TLH251 Assessment Research Methods for the Service Sector

This document discusses various research methods for the service sector, including an interview checklist, participant observation, research diary extract, and a coded interview transcript. It also includes a practical on visual methodologies. The document is part of the TLH251 assessment.

TLH251 Assessment Research
Methods for the Service
Sector
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Contents
An Interview Checklist....................................................................................................................3
Participant Observation...................................................................................................................3
Observation checklist...................................................................................................................3
Research diary extract..................................................................................................................4
Commentary................................................................................................................................4
A Visual Methodologies Practical...................................................................................................5
Background..................................................................................................................................5
The image....................................................................................................................................6
Analysis/Interpretation................................................................................................................6
A Coded Interview Transcript.........................................................................................................7
Transcript key..............................................................................................................................7
Coded Interview Transcript.........................................................................................................7
Major Project Proposal..................................................................................................................18
Tittle of the proposal..................................................................................................................18
Introduction and Rationale........................................................................................................18
Research Aims and Objectives..................................................................................................18
Research Methodology..............................................................................................................19
Research Analysis......................................................................................................................20
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................21
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Assessment 1: Portfolio: Qualitative
An Interview Checklist
Theme (Main
Question)
(Specific Topics and Issues) Follow up questions
Demographic
background
 Age
 Gender
 Annual income
 Marital status
Visiting
patterns
 Daily visitors
 Visitor’s age group
 Tourists vs. local
visitors
 How many people visit Hylton Castle in
a day?
 What age group of people most visit
Hylton Castle?
 Are tourists visitors, the main visitors of
Hylton Castle?
Satisfaction  Visitor’s satisfaction  How can you describe visitors experience
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 Visitor’s interest in
visitor attraction
in Hylton Castle?
 What type of questions visitors ask you
about Hylton Castle?
Motivation  Motivation to visit
 Elements of visitor
attraction
 What motivates people to visit Hylton
Castle?
 Are there any other aspects from cultural
heritage in Hylton Castle?
Participant Observation
Observation checklist
 To observe a group of at least 3 people
 To be able to hear communication between people who are being observed
 To be able to access their activities
 To distantly understand purpose of visit
 To distantly understand satisfaction of their visit
Research diary extract
The participant observation is conducted by observing a group of 4 middle aged people
from a distance. No communication between the investigator and participants was undertaken.
The observation was 4 hours long and was conducted at the ground area of Hylton Castle, where
the access for researchers is free.
A group of 4 people who all seemed to have an expertise in cultural heritage walked into
the ground of Hylton Castle and started to wonder why the castle itself is closed. One of the
member of the group was observed to be engaged in a short communication with the staff
members of castle and an information was overheard that the castle has been closed for
renovation but their group is free to investigate the castle from the ground. Out of 4 participants,
one was female and other three was male. All of the participants had a notes diary in which they
were copying the abstract notes about the castle which were written outside the board of the
castle. After an hour of silent admiration of castle by the participants, they finally settled on the
ground and started discussing about the requirement of renovation of the castle. By observing
and over hearing the participants, it was interesting to know that they were investigating the
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castle too for their doctorate degree. After 2 and half hour of discussions about the castle and
how the castle is a small but important heritage property, the group decided to eat and hang out a
nearby restaurant which is highly famous for its cultural food. The group was then followed till
the restaurant and an interesting fact was identified that the restaurant is main point of interest for
people who visits this heritage site. The restaurant is known as Castle Fry is less than a kilometre
away from the Hylton Castle.
Commentary
The participant observation was undertaken at a visitor attraction of Hylton Castle where a
group of 4 people was observed for 4 hours long. Between the observation, I did not participate
