Tourism Research Paradigms

The theme of this book focuses on the being of tourism and knowledge construction in tourism. It discusses both ontological and epistemological issues in tourism studies. In addition to examining what constitutes tourism knowledge and how tourism knowledge is acquired, various theoretical and methodological paradigms will also be addressed.

This book provides insights into the lived experiences of researchers as they negotiate the undulating terrain of the world of paradigms and seek to find their niche. Each chapter presents the journeys of postgraduate candidates, early career researchers and established scholars, starting with an overview of their paradigm, the application of the paradigm to their specific research context, and concluding with the authors reflecting on their identification with and use of the paradigm. The volume acknowledges that determining the paradigm that best aligns with a scholar’s personal ideologies and the underlying assumptions of the research can be rather daunting, challenging and perplexing to scholars who are starting their research journey. It offers an accessible exploration of research paradigms and will be a valuable resource for postgraduate researchers, emerging scholars and PhD supervisors.

This collection of papers from Tourism Geographies emphasizes new and emerging research paradigms in the geographic study of tourism. The papers included in this collection follow one of two threads: explicitly supporting specific research frameworks, or implicitly presenting new and emerging theoretical perspectives through empirical research on the geographical topics. These begin with three overview papers from themes that emerged from recent annual meetings of the Association of American Geographers, including evolutionary economic geography (EEG), political ecology and community resilience. Each of these theoretical and conceptual frameworks is leading to new explorations and insights in a wide variety of geographical and social science research, including tourism studies. These are followed by a series of papers that extend our knowledge and thinking on a range of key geographical topics, including development and underdevelopment (by Saarinen & Rogerson), sustainable tourism planning (by Torres-Delgado & Saarinen), encounters with the natural environment (by Hill), and the geography of place names (by Light), as well as economic geography and new technologies and their applications to spatial behavior research. The papers in this special issue are especially relevant to tourism scholars, and very much represent the types of perspectives that Tourism Geographies seek to promote. This book was published as a special issue of Tourism Geographies.

Cultural tourism includes experiencing local culture, traditions and lifestyle, participation in arts-related activities, and visits to museums, monuments and heritage sites. This book reviews a wide range of qualitative and quantitative research methods applied to the field. It is suitable for students and researchers in tourism and leisure.

Contemporary Research Methods in Hospitality and Tourism delivers a comprehensive collection of chapters including new insights for traditional paradigms, approaches, and methods, as well as more recent developments in research methodology in the context of tourism and hospitality.

As research in tourism and hospitality reaches maturity, a growing number of methodological approaches are being utilized and, in addition, this knowledge is dispersed across a wide range of journals. Consequently there is a broad and multidisciplinary community of tourism and hospitality researchers whom, at present, need to look widely for support on methods. In this volume, researchers fulfil a pressing need by clearly presenting methodological issues within tourism and hospitality research alongside particular methods and share their experiences of what works, what does not work and where challenges and innovations lie.

Whilst qualitative approaches are beginning to be more commonly used and accepted in tourism, discussions of research methods have rarely moved beyond practical considerations. Limited attention given to the underlying philosophical and theoretical underpinnings that influence the research process. This book links the theory with research practice, to offer a more holistic account of how qualitative research can be used in tourism.

This book walks students through the selection and application of research methods within Tourism. Experienced authors introduce the relevant language and theory of key methodologies and then develop them using strategic literature review and the inclusion of international examples which relate directly to tourism. Each concept sets the historical and philosophical context of a method alongside the practical application of the technique and provides: • authoritative and reliable data • informative cross-referencing • detailed discussion of theories and their critics • suggestions for further reading The book is a vital resource for all students of tourism, leisure and management.