Research project

Let's get started

The research project is a key task in level 3. Read the following guidelines to find out more about it and suggest possible topics you could work on.

§  Introduction: The purpose of this section is to provide an overview of the project. The subject of study, the context in which it was carried out, the objectives and the research questions must be clearly formulated.

§  Theoretical framework: The conceptual framework can include a literature review on the topic studied. The theoretical and/or practical background of the topic and previous investigations should be identified, along with related theories and key concepts.

§  Research design: The methodological approach must be described, as well as the research instruments used, how data were collected, and how processing and analysis were planned.

§  Results: The results obtained by means of the data collection instruments must be presented graphically.

§  Conclusions: In this final section the initial research questions must be answered. Moreover, this section must show to which degree the set objectives have been achieved, and the whole project must be evaluated. The limitations of the study and unresolved issues must also be stated. Lastly, possible future research lines must be proposed.

§  References: The bibliography used to develop the project may be mentioned.

Be creative and post your topic proposals!

Visit from Haaga-Helia University

Yesterday a group of Tourism students from Haaga-Helia University (Finland) joined us. We had a very fruitful session!

Welcome to Level 3

In this level, questionnaires are essential data collection tools for your research projects. Here you are some questionnaire design guidelines (adapted from Research basis and provided by Prof. G. Garcia).

After reading these guidelines, think of two valid questions for your survey and post them.

1.    There are several types of questionnaires:

Focus on the questions:

•    Open. Example: Which hotel would you like to work for?
•    Closed:
•     Dichotomous. Example: Have you ever been to Greece?  1. Yes 2. No
•    Multiple. Example: Which accommodation did you use in your last stay abroad?

1.    Hotel

2.    Apartment

3.    Campsite

4.    Other

•  :Mixed: A combination of multiple and open questions

Focus on the responses:

•    Spontaneous. Example: Which is your favourite restaurant in Barcelona?
•    Suggested options. Example: To which degree do you consider online hotel booking is reliable?

1.    Not reliable at all

2.    Little reliable

3.    Quite reliable

4.    Totally reliable

2. When formulating questions remember they should:

§   Not involve calculations
§   Not be sensitive/emotional
§   Not imply a specific response
§   Not be double, but single
§   Not be ambiguous
§   Not be a negative sentence
§   Be expressed in a simple way
§   Incorporate instructions on how to answer them

3. When  it comes to measuring the results, two key concepts are:

§   Validity: A valid measuring scale measures what is really supposed to be measured

§   Reliability: A reliable scale is precise

4. There is a wide range of measure scales: 

•    Metric. Example: What is your degree of satisfaction with the hotel from 0 to 10?    
•      Interval. Example: Which temperature do you consider ideal for a holiday destination?

1.    Less than 20 degrees Celsius

2.    Between 20 and 24 degrees Celsius

3.    Between 25 and 30 degrees Celsius

4.    More than 30 degrees Celsius

•    Ordinal. Example: What was the category of the last hotel you stayed at?

1.    5* 

2.    4*

3.    3*

4.    2*

5.    1*

•    Nominal. Example: What type of transport did you use to travel to your last holiday destination?

1.    Plane

2.    Boat

3.    Coach

4.    Train

5.    Own car

•    Comparative

§  COMPARING PAIRS. Example: Which of these two destinations ( X/Y ) do you prefer for your summer holidays?

§  CLASSIFYING. Example: Order the following destinations according to your preferences for your next summer holidays

§  ADDING. Example: Which importance do you give to the following aspects when choosing a holiday destination?

Price       __ __ %

Climate   __ __ %

Safety    __ __ %

Total           100%

§  SIMILARITY. Example: Indicate if the following ingredients are sweet, salty, sour or bitter

•    Not comparative

§  GRADING. Example: In your opinion tourism is

Very negative 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10 Very positive

§  LIKERT. Example: Tourists in Barcelona are respectful with the local culture

1.    I totally disagree

2.    I disagree

3.    I neither agree nor disagree

4.    I agree

5.    I fully agree

§  SEMANTIC. Example: In your opinion Barcelona is
                

Modern - - - - Traditional

Cheap - - - - Expensive

Sustainable  - - - - Unsustainable

Post your research questions and objectives

Having chosen an appropriate topic for your research, list all the questions that you'd like answered yourself and select the best ones. Once you determine what you know about the topic, you can do some preliminary general literature review to develop usable research questions.

Evaluate the quality of your research questions and the ease with which you should be able to answer them. Ask yourself:

1. Does the question deal with a topic which interests me enough to spark my own thoughts and opinions?
2. Is the question easily and fully researchable?
3. What type of information do I need to answer the research question? For example, to answer the research question "What impact has deregulation had on commercial airline safety?" will require certain types of information:
 Statistics on airline crashes before and after.
 Statistics on other safety problems before and after.
 Information about maintenance practices before and after.
 Information about government safety requirements before and after.
4. Is the scope of this information reasonable (e.g., can I really research a vast amount of projects developed over a span of 10 years?)
5. Given the type and scope of the information that I need, is my question too broad, too narrow or okay? The number of sources you find may help you discover this.
6. What sources will be able to provide the information I need to answer my research question (journals, books, Internet, government documents, people)?
7. Can I access these sources?
8. Given my answers to the above questions, do I have a good-quality research question that I actually will be able to answer by doing research?

