ABSTRACT PURPOSE It is nowadays proved the importance of the quality of information not only about arrivals and presences of tourists in a destination, but also about their motivation, identity and so on. Such a quality has interesting implications on management and managerial strategies and decisions. In general, researches on tourist flows find their justification in the necessity of an evidence-based knowledge of the tourist demand, also to avoid that the emotional sphere or other disturbances might influence the choices of destination management as well as those within the single companies. ORIGINALITY Because of the lack of consciousness on research methodology on tourism, the originality of this paper resides in the analysis of some researches in order to determine the points of strength and weakness of the investigations tools and improve the data collection methodologies and analysis. METHODOLOGY According to the experience of the researchers of the University of Verona - in collaboration with the Province of Verona – two data collection ways have been experimented, the first through the specialized services offered by a specialized market research company – Doxa - did not prove to be completely efficient in terms of promptness and reliability and the second one, subsequently, through a close collaboration with the IAT (that is, the Tourist Information Centre) personnel, who will conduct the interviews instead of Doxa. The innovation of this research methodology consists mainly in the fact that the interviews will not be conducted by the personnel of a “neutral” market research company, but by IAT employees, who know the territory and the tourism operators, and who are known by the operators themselves. This can seemingly undermine the neutrality of the data collection, but it also brings a series of advantages in terms of:  promptness: as the interviewer knows the tourism operators, he/she will probably know when it is best to call and who to ask for in order to communicate effectively with somebody who can answer the questions;  reliability: for instance, the interviewer might be able to realize if the answers are in line with the company’s reality or rather show a lack of interest for the research and an attempt to get rid of the interviewer in the quickest time possible, in which case the interview would be interrupted and the interviewed excluded from the sample group. FINDINGS Analysis and comparison of the results obtained through the two methodologies applied, mainly in terms of quality of information, data comparability over time and results managerial usability. RESEARCH LIMITATION The main limit of this research is the narrowness of the investigated territory – the city of Verona - in spite of tourist significance of the area. This limitation might prevent the results to be applied to other destinations.

Quality of information, data comparability over time and results managerial usability: research methodologies comparison

SIMEONI, Francesca
2009-01-01

Abstract

ABSTRACT PURPOSE It is nowadays proved the importance of the quality of information not only about arrivals and presences of tourists in a destination, but also about their motivation, identity and so on. Such a quality has interesting implications on management and managerial strategies and decisions. In general, researches on tourist flows find their justification in the necessity of an evidence-based knowledge of the tourist demand, also to avoid that the emotional sphere or other disturbances might influence the choices of destination management as well as those within the single companies. ORIGINALITY Because of the lack of consciousness on research methodology on tourism, the originality of this paper resides in the analysis of some researches in order to determine the points of strength and weakness of the investigations tools and improve the data collection methodologies and analysis. METHODOLOGY According to the experience of the researchers of the University of Verona - in collaboration with the Province of Verona – two data collection ways have been experimented, the first through the specialized services offered by a specialized market research company – Doxa - did not prove to be completely efficient in terms of promptness and reliability and the second one, subsequently, through a close collaboration with the IAT (that is, the Tourist Information Centre) personnel, who will conduct the interviews instead of Doxa. The innovation of this research methodology consists mainly in the fact that the interviews will not be conducted by the personnel of a “neutral” market research company, but by IAT employees, who know the territory and the tourism operators, and who are known by the operators themselves. This can seemingly undermine the neutrality of the data collection, but it also brings a series of advantages in terms of:  promptness: as the interviewer knows the tourism operators, he/she will probably know when it is best to call and who to ask for in order to communicate effectively with somebody who can answer the questions;  reliability: for instance, the interviewer might be able to realize if the answers are in line with the company’s reality or rather show a lack of interest for the research and an attempt to get rid of the interviewer in the quickest time possible, in which case the interview would be interrupted and the interviewed excluded from the sample group. FINDINGS Analysis and comparison of the results obtained through the two methodologies applied, mainly in terms of quality of information, data comparability over time and results managerial usability. RESEARCH LIMITATION The main limit of this research is the narrowness of the investigated territory – the city of Verona - in spite of tourist significance of the area. This limitation might prevent the results to be applied to other destinations.
2009
9788890432705
Data collection methodologies; Tourism management; Quality of information; data comparability
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11562/339245
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