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Research Methods in Tourism Studies

Explore the science of research methods in relation to analysing the travel and tourism industries.

1,007 enrolled on this course

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  • Duration

    6 weeks
  • Weekly study

    4 hours

Discover how to conduct research into the travel and tourism industries.

On this course you’ll explore travel and tourism research methods and techniques.

You’ll learn the difference between quantitative and qualitative research methods, and explore data analysis and collection. You’ll examine the current trends of tourism research, and ultimately write your own thesis or consultancy project.

Overall you’ll come to understand the basic methods of academic research in relation to hospitality, whether you’re a new learner or someone with professional experience of the travel and tourism sectors who wants to analyse their industry further.

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Skip to 0 minutes and 20 seconds Welcome to the subject of Research Method for tourism studies. My name is LIU TINGTING, an assistant Professor from College of Tourism and Service Management at Nankai University in China. Research is a systematic activity to create knowledge, discover new facts and generate original ideas, which requires the researcher to have a high level of intellectual capability and creative thinking. As a student in tourism and hospitality field, research skills are becoming increasingly important for not only thesis writing, but the problem-solving in industry practice.

Skip to 1 minute and 4 seconds In this course, you are able to understand the following topics, the starting point of raising a good research question, information search and paper writing, qualitative versus quantitative approach, research designs, the emerging issues in tourism and hospitality research and research ethics. Each of the above sessions will be offered by me and other leading professors from US UK Australia and Macao China together. We hope to not only bring you the ideas of doing academic research in tourism field, but also to empower you with the ability to solve problems by yourselves. Welcome to our class!

What topics will you cover?

  • Week 1: How to Start Good Research
  • Week 2: Qualitative versus Quantitative Approach
  • Week 3: Research Design I
  • Week 4: Research Design II
  • Week 5: Emerging Issues in Tourism and Hospitality Research
  • Week 6: Research Ethics

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Understand how to raise good research questions
  • Discuss different research approaches to tourism studies
  • Perform specific data collection and analysis techniques
  • Apply a particular research method into research thesis or consultancy project

Who is the course for?

This course is designed for anyone interested in understanding the fundamentals of research into the tourism industry — the different kinds of approaches, how to collect data, and how to get published.

You don’t need any specific professional or academic background to take this course. But as it’s centered around tourism and hospitality, a basic understanding of tourism studies is an advantage.

The course is also useful for anyone with experience of working in travel or tourism, looking to study the sectors analytically, or anyone with general business experience wanting to improve their problem-solving skills.

Who will you learn with?

Hi, I am an assistant professor at College of Tourism and Service Management, Nankai University, China. My research interests cover tourism sociology, qualitative research and tourism consumption.

Dr. Daisy X.F. Fan is a Senior Lecturer in Tourism and Hospitality at Bournemouth University, UK. Her research interests include social contact, tourist behaviour and social sustainability.

Visiting Professor at College of Tourism and Service Management, Nankai University

Who developed the course?

Nankai University

The college of Tourism and Service Management occupies its own building with a hotel nearby. It has about 500 undergraduate and 185 postgraduate students with 38 academic staff and 38 support staff.

  • Established

    1919
  • Location

    Tianjin, China
  • World ranking

    Top 210Source: ShanghaiRanking Academic Ranking of World Universities 2021

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  • Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

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