Qualitative Research Methods

This assignment is a type of mini Portfolio that include five individual items such as An interview checklist, Participant observation, A written iconography practical, A coded interview transcript and Major project proposal. Main purpose of conducting this assignment is to develop basic understanding about the qualitative research methods.

Qualitative
Research Methods

Table of Contents
INTRODCTION..............................................................................................................................1
TASK 1: INTERVIEW CHECKLIST ...........................................................................................1
TASK 2: PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION...................................................................................2
Short commentary.......................................................................................................................3
TASK 3: VISUAL METHODOLOGIES OR WRITTEN ICONOGRAPHY PRACTICAL.........3
TASK 4: CODED INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT...........................................................................5
TASK 5: MAJOR PROJECT PROPOSAL..................................................................................17
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................20
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................21
.......................................................................................................................................................21

INTRODCTION
Qualitative research introduces as a scientific method of observation that is used by
researcher for gathering non-numerical information (Flick, 2018). This assignment is a type of
mini Portfolio that include five individual items such as An interview checklist, Participant
observation, A written iconography practical, A coded interview transcript and Major project
proposal. Main purpose of conducting this assignment is to develop basic understanding about
the qualitative research methods.
TASK 1: INTERVIEW CHECKLIST
Research Project: Reason for visiting a particular destination
Theme Specific Topics and
Issues
Response
Growing
significance of
destinations
Importance of
destinations
Destinations play an important role in influencing
people towards specific place.
Likelihood
towards a
destination
Main purpose for
visiting a particular
destination
There are certain purpose for travelling a particular
destination such as recreation, research travel,
tourism or vacationing, gathering of information,
volunteer travel for charity, visiting people, business
travel etc.
Star
attractions of
favourite
destination
Main features of
appealing destination
There are several features of the any type of
destination such as culture, architecture, gastronomy,
events, shopping, infrastructure, landscape etc. These
are main features that attract more towards visiting
of specific destination.
Heritage sites Reasons behind visiting
heritage sites
There are basically three reasons for visiting heritage
sites such as heritage experience, recreational
experience and learning experience.
Attractions of Features of an attractive A tourist attraction is a specific place of interest
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a destination tourist destination where visitors visit, mainly for its inherent and
exhibited natural as well as cultural value, natural or
built beauty, historical importance, offering leisure
and amusement.
Social Media
Marketing in
Tourism
Industry
Social media platforms
for attracting tourists
There are number of platforms that helps in
attracting towards selection of particular destination.
Instagram, Facebook, Twitter are main platforms that
helps in providing appropriate information about the
place.
TASK 2: PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION
Oxford Street in London is the chosen public place for carrying out qualitative research.
This street is regarded to be one of the busiest street within the confines of this well developed
city with first in class infrastructure. For observing the people on Oxford Street, there is no
requirement for gaining access and taking any kind of permission or qualification. In this regard,
analysing people in this street was not at all an easy task. As the life of London is quite busy, so
is the Oxford Street with a large number of moving from one place to another. This causes the
conditions to change on a constant basis. There was too much of noise on the street owing to the
large base of tourists moving here and there and trying to set interaction with people (King,
Horrocks and Brooks, 2018). Further, owing to the presence of several shops on this street
selling wide array of products, the street is colourful as a whole with different types of
architectures, lights, smells, shades and people.
The comments in outcome to the thought for restricting traffic at Oxford Street in London
highlights that number of persons have subjective and different opinions on what constitutes a
bad or good public space. The street had different types of people engaged in activities such as
exercising or playing, socializing, accessing light, relaxing in fresh air or nature. Researcher
observed the respective street with special regards to number of people interacting with each
other and giving their views about the market place.
Research Diary extract
I started my walk right on Oxford Street in London. Most of the persons never genuinely
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take a walk in around their locality to observe their surroundings. I have done observation in
group for a time period of minimum 2 hours. I increased my knowledge about Oxford Street in
London and an individual who come and purchase products. In order to gather experience of an
individual at this road, I played important role in collecting data from the large number of
persons. I took an interview and collected information about Oxford Street from the people who
have been carrying out their businesses in that locality for a long period of time. During the
process of data collection, I faced some issues which are mainly related with the improper
behaviour of people. For overcoming this issue, I used ethical considerations and gathered all
data in an ethical manner. Observing this road, one of the busiest streets situated within the
confines of London, supported me in carrying out my study as per the requirements. Along with
this, I also observed that people moving or working on this street participated in a number of
activities such as socializing, exercising, breathing in fresh air, playing, crossing the road etc.
