Research Methods in Leisure and Tourism - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages The use of qualitative and qualitative approaches has been recommended in researches involving social sciences. Nevertheless, each approach has its own advantages and disadvantages that can affect the outcome of the research. In order to come up with reliable research, it is important the researcher have a good understanding of each approach and hence be able to choose which approach is going to be used in particular situations. This report presents a comparison of methodological approaches used in two researches by different researchers. The report compares the research methods used in the two articles and offers a comparative analysis of the articles. The articles indicated below; Pourtaheri1, M., Rahmani, K. & Ahmadi, H. 2012. Impacts of Religious and Pilgrimage Tourism in Rural Areas: The Case of Iran, Journal of Geography and Geology, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 122-129 Haq, F., Jackson, J. & Wong, H. Y. 2012. Marketing spiritual tourism: qualitative interviews with private tourism operators in Pakistan, Central Queensland University. These articles have been chosen for various reasons. First the articles researches on key interesting topics that most researchers have never been undertaken. Therefore, the articles form a blueprint for further research in an interesting topic in the Arab countries. The other reason is that the articles are current and well researched with references and evidences included to back up the research process and the research finding. The final reason is that the articles have used two different approaches, one qualitative and the other quantitative thus presenting the learner with a good opportunity to compare the two research methodologies dealing with almost the same subject in the similar environment. The first article sought to find out religious and pilgrimage tourism impacted on the rural lives and used Iran as the case studies. The second article sought to find out how marketing of spiritual tourism was done and sought the views of tourism operators in Pakistan. The two articles therefore have a correlation in many aspects including the investigation of almost similar subject area tourism and the Islamic environment in which the tourism was practiced (Pourtaheri1, Rahmani & Ahmadi, 2012, p. 122) The first article used a quantitative approach in the study by distributing closed questionnaires to a sample of 300 household. The questionnaires were designed in accordance with information collected from the literature review that the researchers had done before. This was important in designing the questions since the researcher had already collected information on tourism research and were acquainted with the dynamics of such type of research (Raj, R. & Morpeth, 2007). The researchers therefore wanted to build on the information they had collected in their literature and substantiated the findings of other researchers or come up with new knowledge religious and pilgrimage tourism and how it impacted on the rural lives in areas like Iran. The choice of Iran’s rural countryside was strategic in the sense that this would provide a better understanding of how religious tourism can change the perception of people especially in rural areas where tradition and cultural practices in the issues of religion and pilgrimage are dearly cherished by the residents. In using the questionnaires, the researchers employed a qualitative method in their study (Flick, 2009, p. 5). The study was carried out for two weeks through random sampling of households. Other ...Download file to see next pages Read More