in any kind of communication with the participants in order to observe real and unbiased
activities of participants. I only “observed” and not participated in between the group of 4 people
which levied an implication on the data as all the communication between the group was not
possible to be overheard.
The setting of research project was open and the internal area of castle was closed and
inaccessible due to renovation purposes. As this investigation was entirely based on observation,
the behavioural aspects of participants were not accessible that can include their motivation to
visit this visitor attraction and their personal perception regarding Hylton Castle. The access of
the field was not required to be accessed as the ground area of Hylton Castle was free for
investigators and this information was gained from the website of Hylton Castle. Due to the free
access of the field, the implication of easy observation was benefitted.
At the time of the participant observation, I was experiencing mixed feelings. The group of
people who were being observed were seemed to be middle aged people with lots of experience
regarding heritage and culture which initiated a feeling of captivation. A feeling of nervousness
was developed when it was identified that the group of people were also investigators who were
investigating for the doctorate degree and were not the tourists.
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A Visual Methodologies Practical
Background
The image is a part of advertisement campaign produced by Moxy hotels. The purpose of
producing this image is to advertise the environment of Moxy which let people to have fun and
experience fun time with their friends. The campaign or image attached above is developed to
target youth who are willing to do experience unpredicted surprises and want to attend great
parties as they are the prime audience of this advert. This image overall represents the
atmosphere which a visitor will experience at Moxy.
The image
The image is divided into various tiny bits which represents the experience of fun, great
parties which people can enjoy while staying at this hotel. The image is a combination of tiny
images and text. An image in the campaign image representing the in room concert facility
provided by Moxy hotels. Other than this image, there are 5 additional images which are
representing the food, indoor and outdoor parties which people can have at Moxy hotels. The
colour pallet which has been used in this campaign image is bold as there is a use of two
contrasting colours (Black and Pink) which highlights the name of the brand. Other than this, the
image is showcasing people who are the previous guests of their hotels and the activities
showcased in the image is primarily related to parties. Apart from the tiny bits of the campaign,
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the image overall showing the potential experience which visitors at this hotel can gain. This
image has few signs which represents the venue and time of the livestream.
The front page of the image is advertising the “in room” concert service of Moxy hotel
along with the livestream details of the concert. The back of the campaign image has 5 tiny
images and text reflecting the unique proposition of Moxy Hotels which makes it completely
different than a home. This page is intended to show that Moxy is a place where guests can be
carefree and can let go to have fun.
The slogan of the campaign image is “MOXY it’s no place like home”. This slogan sends a
message to their targeted audience that at MOXY, you don’t have to worry about everything like
you do at your home as it is an escape for them where they can come and let go all their worries
to have great party and fun with their friends.
Analysis/Interpretation
The advertising campaign conveys the message to their intended audience that Moxy is a
boutique hotel that has the social heart of hostel; at this hotel, people does not have to be
sophisticated and be careful about everything as they can have fun here with their friends and
make memories for life time. The brand image which this advertisement conveys is that Moxy is
a hotel for youth guests that like to party and wants to have an escape from their regular boring
life. The slogan of this campaign has a great impact on the brand image of this hotel as where all
other hotels market their accommodation by saying their accommodation is just like their home
to communicate the comfort; the slogan of Moxy communicates that Moxy hotels are nothing
like home and are away from comfort zone.
The image does not have address of the hotel accommodation but it does not have any
implication on overall image.
A Coded Interview Transcript
Transcript key
A: VW campervan
A1 – benefits of VW campervan
A2 – Demerits of VW campervan
B: Amanda
B1 - Thoughts of Amanda for VW campervan and camping
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C: Experiences in VW campervan
C1 – Good experiences
C2 – Not so good experiences
Coded Interview Transcript
***********Original Transcript*******************
NOTES: Michael Archer- 45minute Interview discussing VW Campervan ownership.
Researcher (Bold) Respondent (Regular)
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?
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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?
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?
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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.
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
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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.
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
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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, 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
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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.
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
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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 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
14