Observing and analysing all of this helped me in identification of wants and needs of people on
Oxford Street.
Short commentary
In observation in participate for collecting information about the opinion of people
regarding the busy street. This method helped in gathering of primary data from the people who
walk in Busy street. For doing this investigation, there are two types of setting which are
qualitative and quantitative (Smith and McGannon, 2018). For this observation, qualitative
setting was used by me. As it supported me in collecting of information in reliable and in-depth
manner. In this observation, there are some parts that are inaccessible for me including, when I
need data in form of quantitative and also when I require information in detailed manner. There
is no need for me to give access for observing Busy street place and people. Yes accessibility
have implication for this research by providing in-depth and real data about the field of study.
During the participants observation I feat good but sometimes I also feat nervous because of
lack of resources and lack of time. This feeling directly impacted on my work while I need to
complete each activities of this study in given time period. Lack of confidence also impacted on
my work while gathering of information in ethical and systematic manner. Therefore, qualitative
study is more useful for me as it helped me by providing data in detailed and in-depth manner.
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TASK 3: VISUAL METHODOLOGIES OR WRITTEN ICONOGRAPHY
PRACTICAL
Visual methodologies introduces as an independent resource for every person working
with visual materials. This method of qualitative research offers practical guidance as well as
expert theoretical orientation on how to think, approach, and interpret visual culture (Mays and
Pope, 2020).
1)What is the message of this visual composition? What image does it present of Moxy hotels?
The visual composition of this advertisement is aiming to invite people who are young
and wants to have fun while travelling to a new destination. There has been a use of picture of
young women and couple dancing. All the images which has been used in the advertisement
signifies partying and adventure. The image which has been presented is contemporary and re-
defines the manner in which hospitality services are perceived in the market.
2) What strategies does it use to communicate its message? How is the message conveyed to
the viewer?
The Message which has been communicated using simple English that can be
understood by travellers around the world. The Urban tone of hashtags have been employed to
keep it relatable for the young audience. The message is being communicated through use of
visual images using illustrations of young women and couple partying in a hotel which makes it
more appealing for people who have bored of their routing lifestyle and wish to travel to a place
for a change.
3) Who is it intended for? What is the prime audience for this advert?
This advertisement is intended for young travellers who are looking for hospitality
services that are different from that of a traditional hotel. The prime audience for this unique
hospitality service provider are young travellers who wants to have fun and party.
4) What effect do you think this image is intended to have on the viewer?
This image raises level of excitement in the mind of the viewers if they are from the
targetted segment of population. The reason for the same is that using a composition of images
of young people and use of urban language assures that right people are targetted and at the same
time assures that they are persuaded in leaving their routing life and heading for a travel
adventure.
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5) Can elements of this image be viewed as signs? What might they represent? What types of
signs are evident in these images?
It is definitely possible that images using in the poster can be used as a signs which
shows fun, entertainment and adventure to the young audiences. They present number of
activities which are music concert, dancing activity etc. These activities helps in attraction of
large customers which turn to support an organisation in increment of its sales and market ratio.
6) What types of human activity can be identified in this composition? What is their
significance?
The human activity which has been denoted from the advertisement is partying,
excitement and adventure. The use of composition of image of young people state that it is for
people who wish to do something other than ordinary or routine tasks. The use of words and
statement denote that it is not going to be very expensive and services can be used by major
section of the population.
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TASK 4: CODED INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT
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Item 4: Interview Coding
Task Instructions
This practical involves the coding of an interview transcript. You should read
through the full transcript carefully at first to begin to get a sense of what it
contains. Then, you should pick out topics and apply initial codes to sections
of text surrounding whatever themes you think you can find. Initial codes can
be applied to individual words, whole sentences or larger sections as you see
fit. Having done this, you should then go through and develop these codes.
