Researching the Cultural Sector

Positivism & cultural research

David LitteljohnMalcolm Foley

Semester B

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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

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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

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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

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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)

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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

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Process of Positivism

• Inductive, a priori start• Hypothetic-deductive

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THEORY/HYPOTHESIS FORMULATION

OPERATIONALISATION - translation of abstractconcepts into indicators or measures that enable observationsto be made

TESTING OF THEORY THROUGH OBSERVATION OF THE EMPIRICAL WORLD

FALSIFICATION& DISCARDINGTHEORY

CREATION OF AS YET UNFALSIFIED COVERING LAWS THAT EXPLAIN THEPAST, AND PREDICT FUTURE OBSERVATIONS

Gill and Johnson, p3 - A positive type approach

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

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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)

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Two worlds?

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Positivist Interpretivist

Discussion on Event participant motivation studies Li and Petrick, 2006 , and McMorland and Mactaggart, D, 2008

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SocialConstructionist

DETACHED

Positivist

INVOLVED

SurveyResearch

SurveyResearch

Quasi-Experimentaldesign

Quasi-Experimentaldesign

Case methods(Yin)

Case methods(Yin)

EthnographyEthnography

ExperimentaldesignExperimentaldesign

Action ResearchAction Research

Grounded theoryGrounded theory

Case study(Sake)

Case study(Sake)

Co-operative Inquiry

Co-operative Inquiry

Source Easterby-Smith table 3.3

MATRIX OF RESEARCH DESIGNS

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)

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Strategy by numbers … Standard Industrial Classification (Revised 1992) (Revised 2003)

Year Number of enterprises

Total turnover

Total purchases of

goods, materials and

services 1995 6,143 11,667 10,0371996 6,032 11,869 10,2381997 6,224 27,596 25,1851998 6,211 31,007 28,4251999 6,507 32,311 29,4542000 6,533 32,940 29,8292001 6,577 37,069 33,4862002 6,522 37,639 33,6312003 6,563 34,129 30,0502004 6,544 36,479 32,393

Activities of travel agencies and tour operators; tourist assistance activities not elsewhere classified

Litteljohn and Roper 2006

Source: Office for National Statistics

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

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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 …. 17

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

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