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 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
15

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.
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
16

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.
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
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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
Major Project Proposal
Tittle of the proposal
Visiting patterns and satisfaction of visitors of Hylton Castle of Sunderland
Introduction and Rationale
Tourism is a dynamic industry which changes with a rapid speed due to changing
perception of people about tourism sites and venues. In order to understand the perception and
satisfaction about a tourism venue, the heritage site of Hylton Castle of Sunderland is selected.
This heritage and cultural site is owned by English Heritage and is considered as an integral part
of heritage of England as this castle was originally built in 11th century. This research will
explore the visiting patterns and the level of satisfaction which visitors gain while visiting a
heritage site.
The rationale of this investigation is to analyse the perception of people regrading old and
heritage sites that represents culture of England. This research is well justified as it will assist in
identifying the motivational drivers that drive people of visit heritage sites such as Hylton Castle
of Sunderland.
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This investigation will be of interest and significance as this well help its readers to
understand the reasons due to which they visit a heritage site. This investigation will also help to
identify that whether a heritage site is only admirable by tourist or is also considered by local
people.
Research Aims and Objectives
Research Aim:
“To identify the visiting patterns and satisfaction of visitors visiting Hylton Castle of
Sunderland”
Objectives: To identify the visiting pattern of people visiting Hylton Castle. To identify the factors which motivate visitors to visit Hylton Castle. To analyse the extend of satisfaction that visitors gain while visiting Hylton Castle. To analyse the relationship between education level of visitors and the satisfaction level
while visiting Hylton Castle of visitors.
Research Methodology
Research methodology is the combination of various methods that are used to undertake an
investigation, these elements which make the methodology includes method of the investigation,
method of collecting the data, technique used to collect sample, instrument of collecting the data
and more.
Research method – There are two types of research methods which are quantitative and
qualitative (Navrátil and et.al., 2011). Both of these methods are appropriate according to the
research aim. The benefit of qualitative research method is that it helps in conducting a
descriptive investigation and helps in gaining interesting insights from the literature. This
method also has a disadvantage which states that there is numerical evidence to prove the
findings. On the other hand, quantitative research method provides a conclusive numerical
evidence to justify the findings but undertaking such research is a complex task to perform. In
the present research, quantitative method is intended to be used.
Data collection method – In order to conduct an investigation, it is important to gather data
from various sources. There are two methods of collecting the data which are primary and
secondary (Bryman, 2016). The primary data collection method benefits the investigator with
first hand data and eliminates duplication of work but collection of such data has few drawbacks
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including cost ineffective, time consuming and ethical issues regarding maintaining the privacy
and anonymity of the respondents. On the other hand, secondary data collection has the benefit
of investigating on the table and reduced costs but like any other method, this also has a demerit
of restricting the scope of collecting the data and biasness in data (Cohen, Manion and Morrison,
2013). For the present investigation, the data collection method of primary collection is decided
to be used.
Sampling – a total of 100 visitors will be used to undertake this investigation. All the
visitors will be selected randomly using random probabilistic sampling technique. The research
will be conducted on the ground of Hylton Castle of Sunderland and the people visiting this
venue will be questioned. The instrument that will be used to collect the data from respondents is
questionnaire (Thomas, Nelson and Silverman, 2015). A close ended questionnaire will be
developed and provided to each of 100 respondents. The questions in the questionnaire will
cover demographic information of the respondents along with the attributes of visiting patterns,
satisfaction of the visits, motivational factors of the visit.
The benefit of conducting a primary research through questionnaire is that it helps in
having an evidence of the research. There is also a demerit of this instrument which is people
usually does not even properly read the questions and randomly tick any of the available
responses (Santa-Cruz and López-Guzmán, 2017). In order to ensure that the research has been
conducted fairly, the reliability analysis of data will be conducted.
This research will meet the objectives of this research as the questions which will be asked
from respondents will represent their visiting patterns in Hylton Castle of Sunderland along with
their satisfaction level that they acquire while visiting the venue. This research will also ask
visitors for their motivation of visit this venue that will help in acquiring the objectives.
Research Analysis
Once the data has been collected for the investigation, the data will be stored in a SPSS file.
This document will be then used to build a familiarity with the data by adding values of each of
the variables. After the entire data is formatted, it will be next analysed by using the techniques
of frequency distribution and chi square analysis. Each question will act as a variable that will be
used to determine frequency analysis. All the variables will be analysed by computing their
mean, mode, median, standard deviation and variance; along with frequency and descriptive
statistics, the data will be analysed by using graphs and charts for further understanding of the
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data. This understanding will help to know the average satisfaction of visitors visiting Hylton
Castle, will help in analysing the most influential factors that motivates people to visit Hylton
Castle and the average demographic status of people.
The data collected will then be analysed using chi square tool which helps to analyse the
relationship between two categorical variables as the questionnaire is close ended all the
variables will be categorical. Any few of all the variables will be used to analyse relationship
between the variables so that objectives can be fulfilled.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Navrátil, J. and et.al., 2011. Impact of visit on visitors’ perceptions of the environments of
nature-based tourism sites. Turizam: međunarodni znanstveno-stručni časopis. 59(1.).
pp.7-23.
Bryman, A., 2016. Social research methods. Oxford university press.
Cohen, L., Manion, L. and Morrison, K., 2013. Research methods in education. routledge.
Thomas, J.R., Nelson, J.K. and Silverman, S.J., 2015. Research methods in physical activity.
Human kinetics.
Santa-Cruz, F.G. and López-Guzmán, T., 2017. Culture, tourism and world heritage
sites. Tourism Management Perspectives. 24. pp.111-116.
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