You might thus begin with:
Code A = Learning
And develop this code so that you end up with:
A1 = Learning in childhood
A2 = Learning from books
A3 = Learning from other people
A4 = Learning from experience etc.
Code B=
Attached is a transcript from an interview conducted to a owner of a VW
caravan. The interview is part of a PhD project and focuses on the
motivations for owning one and the complex relations the owner has
established with the caravan.
Use coloured pencils or an equivalent word processor tool to highlight
sections of text in order to pull out the themes – remember to look back over
your notes on qualitative methodologies and analysis.
You should produce a coded transcript and a key explaining your codes (you
may like to represent these using a “codemap” or “brainstorming diagram”)
***********Original Transcript*******************
NOTES: Michael Archer- 45 minute Interview discussing VW Campervan ownership.
Researcher (Bold) Respondent (Regular)
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What attracted you to the idea of owning a VW
campervan?
Michael: Well for me it was more like a holiday home, a
portable camp and chill with the family. The VW aspect
was more to talk Amanda into it. My partner just for the
record.(Laughs) Basically she thought it was cool and
they are cool and all of those things, but it was more a
vehicle to go on holiday in so like looking at caravans well
didn’t appeal, and I could see it as a second vehicle.
So what you’re saying is you wouldn’t have liked a
different type of vehicle?
No it would have to be something that could be used as a
car as well.
So not the big American retirement van?
No well the VW’s my mate had one and it’s a car and a
van and its cool and exciting isn’t it. It’s that whole thing,
there’s a buzz about it. People talk about it, so that would
be the initial reason.
Does the idea come from research, or just off the
top of your head to get it?
Well we went on a caravan holiday and we sat in this
caravan and we thought this is cool; we will just have
barbeques and just drink beer. Just chill out George (Their
son) was only 7 weeks old and everything was dead easy
going and slow the pace reminded us of when we went
travelling to Asia and this was the life, but on the
doorstep. Somewhere we could go on a weekend, every
weekend just to get away from the city. Then Amanda
wanted something mobile and then the VW was a
compromise.
Did you give it a name?
It didn’t have a name when we got it. Our initial idea in
the July 2009 and we didn’t get it for 10 months of
waiting, painstaking waiting and it didn’t have a name we
thought Ulysses or, the registration was UCU34l. It was a
TV program, Ulysses (Pronounced dramatically). Most of
them are girls names so we decided in the end to call it
Jenny because that’s what Forrest Gump (the movie) calls
his boat.
Does that represent travelling or something?
Just liked the name.
Did giving it a name help with attachment to it?
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Well they are mostly girls and it’s like naming a ship. I
thought there was a slight cultural difference of the
people who got them; the Dubbers who had names were
different from those who hadn’t.
In what way?
I don’t know.
You’re allowed to say what you think?
It seems that if you really knew VW then you didn’t name
it. So at first we didn’t name it, we haven’t had anything
and called it a name. Even George’s teddies, his rabbit are
rabbit.
Not a sentimental old fool then? (researcher
laughs)
So where you brought up with camping?
Yes well we had definitely camped, with cubs and stuff like
that and school camp at the lakes which was cool. Err
then with the lads trying to get in campsites when we
were 16, sleeping in fields. Walking through fields of bulls
and swampland and stuff and waking up in the morning
with this guy on his quad going get off my field and we
were like oh no. We went camping then, we went walking
then. We had a break then returned to it with mates and
realised that you could just sit and eat and drink as much
as you wanted and it was great, you could just get as
drunk as you wanted and that was fine. We didn’t really
go camping me and Amanda but then when we had a kid;
it really seemed to make sense and still does. That is the
lifestyle that I want my family to have.
Do you think that’s more a boy thing or just
general?
What with camping, I guess stereotypically yes. Like its
roughing it and Amanda doesn’t want to rough it, whereas
maybe when she was younger she would of, but she’s 30.