Objectives must be set in relation to research questions, since they must refer to the way in which such questions are going to be answered. Objectives provide an accurate description of the specific actions you will take in order to reach your research aim. A general objective can be broken down into specific objectives, and the more precisely you formulate your specific objectives, the simpler it will be to define the type of study and which method(s) you will use in your further research.

Objectives consist of one single infinitive sentence and should be phrased in a way that makes it possible to draw a conclusion from within the scope of your project. They are usually headed by infinitive verbs such as: analyse, assess, collect, compare, describe, determine, develop, establish, evaluate, estimate, identify, etc.

Finally, a hypothesis is not a question, but rather it is a statement about the relationship between two or more variables. The hypothesis translates the research question into a prediction of expected outcomes and to be complete a hypothesis must include three components: the variables, the population and the relationship between the variables.

Adapted from: http://www.esc.edu/online-writing-center/exercise-room/evaluate-your-own-research-question/

Pick up a project topic

Look at the different options resulting from our brainstorming session, choose a topic from the list below and post your choice along with the names of the team members. Remember only one project for each one of the topics is allowed!

1. Reactions to illegal tourist apartments in Barceloneta

2. A contrastive analysis of the world’s largest cruise ship - Harmony of the seas

3. Case study: dark tourism experiences in Barcelona

4. Sustainable tourism vs. eco-friendly tourism in Barcelona

5. Researching women-only hotel chains in Spain

6. Exploring the viability of a hostel-based MICE department

7. The impact of luxury tourism in Barcelona

8. Examining tourists’ favourite bus lines in Barcelona

9. An analysis of British and French heritage tours in Menorca

10. The effect of mass tourism on the conservation of Barcelona’s heritage

11. Market research: language tourism in Barcelona

12. Academic tourism experiences abroad in higher education contexts

Ready for year 2015-16?

English Level 3. Research project

The research project is a very important component in this level. Read the following guidelines to find out more about it and suggest possible topics you could work on.

The research project deals with a topic related to the tourism and hospitality industry. The research topic must be identified by the students at the beginning of the academic year and the project outline and planning must be checked by their teachers, who will supervise their work throughout the course.

At the end of the second term each team of students must use powerpoint as well as other support materials in their oral presentations. Every member will be required to speak for about 10 minutes, so the whole presentation will take 20-30 minutes, depending on whether the teams are composed of two or three students. At the end of the presentation the students will have to answer the questions formulated by the board of examiners, made up of two teachers.

The project can be structured as follows:

-Introduction: The aim is provide a general idea of the study, including its objectives.
-Theoretical framework: The conceptual framework of the research must be stated clearly.
-Methodology: The methodological approach, as well as data collection, processing and analysis must be described.
-Results: The results deriving from the previous section must be presented.
-Conclusions: The conclusions need to relate to the research objectives.
-Bibliography: The references of all the resources used must be listed.
-Annex: Support materials can be included in this section.

Within the continuous assessment system the written project accounts for 10% of the final mark, whereas the oral presentation of the research project constitutes 30% of the final mark. Those students who sit up the final exam must not submit a written project, and the oral presentation of their research accounts for 50% of the final mark.

Assessment criteria for oral production (out of 10 points):

-Language use (grammar/vocabulary accuracy, range & adequacy): 4 points.
-Task achievement (efficient achievement of communicative purpose, content relevance & extent): 3 points.
-Fluency & pronunciation (speech flow, intonation, stress & rhythm): 2 points.
- Communicative resources (use of linguistic and non-linguistic resources, support materials, attitude): 1 point.

Assessment criteria for written production (out of 10 points):

-Language use (grammar/vocabulary accuracy, range & adequacy): 5 points.
-Task achievement (efficient achievement of communicative purpose, content relevance & extent): 3 points.
-Topic development (structure, progression & coherence): 2 points.

Have a fruitful year! Ready... steady... go!

How? Where? When?

Having formulated your objectives and research questions/hypothesis, now you should post an outline of your methodology. A Gantt chart will help you plan the different stages of the research process.

The Methodology section is the core of your paper. It should answer two main questions:

1. How did you collect or generate the data?
2. How did you analyse the data?

Be direct and precise. Use the past tense and include enough information so that it can be determined if the data collection, data processing, subsequent results and final conclusions are valid. You need to explain the reasons why you chose a particular method or procedure, the anticipated problems in the process and the steps you took to prevent them.

More specifically:

a- Present the basic demographic profile of the sample population or participants (e.g. age, gender, origins, etc.).

b- Describe the materials and tools that you used (e.g. observation, interviews, questionnaires, etc.).

c- Explain how you prepared the materials and describe the research design.

d- Explain how you gathered the data.

e- Describe the techniques that you used to process the data (e.g. descriptive statistics, SWOT analysis, etc.).