Practical Tourism Research (Tourism Studies)

Training in research methods is increasingly important for students of tourism, and this broad, accessible textbook outlines the concepts and tools essential to understanding, managing, and conducting research. Taking a practical approach throughout, this new edition provides advice on the use and cautions associated with some of the more common research designs and tools used by tourism researchers. Fully updated throughout, it: - covers core techniques such as questionnaire design, sample selection, and interviewing - reviews analytical tools such as the development of scales and indices, assessment of advertising performance, benchmarking, market segmentation, case studies, and content and visual analysis. - uses recent, real-world examples and focus boxes throughout to assess new aspects of research such as blogs, narrative analysis, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) - retains the approachable, personal writing style of the previous edition. Incorporating an increased use of handy, pedagogical features to aid learning, this new edition is an essential overview for undergraduate and postgraduate students of tourism research, as well as a useful resource for researchers, consultants, and managers. ## Abstract This textbook outlines the concepts and tools essential to understand, manage, and conduct tourism research. After some reflections on the nature of tourism research in chapter 1, attention is given to the planning of a research project in chapter 2. Chapters 3-5 move on to the practical details of designing questionnaires, sampling, and conducting interviews and focus groups. Chapters 6 through 9 cover several popular research methods for tourism studies (indices and scales, case studies, content analysis and netnography). The book concludes with a chapter on presenting research results. Half Title Cabitourism Title Copyright Dedication Contents Supplementary Resources and Video Preface Acknowledgements 01 The Nature of Tourism Research 02 Planning a Research Project 03 Questionnaire Design and Delivery 04 Selecting a Sample 05 How to Conduct Personal Interviews and Focus Groups 06 Indices and Scales 07 Case Studies 08 Content Analysis 09 Netnography 10 Research Reports and Presentations Index Back Cover Training in research methods is increasingly important for students of tourism, so this book covers everything a student needs to know. Full of practical advice, it uses real-world examples and focus boxes to help train the next generation of researchers, covering questionnaire design, sample selection, analytical tools and more.