I liked mucking in, getting wet, getting dirty whereas
Amanda didn’t like that about the camping. There will be
girls that don’t enjoy it and girls who do, but as a general
rule boys like getting in a mess and most girls don’t. The
idea of getting wet and sitting in a leaky tent brings out
survival instincts in me. My cousin and his wife goes
camping, well glam ping actually they put a carpet in their
tent. I suppose you’re forced to make you own
entertainment in a way. You’re forced as a couple to be
together, well not forced but you’re on a campsite and it’s
a relaxed ‘holiday’ atmosphere.
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So do you think it’s a relaxing experience?
Relaxing?
Well it’s an idea that you go camping to relax and
people do.
Yes but it’s full of tasks to get to the relaxing bit. Like
relaxing is over there but you have to do a lot to get to it.
Like the whole alphabet. To get to the z. Then when you
sit down it’s like right what do I do now. So everything’s
done, all you need to do is just do the dishes. But there’s
actually nothing to do. Not like at home.
Is it trying to get away from that?
Yes for me it is actually. That’s still why I would like a
static caravan as well. Somewhere to go, to chill out and
get drunk (laughs)
In terms of feelings about the van, can you describe
that?
Over the massive and ridiculous 10 months it took to
procure the van and we even got a loan to get it. Then
when it did arrive we were like this is a mistake because
we had been so long waiting and we had to find extra
money too. At first I was a bit negative about it, although
Manda was excited and I was oh I don’t know what this is
going to be like. That was my feeling all the way up to
getting it, but then when I got it I did fall in love with it.
Very much fell in love with it. It only took sitting in it,
driving in it and having a glass of wine in it to think this is
brilliant. This is cool you know it belonged to us and I had
never owned anything quite like it, that was worth that
much. I don’t own a house I just have a mortgage. Yeah it
was mine and I fell in love with it. We would obsess about
buying things for it. It was like a person. Strange that. But
it had its own character which is probably why people
name them. If a name had come to us we probably would
have named it but it was like what does it need? George
our son had a lot of needs and so did it. Things you could
get for it like accessories. We bought everything, the
curtains, the pans and the electrics. I thought about it,
went and looked at it on the street when I woke up in the
morning. Go and just sit in it, it’s yours you can be
possessive over it.
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Is ownership part of it or could you have just hired
one?
No, when it’s yours you look in other peoples vans and go
how practical is it, where would you sleep all of these
questions. As soon as you had your own it was like this is
brilliant, I don’t care where I am going to sleep. It was
more look at this I am in my van. There’s an excitement
and something I really enjoyed.
Did this feeling stay with you for the duration of
having the van?
Yeah definitely, just very attached to it.
Do you think it’s an aesthetic thing? I mean I know
there’s more to it than that but....
Yes it’s the age of it, that its original, it’s got a history and
it looks nice but it’s quite simple. It’s got eyes on the
front, a face. Whoever designed it thought I want to live in
this I will put a sink there, I will put the beds there etc, it’s
clever and a lot of thought has gone into it. It’s like you
feel like you have got something special and whether it’s
done through the perception of it. People say they fall in
love with them and that’s what happens. I suppose if I had
a Ferrari I would fall in love with that but not necessarily in
the same way.
Are you in love with your car?
No. I don’t really like it. When I first got it I thought oh its
okay, I have a new car. Now I dislike it. I wouldn’t be
bothered if it was nicked, albeit for financial reasons. The
van (whoa) I left it somewhere and thought I hadn’t locked
the door and just panicked about it and couldn’t think
about anything else until I got back to the van and the
door was locked. Then I love my bike at the minute so
maybe I am a bit like that. The campervan did stay with
me.
When you say history, do you mean cultural history
or its own history?
It hadn’t any improvements really so, so it’s original so
you imagine what people were like who used to live in it
and there is that whole community. You don’t go
anywhere without someone speaking about it. That makes
the cycle of you enjoying it, being part of something the
reason you think it is special is because you drive along
the road and kids smile at it and people look at it and
wave at you. You drive past everyone in their normal cars
and it doesn’t matter that its costing a fortune to drive or
goes really slow (Laughs0 or really noisy or stinks of oil,
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when your sat at the lights and someone else in their car
that’s probably cost 20 grand and you just go HA!
Do you attribute the features of the van to yourself,
your personality?
