Researching the Cultural Sector Positivism & cultural research

1. Researching the Cultural SectorPositivism & cultural research David Litteljohn Malcolm Foley Semester B

2. References • Easterby-Smith, M. Thorpe, R and Lowe A, 2002, Management research : an introduction, 2nd edition, Sage • Li, X and Petrick, J F, 2006 , A review of Festival and Event Motivation Studies, Event Management, Volume 9, Number 4, pp. 239-245 http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cog/em/2006/00000009/00000004/art00006 • McMorland, L-A, Mactaggart, D, 2008, Traditional Scottish Music Events: Native Scots Attendance Motivations, Event Management, 11 (1-2) pp. 57-69 http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cog/em/2008/00000011/F0020001/art00007 • GMID 2009 tourism – Europehttp://www.portal.euromonitor.com/passport/Magazine.aspx

3. Discussion structure • The nature of a positivist approach in research • Are positive and constructionist/interpretivist approaches mutually exclusive? • Managing – research and data in the day-to-day world

4. Positivism – a grounding • .. The doctrine that the only true knowledge is scientific … describing inter-relationships between real, observable phenomena (either physical or social) • … assumes that the (research methods of the) natural sciences (e.g. measurement and the search for general laws of causation) can be applied unproblematically to the study of social phenomena

5. Assumptions of positivism • A real world of social and scientific phenomena • The real world is tangible, objective (i.e. high levels of agreement) • The world can researched objectively • Research methods are objective, can measure accurately and impartially (i.e. not influenced by human values)

6. Assumption/outcome of positivism • Research conclusions can accumulate, providing new knowledge which should enable accurate descriptions of the nature and behaviour of phenomena, including their inter-relationships in terms of cause and effect, dependency and interdependency. To provide • Explanation • Generalisation

7. Process of Positivism • Inductive, a priori start • Hypothetic-deductive

8. Gill and Johnson, p3 - A positive type approach THEORY/HYPOTHESIS FORMULATION OPERATIONALISATION - translation of abstract concepts into indicators or measures that enable observations to be made TESTING OF THEORY THROUGH OBSERVATION OF THE EMPIRICAL WORLD CREATION OF AS YET UNFALSIFIED COVERING LAWS THAT EXPLAIN THE PAST, AND PREDICT FUTURE OBSERVATIONS FALSIFICATION & DISCARDING THEORY

9. Positivist data measures/criteria • VALIDITY • Do measures correspond closely to reality? • RELIABILITY • Will the measures yield the results to the same criteria/measures on other occasions? • GENERALISABILITY • To what extent does the study allow confirmation or contradiction of existing findings in the same field? See Easterby-Smith table 3.6

10. Positivist Summarising • Tends to produce quantitative data • Uses large samples • Is concerned with hypothesis testing • Data used is highly specific and precise • The location is ‘artificial’ • Reliability is high • Generalises from the sample to the world (based on Hussey J and Hussey, R. 1997, Business research: A practical Guide, McMillan, Basingstoke (p 54)

11. Two worlds? Positivist Interpretivist Discussion on Event participant motivation studies Li and Petrick, 2006 , and McMorland and Mactaggart, D, 2008

12. MATRIX OF RESEARCH DESIGNS DETACHED Survey Research Case methods (Yin) Quasi-Experimental design Ethnography Social Constructionist Positivist Experimental design Grounded theory Case study (Sake) Action Research Co-operative Inquiry INVOLVED • Source Easterby-Smith table 3.3

13. Management in practice • Areas of interest • Brotherton quotes in 2008 a (small) survey of tourism managers’ top areas of research activity • Market research 55% • Benchmarking 44% • New Product/Service Development 44% • Advertising effectiveness 37% • Site/location feasibility 35% Source: Brotherton, B, 2008, Researching Hospitality and Tourism, Sage, p 21)

14. Strategy by numbers … Standard Industrial Classification (Revised 1992) (Revised 2003) Activities of travel agencies and tour operators; tourist assistance activities not elsewhere classified Source: Office for National Statistics Litteljohn and Roper 2006

15. Access via: http://www.londonstockexchange.com/en-gb/

17. GMID 2009 tourism – Europehttp://www.portal.euromonitor.com/passport/Magazine.aspx In Europe, a decline of sales of travel and tourism services between 1 and 2% is expected in the first six months of 2009 while a gradual reprise is forecast to be recorded in the second part of the year …./ Further polarisation of the market with the highest income segment less affected by the crisis whose travel and tourism expenses are not expected to record a significant decrease, and the medium income segment turning to low cost options even more than in previous years in times of economic crisis. Arrivals from the countries which were most heavily affected by the crisis (US, UK, Spain and Ireland) are expected to decline more sharply, while arrivals from Russia and other Eastern European countries, Brazil and India are expected to grow. A desire to escape from the crisis will be at the same time a driver of growth for short breaks reducing the rate of decline for this type of travel. People are not expected to renounce their holidays and instead will choose cheaper options. This will result in the stability or even moderate growth in volume terms. Online travel industry consolidation will continue to grow and more online players are likely to merge or disappear ….. A move towards shorter holidays is forecast as the economic uncertainty will have a negative impact on long haul travel, tourists will opt for domestic travel and shorter trips (excluding city breaks)…. Consumers searching for more value travel options will see travellers starting to shift towards more competitively priced hotels, as well as camping, and visiting relatives. ….. …. an increase in all-inclusive package holidays and last-minute holidays, as more than ever consumers will be cutting down on their expenditure ….

18. Positivist - summary • Positivism arose at a time (C19th) when it was necessary to differentiate new types of knowledge • It has brought notions of rigor to knowledge creation • It is used extensively in management and research • It is often difficult to relate its approach to social contexts (e.g. what do things mean?) • It is sometimes implemented along with more constructionist/interpretivist approaches • If you are going to use it – hypothesis setting and data gathering methods are important