Sustainability perspectives on Oulanka National Park, Finland: mixed methods in tourism research

Abstract

This paper positions mixed methods as a complement to traditional qualitative and quantitative research. It provides an example of conducting mixed methods research by analysing the sociocultural sustainability of tourism as perceived by local stakeholders nearby Oulanka National Park in north-eastern Finland. Semi-structured interviews were linked concurrently to survey data from the same respondents. First, four discourses were identified based on 40 interviews with respondents about tourism development pertinent to the Protected Area Network (PAN) Parks international certification. Second, the differences between the representatives of the discourses were examined using non-parametric statistics. Results of the qualitative and quantitative analysis supplemented each other. The survey results supported the identification of four discourses and provided information about the representatives using the discourses. The discourse groups differed according to length of residence in the area, distance from the park, gender, employment in tourism, familiarity with PAN Parks, benefit from PAN Parks status, belief in the benefits of PAN Parks, satisfaction with tourism and park development, importance of the environmental dimension and satisfaction with various dimensions of sustainability. The study demonstrates that a better understanding of a problem may be acquired by using a mix of survey methods and interviews.