I think the van is the van itself and it’s just that you, like I
was the driver of that van. You do personalise them over
time. But we didn’t have ours long enough. Eight ball gear
stick or whatever. Got a little fire extinguisher. We didn’t
want to put flowers on it or change the look as it was a
recent resprays so it looked lush. I felt like a bus driver. It
is strange but you do feel on show when you drive them
Does it create an atmosphere for your life?
For the time you spend in them. I think that’s the appeal
of them that when you in them you relax, something
changes like it’s not the only thing that that happens with.
Especially if it’s yours. It’s like you look at a fire and you
think that’s beautiful it gives you a certain feeling, or
looking out into the ocean gives you a certain feeling. Like
the campervan you just chill out it’s your domain.
When you’re driving do you feel relaxed?
Not always when I am driving. It can be a nightmare. You
can’t get it in gear or anything like that can you? You can’t
get stressed or lose you temper with it either or it won’t
let you drive it. When you stop its relaxing. It depends
where you are driving of course. I tried to use mine for
work. It was to see if I could do it, use it for work but it
was ridiculous in the winter in the campervan. So it was
just a joke. I had a fleece blanket, jacket, hat and gloves.
Start the engine; clean all the snow off and the ice.
Condensation breath, then when I get there, South Shields
is a 40 minute drive and it’s still freezing.
So it didn’t affect how you thought of the van?
No it was just my little relationship with the van. It was
good having it working in a school. Some of the kids were
is that a hippy van sir? Others were like why do you drive
that and couldn’t understand it. Some who knew about
them really liked it. People like them that is the thing.
I hear people say you either love them or hate them
and it’s just trying to put my finger on what that
means. Any thoughts?
It’s basically the way that they look and it’s what they
offer. Freedom, comfort and style and there’s an
impression that other people want them as well.
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So if other people want it then you want it, then you have
it so you have what other people don’t have so you have
something special. In theory you could have that with a
bongo or whatever but with the VW it is the je ne suis
qu’une. It’s the same reason why people like for example
old houses. Certainly now it has gone into popular
culture.
Yes now you can buy a campervan key ring even if
you haven’t got a van.
Like with a lot of popular programs like Lost, they are just
in things that are cool. So that image is just instilled.
I am interested in how people overcome the
problems to get to the freedom that it is allegedly
going to offer.
Do you mean the fact of the way they are made and they
breakdown a lot?
Maybe
Well its irrational isn’t it? If you think about the way that
they are made, the gears I mean your pulling these rods
basically the whole distance of the car . Anything’s simple
and everything is fragile and brittle and could break at
any point and you have oil spills. The more stuff you do
with them, the more determined you are to do stuff, to
solve problems. Like Macbeth you are in it so far, you
have made a stupid decision from a practical point of
view, financially it doesn’t make sense, they are not
economical, they cost a lot to repair but people get
obsessed about them and want to fix them themselves.
Not me though.
Was it a hard decision to sell it?
It wasn’t that hard because I was working a lot and
couldn’t really afford it and not seeing any benefit. My
original goal was to have this lifestyle. The payoff for me
was that I would have a big car but it didn’t work out that
way. We thought if we sell it we could buy something else
like a caravan but then we realised we couldn’t get
anything else as we didn’t have the money. That thing is
still hanging there that I am going to get a decent car and
a caravan. And that we can tow it and go to Europe and
go around the country.
So you haven’t left the idea of that kind of camping
and travelling lifestyle?
No it was just with all the rain last year and having a baby.
It was stressful being in a small environment but in a
caravan it would be a bit more luxury, warm and dry and
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one of my main things is that we go away so she relaxes
as well.
Perhaps we can go back to this life that we had on this
beach in Thailand which will always be our little paradise.
We can get a taste of that and that George could play with
other children on the campsite and have a really nice
time. I was sad to see the van go but because we had a
bank loan and that it’s not all mine it would have been
unreasonable and selfish to go with what I would have
wanted which is to have kept it. I would have kept it
because it was my van, that’s how I felt. We went away
without George in the bus and it was just great. It was like
why we didn’t get one before we had George because it
was great. No problem to set things up, took our time, did
whatever, had nice food, it was our anniversary liked it.
