed upon such a course, and that a research methods class is one of the more difficult subjects a student can take, as it requires many hours of study time and it seems impossible to satisfy the teacher’s expectations. These are all legitimate concerns, but most are propagated by a few former methods students who found the topic difficult because they underestimated the time requirements and felt that they were unable to complete everything they wanted to accomplish within one semester. We understand this student psychology and other time requirements placed upon students today. So we’ve designed this book to give you the optimum knowledge in a precise, efficient and effective manner.

If this statement does not convince you, here is some news for you: research is everywhere, and it will not disappear anytime soon. Research does not have to be dull or boring; indeed, it could be very exciting, especially if you can find a topic that truly interests you. As a matter of fact, as competition for scarce resources, markets and people’s money increases, the reliance on research, and hence quality information, will become even more evident and widespread. As a high-ranking manager, you will find yourself in situations where accurate (reliable) and trustworthy (valid) information will mean personal job security, advancement in your career, respect from your colleagues and, of course, success for your company. Knowledge gained through research activities, especially in our field of recreation and tourism (the ‘leisure industry’) will not only help you and your organization, but also your customers, guests and visitors with whom you interact. They will be appreciative of the resulting decisions (when implemented correctly, of course) that will help solve their problems and satisfy their needs and wants, and thus increase their loyalty to your business or organization.

Some of you will finish university and perhaps never set foot through its doors again; others will continue with their graduate degrees to become academics, researchers or consultants who conduct research. Most likely, you will be, like many of us, ‘consumers of research’, who read the research reports, news and papers that deal with a host of issues such as market segmentation, employee satisfaction, needs assessment, or recreation programme evaluation. In other words, you will become not the ‘doers of research’ but the ‘consumers of research’. The question then is: why do you need to learn research methods if you are not going to become a researcher or a graduate student who typically needs to conduct thesis or dissertation research for his/her degree? For those of you who may not get involved with research directly, knowledge in research methods will still be helpful, as you will become a better decision maker in this knowledge economy, where access to new information means everything. You will be in a position of power when you know how information has been obtained and interpreted. Thus, you will not accept claims based on their face value, but will require higher standards before accepting claims of advertisers, educators, pollsters and people around you who assert statements to be factually correct that are, in fact, based on pseudoscience or bad science. You will have the necessary analytical tools to be able to evaluate and assess life’s claims.

In fact, we all were once very good researchers as babies, but as we got older, we seem to have abandoned that frame of mind. Babies do experimental research when they learn about their new world; they create presuppositions or hypotheses (i.e. what happens if I touch this burning oven?), test them (touch the hot oven), and confirm the presupposition (hot ovens hurt) and feed it back to their own world, thus supporting an ever-growing body of knowledge (theory) that consistently tells the baby that hot objects will burn and hurt when touched. Of course, we had so much to learn in such a short timeframe, we simply had to abandon that self-testing and self-learning, and started relying on our parents, teachers, friends and other sources of information such as newspapers, television and so on for information, and thus b...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• About the Editors
• Contributors
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Research Methods for Leisure, Recreation and Tourism
• 2 Leisure, Recreation and Tourism Research Design
• 3 Finding and Summarizing Research Literature
• 4 Measurement of Variables
• 5 Proposal Writing
• 6 Survey Research: Sampling and Questionnaire Design
• 7 Qualitative Research in Leisure, Recreation and Tourism
• 8 Grounded Theory Methodology in Research
• 9 Evaluation Research Methods in Leisure, Recreation and Tourism Research
• 10 Experimental Research
• 11 Cross-cultural and Visual Research: Issues and Concerns
• 12 Summarizing Data
• 13 Inferential Analysis of Data
• 14 Relationship Analysis: t-Tests, Analysis of Variance, Cross Tabulations and Non-parametric Tests
• 15 Describing Linear Bivariate Relationships: Correlation Analysis
• 16 Factor Analytical Procedure and Scale Reliability
• 17 Communicating Research Results
• Back cover