Mixing Methods: the Tourist at the Forefront of Tourism Research

Abstract

A quantitative empiricist tradition has been routinized into tourism research which rarely captures the subtleties of the tourism experience. Drawing upon contemporary developments in disciplines such as consumer behavior, leisure science, and museum studies, this article seeks to review the relevance of the experiential paradigm towards a more holistic understanding of tourism consumption. Previous studies are reviewed in which quantitative approaches predominate, or which advocate qualitative and phenomenological methods to capture the tourist experience. Conversely, this article proposes the use of a mixture of both qualitative and quantitative methodologies in the study of tourist behavior, and as such, aims to encourage a break from the current methodological tradition presently instilled in tourism research by combining the advantages inherent in both distinct methodological domains. Such an approach is thus managerially relevant, but is also based on a richness of insight that can facilitate an understanding of the value of tourism to its consumers, thereby putting the tourist at the forefront of tourism research.