So children are a huge factor in how you experience
things?
Yes George was one. He needed a lot of attention; the van
needed a lot of attention setting stuff up that was
stressful. Sometimes we got to the campsite, hadn’t
eaten, eating 10 at night spaghetti Bolognese in the dark.
I enjoyed all that, it had a little porch and stuff. Not catch
22, but I hadn’t thought about getting a van before I had a
child, but maybe would have enjoyed it more not having
one around. I went in my friends van, all I thought was it
would cost loads of petrol money yet he loved it. Then
once he said he would use his van to help me pick up
some stuff and then it broke down and ended up in a
garage and two hours later I thought I am never getting a
campervan. Then the person we got ours from he was
local, he built it, we trusted the people and it was a
reliable van.
So the engine wasn’t shedding oil?
Well it was shedding oil (Laughs) it never conked out, it
needed an oil seal.
You joked with me and said you didn’t want to end
up in Silverlink (Shopping Village) every weekend.
It sounds to me like for you it had been the
antithesis. So in other words you were achieving a
lifestyle not entirely like the traditional nuclear
family set-up?
The dream never came true as we were never away long
enough in it because of Amanda’s job, so we were away
for three or four days at a time and by the time you have
travelled there and back then you have one or two days in
a place. Sometimes you would go to a campsite and think
that it’s not very good. Then I have gone to all the hassle
of setting it up and can’t be bothered to take it down and
go somewhere else and set that up and it might not be
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good. It’s very much trial and error with these things and
the more experience you have, the more you know. We
did go off in my mum’s caravan during owning the van
and the hassle is less, a lot less.
You mentioned going off to Thailand and how some
of van ownership aimed to capture this idea?
Yes we woke up every day cooked fish on the Barbie; go
for runs in the morning. Amanda would find shells and
make stuff; I would be building things in our hut.
So it was trying to recreate that in a modern
context?
Yes and it is beautiful in the countryside and very different
from the city and you just go there’s nothing to do so you
just stop. Of course the VW rallies. People park up on
concrete if they have to and so sometimes nature isn’t the
deal. What did you think? We never did that van
community thing, we never looked for that, for other VW
people we just did our own thing.
Any reason why you’re not interested in VW
meetings and festivals?
Well like everyone my time is limited and yes I guess its
snobbery. You can only go away 5 months in the year. My
objective is to stay in the countryside, chill out and relax.
I don’t know enough about the vans so would be out of my
depth in places like that. Like at other peoples van then
what. I don’t know these people and don’t need to know
new people. I suppose the festival ones rather than the
shows are a bit more about relaxing, but generally I
wasn’t interested in that I just wanted to go camping and
have a bit of car credibility. That shouldn’t be important to
me but it is. Sometimes you spend up to an hour and a
half in a car per day so I would quite like a good car. So I
thought a VW is a good car, eye catching what I didn’t
realise is that it was not comfortable and rubbish to drive,
Do you think you will get one again in the future?
No
So not when you’re 55 and all parental duties
done?
I think we would be prepared to lose the aesthetic
qualities for the sake of a transit van with a house on the
back for the sake of comfort. I don’t really mind that a
caravan looks crap. When I was on the campsite with the
van it really did stand out but it wouldn’t bother me now if
we didn’t.
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I couldn’t understand why I was in that godforsaken land.
Nature. I didn’t care about that. That first experience of
camping with the van in a remote campsite on a muddy
field was like, what the hell have we done. It’s just mental
- An awful field.
Its ridiculous (laughs) There’s just nothing to do but that’s
it (laughs) that’s the appeal. Like it was that thing I said
before, it’s ridiculous you spend thousands of pounds on
it, you lie down shut the door then you have the rain
leaking on you. Then you need to use the toilet (laughs
loudly) You have to find your shoes. The advantage at
night time though if you are a bit drunk your alright. When
you get up in the morning and your a bit groggy, the focus
is where and how I am going to get washed, whereas
when your at home it’s like...what am I going to do today.
