Tourism Research Philosophies and Principles
"Competing" Philosophies
Impact of Values and Interests on Research
The relatively young area of Tourism Research borrows heavily from social science in its use of Quantitative and Qualitative Methods. Previously contrasted with each other, the two methods are increasingly used as complimenting disciplines by researchers attempting to deal with the complexity and global importance of tourism research. Even as researchers seek greater knowledge by Quantitative-Qualitative analyses, their research is still significantly impacted and sometimes considerably skewed by their values and interests, as well as the lack of a clear code of ethics for tourism research. Finally, four peer-reviewed tourism research articles are examined for their research methods, underlying principles and worldviews.
"Competing" Philosophies
Within social sciences, paradigms are frameworks with differing worldviews springing from theoretical and philosophical assumptions (PANSIRI, 2005). The social science paradigms of 'positivist/functional' and 'interpretative' research methodology have dominated research and form the bases of many other paradigms (PANSIRI, 2005). The positivist paradigm assumes that knowledge is obtained and authenticated by researchers independent of the subject and making direct observations or measurements, forming the basis for the Quantitative Method of research (KRAUSS, 2005) In contrast, the interpretative paradigm is "value-laden," assuming that while reality is external to humans, "humans construct reality, human experience and communication is subjective, human behaviour is creative and voluntary," forming the basis for the Qualitative Method of research (KRAUSS, 2005).
The Quantitative Method has historically dominated research (MEHMETOGLU, 2004), including tourism research, and concentrates on collecting data of occurrence frequency (BOWEN, 2002). Historically juxtaposed is the Qualitative Method, which collects "data about activities, events, occurrences and behaviours…to seek an understanding of actions, problems and processes in their social context" As such, it "does not produce quantified findings" (PHILLIMORE & GOODSON, 2004); rather it is concerned with "the meaning of phenomena" (BOWEN, 2002). Though Quantitative historically dominated research, the Qualitative method as enjoyed increasing favor by researchers in such tourism research areas as education, efficiency, package tours, attitudinal training, classification, competitive advantages, the environment, hallmark events, theme parks, services and transportation (JAFARI, 2000).
Furthermore, as tourism research has broadened and deepened, researchers have acknowledged that the Quantitative and Qualitative Methods complement each other. Three additional developments from this realization are hybridization, triangulation and a conscious link between Qualitative and Quantitative research (FLICK, 2006). The Hybrid Method now explored by researchers uses both Qualitative and Quantitative research (GIVEN, 2008); Triangulation focuses on many evidentiary sources to identify, study and explain real cases in tourism (WILLIAMS & SPENCER, 2010), the idea being that "Measurement problems can be avoided by making a number of measurements and observations, and using several research techniques" (UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM, 2007) and the method is considered stronger because independent data supports or at least does not disapprove the researchers' findings.
Impact of Values and Interests on Research
In any type of research, the values and interests of researchers and other interested parties can taint data and skew conclusions. An example of this phenomenon was given at the Proceedings of the 5th DeHaan Tourism Management Conference in 2007. Maintaining that cultural tourism "is arguably the oldest of the 'new' tourism phenomena" (MCKERCHER, 2002), McKercher illustrated that research sometimes "proves" demand when there is none (MCKERCHER, 2007) due to the values, interests and flawed assumptions of tourism organizations. There is a disconnection between research and reality because the research is flawed. Tourism organizations have an underlying value, interest and logic that "special interest tourism [is] the hub around which the total travel experience is planned and developed"; therefore, they simply rely on "raw participation rates to determine market size." According to their logic, "because somebody visited a museum at some stage during a trip, that person must have been motivated in whole or in part to travel to the destination to learn about its cultural heritage." However, "the assumption is valid only if no other plausible cause can be identified for visiting the attraction." McKercher went on to show how the raw data that 23% of visitors to Hong Kong visit "The Avenue of the Stars" has led to the flawed conclusion that "23% of visitors to Hong Kong are film tourists." In reality, most visitors to "The Avenue" are not film tourists: "some visit because it is a free attraction that zero commission tour operators can drop people off at no charge; tourists must cross it from a bus parking area to access other attractions; it offers pleasant views of Hong Kong Island; it provides convenient access to the Star Ferry connecting Hong Kong and...
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