Hospitality And Tourism Research

Hospitality And
Tourism Research
The beginnings of Research
• Started in the late 18th century
• during the middle ages (dark
ages) sources of knowledge came
from:
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Pope/Priest
tradition
knowledge of the heart
knowledge of the body - rational
thinking
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Magicians
observation
philosophers
scientists
scientific knowledge based on
natural sciences - that is man in
relation to environment
In the hospitality/tourism
industry research focuses
on:
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•
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•
•
social science
natural science
non-science (religious)
pseudo-science (palmestry)
horoscope (faith)
Assumptions
• Classical theory - people are
working because of pay
• Systems theory - people are
happy working not only because
of pay but the treatment they get
from the management
• Cultural theory
• Theories have models,
proponents, strengths and
weaknesses
• knowledge builds up theories
• Data is collected in order to:
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describe
analyze
predict
control
Research requires...
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TIME
TALENT
ATTITUDES
MONEY
Overview of Tourism
Research
• It allows you to find out attributes of
your visitors including:
– origin, age, education, income and
spending habits, travel patterns, lifestyles
and values, activity preferences
• It gives you an understanding on:
– what they like and dislike about a
destination,
– How much they think a certain
travel experience is worth,
– the sources they use for travel
information
– their impression of your
advertising messages
– how satisfied they were in their
visit.
TYPES OF TOURISM
RESEARCH
• Visitor Profile Studies - demographics
• Satisfaction - measure the quality of
service provided at a business or a
destination
• Economic Impact - determine what
new money is brought into the
community from tourism
• Images - determines the
perception on the destination by
visitors or non- visitors
• Information - determines where
and how consumers search for
travel information
• Inquiry Conversion - determines
how many people actually
traveled to a destination versus
how many people inquired about
the destination
• Market share - measures the
percentage of the market one
holds - of the total available
market ( arrivals - national,
regional, local)
• Carrying Capacity - study the
feasibility of tourism activity in a
certain area (events to be hosted)
Research Objectives and
Research Types
• Exploratory Research
– to become familiar with the basic
facts, people and concerns involved
in...
– To develop a well-grounded mental
picture of what is occurring in...
– To generate many ideas and develop
hypotheses on...
– To determine the feasibility of
doing additional research on...
– To formulate questions/refine
issues for more systematic inquiry
on...
– To develop techniques and a sense
of direction for future research
on...
Descriptive Research
– To provide an accurate profile of a
group
– to describe a process, mechanism or
relationship
– to give a verbal or numerical picture
of...
– To find information to stimulate new
explanations...
– To present basic background
information or a context
– To create set of categories or type of
classification
– to clarify a sequence, set of stages
or steps
– to document information that
contradicts prior beliefs about a
subject
Explanatory Research
– To determine the accuracy of a
principle theory
– to find out which competing
explanation is better
– to advance knowledge about an
underlying process
– to link different issues or topics
under a common general statement
– To build or elaborate a theory so it
becomes more complete
– to extend a theory or principle into
new areas or issues
– to provide evidence to support or
refute an explanation
Methodology
• What design?
– descriptive
– exploratory
– explanatory
• What technique?
– Case study
– experiment
– survey
• Who will be your respondents?
– Purposive
– non-purposive
• What tools to be used?
• How will you analyze the data?
Importance of Topic
Selection
• Approach it with caution
• Most important consideration in
selecting a topic is to make sure
it is the one that you will enjoy
working with
Problems usually
encountered in topic
selection
• Inability to narrow their topic so
that it could be fully treated
within a reasonable period of
time,
• Finding a research question that
is neither too broad nor too
narrow
POINTERS
• Target audience - (population) those
people who will be surveyed/those
about whom the study is conducted
• Population must be of reasonable size
• Good thesis question must be
researchable
• Key words must be clearly
defined
• Ideally, research question will
have few variables
• Reasonable in breadth and in
depth
• Consider the target audience
• Write with precision and clarity
definition section will help in
clarifying words you use, but
key words need to be as simple
as possible.
• Develop a plan for writing the
thesis. Make a timetable to
guide you in meeting the
deadline
• Deadline will assist you in moving
from one task to the next until the
thesis is completed
• keeping note cards in chapter 2 is
beneficial
• library hours is required
Research Questions
• Should relate to aspects of the
industry with which you are a part
• The end result of your research
needs to be contribution to the
industry
• Make sure that your research
question is not a duplication of
research that has been done already
• Select questions that are doable
• Is there a substantial body of
literature relating to the research
question
Basis for choosing
research question
• your interest in the question
• the practicality of undertaking
research on the question
• availability of a target population
with which to work
• doability of the thesis