In the van all you can think about is I need to get washed
and I am starving. These are the objectives and that takes
the first couple of hours just thinking about the bare
minimum I believe really is good for you. Therapeutic,
where you don’t have to worry about it all. Then when
your dry or warm and had a bacon sandwich it’s like I
have really done it, I have really achieved something. It
reminds me of a line in the film the Sopranos when Tony
says urm, about this Russian girl who is just happy as she
has got her life and she hasn’t always had that, went to
America and has a better standard of living. She said that
when you have the basic needs fulfilled then like in
Maslow, it’s about self actualisation. You work out your
worries, you analyse and go over things and I think
humans are not necessarily designed to do things. Like
perhaps it’s a relatively new territory like in the past 150
years that this has happened. I think it’s natural to go
back to basics. Like when people go and enjoy holidays
there’s nothing to do apart from eat. It’s like you wonder
what you are going to have for lunch then dinner and
that’s half the day gone and you haven’t really done
anything but you have had a good day.
Why do you think that is good for people?
You have your own control over it. Or there are problems
to solve. You challenge yourself. Your in a difficult
situation, you sort of go from a low to a more
stabilized situation where you have achieved something.
Yes I suppose you put yourself in a state of mini
crisis in a way.
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Yes you do. You park up and have to set up all this stuff
and it’s all over the place. Your brain is going through
working out how to do all these things, then you’re hungry
and you eat. Then you sit and think oh I feel quite pleased
with myself
In normal life they are perhaps not seen as
achievements?
No they are just tasks you have to keep doing in order to
achieve other things like to get money, work to get paid.
It’s a different focus. I suppose it’s out of your comfort
zone into a new place. I think that would be true of a lot of
activities, but it’s certainly true of camping. There must be
something innate, primal maybe because rationally you
wouldn’t do this. You can get wet and cold and that’s not
enjoyable.
Just to finish off what’s the worst experience you
have had in the van?
It was midge flies at the Lake District. People had warned
us about it, but we thought it would be ok. There were
swarms of them and I am trying to set up this van with the
wrong pegs. Had to re-park the van, get it totally lined up
and George( 1 year old boy) was very well behaved in the
van and I was totally sweating and my face was covered
in flies and I thought that this is ridiculous. Stupid. We
stayed that night, there was no escape. Other people
were there with bites all over them saying ‘Oh its fine’. We
had mosquito spray and they were still there, George was
getting bitten. Another time it was raining for three days.
There first campsite we were on didn’t have any electric,
showers or toilets. Nice spot by the sea but it was raining
heavily. George had his nap in the afternoon and we just
collapsed the whole thing and tried another campsite two
miles up the road and set it all up again, in the rain. I did
try to make the best of it. Looking back, none of it was
enjoyable at all. The dream was never the reality, what I
loved was the attachment. It really was like a member of
the family. It’s very strange that for a vehicle to have that
impact, just by the way it makes you feel. I am pleased I
have done it and I would like to think I would do it again
but would we really?
Transcription 55.04 minutes
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TASK 5: MAJOR PROJECT PROPOSAL
Title An investigation into the impact social media platforms on tourist destination
section. As study on Thomas Cook.
Introduction
and
Rationale
Overview of the topic: Social media has made a large impact on the tourism.
Visitors engage with social media platforms to research trips or place, make
informed decisions regarding their travels and also share their own experiences
of a particular destination (Anderson and Jiang, 2018). There are number of
social media platforms including Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter,
LinkedIn groups etc. These are useful platforms of social media that is used by
tourism organisation for attracting larger base of customers. For this research
Thomas Cook is chosen British global travel group.
Rationale: Main reason behind selecting this topic is to analyse role of social
media sides in terms of selection of destination. With the help of this research,
an individual as well as organisations can easily improve their understanding
about the importance of social media platforms in selection of destination and
attraction of larger customer base (Hausmann and et. al., 2018).
Research aim
and
objectives
Research Aim:
“To identify the impact social media platforms on tourist destination
selection”. As study on Thomas Cook.
Research Objectives:
 To understand about the social media platforms in context of tourism
industry.
 To identify the role of social media platforms in terms of selection of
tourism destination.
 To ascertain the benefits of social media platforms on growth and
development of Thomas Cook.
