Qualitative Research Portfolio

Your checklist to tick off items once completed.

 Item 1: Interview Checklist Task
 Item 2: Participant Observation Task
 Item 3: Visual Methodologies (Word Analysis) Task
 Item 4: Coded Interview Transcript
 Item 5: Copy of Major Project Proposal
 Item 1: Interview Checklist

Task guidance:
 You are the researcher and as part of your project you are exploring why people visit a visitor
attraction of your choice. Think that you will be carrying out an interview with a management
member from the attraction and therefore need to produce a checklist which is in depth and
identifies relevant themes and questions you may discuss with the manager.
Tips
 Identify the main themes that you will like to cover in the interview. The first step is always to
identify what you want to know.
 Devise an interview checklist. Examine the example.
 interview checklist attached.
 Your interview checklist should be similar to the example shown below.

***MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT USE THE SAME ONE***

Interview Checklist

Research project: Why Buckingham palace attracts many local and overseas tourist?

Main Questions Topics and issues

Introduction of the researcher Good afternoon. Today I will be conducting

the interview as part of the research project I
am undertaking for my academic purposes.

The purpose of the research project The goal of the research project is to assess
the Buckingham palace as a favourite tourist
spot in London.
Socio-economic condition of the participant
Tour arrangements
 The gender of the participant
 Educational qualification of the
participant
 The age range of the participant
 The current employment condition of
the participant
 Country of origin of the participant
 How did the participant collect
information about the destination and
the tour?

 Which tourism institutions were

contacted by the participant for
arranging the tour, e.g. travel agency
and tour guides?

 What is the estimated cost for the

completion of the whole tour?
Tour activities  How did the participant select the
activities for the tour?

 What motivates the participant to

involve in the chosen activities in
different tourist destination?

 Which mode of transportations are

being used by the participant?
The recent tour experience  What are the factors that had led the
participant visit Buckingham palace as
a tourist attraction?

 What sort of experience are tourists

likely to have?

 What do you do to make sure the

tourists have a positive experience?

 How would the participant rate the

most recent experience?
 Item 2: Participant Observation
 You are going to conduct a participant observation in a public space-
 How?
 Remember a visit in public space.
 What?
 Choose a public space such as a busy street, a football pitch, a train station, a
pub, a park, a visitor attraction…
 When selecting the space, take into account whether you can freely gain
access without any special qualifications or permissions. Some spaces require
the researcher to seek consent for entry/research.
 Structure of observation
 It is impossible to observe everything and so, you need to structure your
observations in advance to get the most out of the available time
 You can for example focus on the sort of actions taking place in the space and
people’s interactions with each other
 Produce an observation checklist.
WHAT YOU NEED TO DO FOR YOUR QUALITATIVE RESEARCH PORTFOLIO (ASSESSEMENT 1):
 While in the field you should write notes in your diary. These notes, or observations,
will form the basis of your research diary extract that you need to submit. The
extract should be typed and not exceed 400 words.
 As well as an extract of your research diary, you should submit a short commentary
of 250 words touching on the following issues:
 Did you participate, observe or somewhere in between? Does this have any
implications for your data?
 Was the setting for your research project open or closed? Were some parts
inaccessible to you?
 Did you have to negotiate access to the field? Does
 accessibility have any implications for your research.
 How did you feel during the participant observation? To what extent did these
feelings affect your project?
***Some advice (for participant observation): ***
First step: Understand the terms participant observation and
For observation (400 words)
 You can only observe things/behaviour you can see! (this excludes people’s
motivations, their personal problems, their perceptions of a particular issue and so
on)
 At the beginning, provide basic information such as place of observation,
date/time/length of observation and a brief summary of the purpose of your
observation
 Maintain a logical structure and try not to be too descriptive.
 No reference to interviews or any conversations – this is NOT part of the task!

For the short commentary (250 words)

 write a paragraph addressing the questions rather than following a question/answer
structure.
 Think of both – the research diary extract and the commentary – as telling a story
with a beginning, a middle and an end.
 Make sure it makes sense and the reader understands what you’re talking about.
 Item 3: Visual Methodology
 This item is concerned with the analysis of visual materials. You should think critically
about the practices of photography and visual representation.
 In the context of your research it is very likely that you will come across visual
materials and visual practices such as promotional images and tourist snapshots.
Visual culture is an important source of information in tourism and events research.
 The picture that you are asked to analyse is part of an advertising campaign based
around Moxy Hotels. As part of your portfolio you should submit a 600 word analysis
of the following advertising poster.
 You should make use of the concepts and ideas covered in lecture sessions and
engage in further reading on visual representations and analysis independently.
 Item 4: Interview Coding
Task guidance:
You need to do the following:

 You have to code a given interview transcript (available on Canvas).

 You should read through the full transcript carefully at first to begin to get a sense of what it
contains.

 You will have to read it several times (minimum of 5 times) and should take notes on the
margins each time.

 You should then move to apply initial codes to sections of text surrounding whatever
themes, you think you can find.

 Initial codes can be applied to individual words, whole sentences, or larger sections as you
see fit. Having done this, you should then go through and develop these codes.

Tips: You can colour code the transcript or develop a mind mapping.

***********Original Transcript*******************

NOTES: Michael Archer- 45 minute 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?

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?

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 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 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 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 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.

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
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
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 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 you’re 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 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. You’re 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 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

 Item 5: Research Proposal

Task Instructions
 For this task you must put together a mini proposal on a topic/subject you would be
interested in researching further in relation to the tourism, hospitality and events subject
areas.

 You must include a front sheet which includes your

personal details such as;

 Name,

 Student Number,

 Course,

 A title for your proposal

Research Proposal Structure:

Introduction and Rationale
This is the first section and should be a maximum
of 250 words. In this you will introduce your
topic/subject and provide a rationale/justification as
to why you have chosen the topic. Also include in
this why your research may be of interest or is
significant

Research Aims and Objectives
A short section which should be headed accordingly.
You will need to state here what your research aim is
– what do you want to achieve from your study and
attempt to write four research objectives which will
be achieved throughout the duration of the project.

Research Methodology This section will discuss the methods you will use to
collect research to support your study. You need to
think about the advantages and disadvantages of
each method. Are you going to use more than one?
How will you ensure that the research is done fairly
 and is valid? Sample size – How many people will
you use? Where will you carry out your research? –
state the place. Lastly how does your research meet
some of your objectives? (500 word maximum)

Research Analysis A short paragraph which will explain how you

intend to analyse your research after collection to
form your results. (200 words maximum)

Conclusion A short paragraph of explaining your findings. (250

words)

Reference List A minimum of 5-7 key references should be

included in a reference list which has supported your
proposal. A collection of books and journal papers
is fine, and this should be presented using full
Harvard referencing.