 To determine the importance of social media in attraction of larger
customer base.
Research
Methodology
Research methodology is important part of research which will be beneficial for
researcher in collecting of reliable information about the selected topic. There
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are some important methods which will be explained as below:
Research type: Qualitative and quantitative are consider two useful types of
research. For conducing research over selected topic, quantitative research
method will be going to applied (Molinillo and et. al., 2018). Advantages and
disadvantage of quantitative research will be define as below:
Advantage Disadvantage
One of the main advantage of
quantitative research method as it help
in providing reliable and true
information regarding the current
investigation.
Main disadvantage of this research is it
requires extra resources when
analysing of results.
Data collection: Within an investigation, primary and secondary source of data
collection will be used. For collecting primary data, questionnaire will be
applied because it is beneficial in collecting of reliable data about the selected
research or topic. For gathering secondary data, magazines, articles etc. sources
will be used (Yan, Zhou and Wu, 2018). These sources will be used in literature
review section because this part of study is relies on secondary data.
Source of data
collection
Advantage Disadvantage
Primary One of the major
advantage of primary
data collection is to
provide up-to-date
information regarding the
selected topic.
This type of data
collection attracts high
cost which is main
disadvantage.
Secondary This is a time saving
method.
Main limitation is
accuracy of secondary
data or information is
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may be outdated.
Sample Size: By using random sampling method 50 employees of Thomas
Cook will be selected. This research will be carried out in UK marketplace.
Main reason behind selecting UK market as company has their headquarter in
this nation (Yan, Zhou and Wu, 2018).
Research Instruments: There are number of research instruments such as
interview, observation, questionnaire etc. These are main instruments of
research but for collecting information regarding the social media platforms,
questionnaire will be used.
Advantage Disadvantage
Large amount of data can be gathered
from a huge number of people in a
minimum time period and in relatively
cost effective way.
Extra questions cannot be asked as
well as added for respondents to fully
explain their answer.
Research
Analysis
This is a part of data analysis which will be more essential in analysation of
appropriate data regarding the selected topic. Data analysis is a process of
analysing and modelling data with the purpose of discovering necessary data.
For analysing quantitative data or information, content analysis will be applied.
It is an effective type of analytical tool that will support the researcher in
gathering of quantitative information easily. In this method of data analysis,
number of themes or patterns will be created on each questions. As it will help
researcher to analysis quantitative data easily and within given time duration.
Main purpose of content analysis in quantitative research as to develop theses
based on how many times relevant and reliable information occur in the data
(Hausmann and et. al., 2018).
References
list
Anderson, M. and Jiang, J., 2018. Teens, social media & technology 2018. Pew
Research Center. 31. p.2018.
Hausmann, A. and et. al., 2018. Social media data can be used to understand
tourists’ preferences for nature‐based experiences in protected
areas. Conservation Letters. 11(1). p.e12343.
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Molinillo, S. and et. al., 2018. DMO online platforms: Image and intention to
visit. Tourism management, 65, pp.116-130.
Yan, Q., Zhou, S. and Wu, S., 2018. The influences of tourists’ emotions on the
selection of electronic word of mouth platforms. Tourism
Management. 66. pp.348-363.
CONCLUSION
From the above mentioned assignment, it has been concluded that qualitative research
method helps researcher in gathering of in-depth and accurate information. Different number of
qualitative methods have been used by researcher such as interview checklist, observation,
visual methodologies, coded interview transcript and major project proposal. Interview helped in
collection of in-depth information and observation supported researcher to observe large number
of people. Along with this, short research proposal and coding of interview checklist also used
for accomplishing research objectives easily.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Flick, U., 2018. Designing qualitative research. Sage.
King, N., Horrocks, C. and Brooks, J., 2018. Interviews in qualitative research. SAGE
Publications Limited.
Mays, N. and Pope, C., 2020. Quality in qualitative research. Qualitative research in health care,
pp.211-233.
Smith, B. and McGannon, K. R., 2018. Developing rigor in qualitative research: Problems and
opportunities within sport and exercise psychology. International review of sport and
exercise psychology. 11(1). pp.101-121.
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