The purpose of this module is to enable students to develop understanding and skills in research design, research methods and research presentation.

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:

i) critically evaluate a range of research methods that can be applied in a hospitality and tourism context;

ii) plan and implement hospitality and tourism research project.

Indicative content

• Ethics and research

• Research methods

• Research design

• Quantitative and qualitative data analysis techniques

• Evaluating and referencing sources

• Presenting research results

• Writing research projects

Assessment

Learning outcome 1, weighting: 25%:

Students are required to investigate and critically evaluate research methods and tools applicable in a hospitality and tourism management context. Students should give their results as a presentation.

Students should submit hard copies of all presentation materials, (e.g. PowerPoint or similar, together with speaker’s notes etc), and handouts, plus copies of assessment reports from both assessors

Students are required to carry out a hospitality and tourism management research project.

Students should present the results of their research as a project report of 4000 words.

In this assignment students should critically examine a range of research methods and tools applicable to the hospitality and tourism industry, along with any issues associated with them. In doing so they could consider:

i) Methods

• deductive vs inductive

• ethics

• surveys

• case studies

• action research

• experiments

• non‐reactive

• sampling and probability assessment

• questionnaires;

• interviews;

• observation;

• records and documents;

• diaries and critical incident reports.

• citations and references

Learning outcome 2, research project:

For this assignment students should be given freedom to select an area of hospitality and tourism research that interests them. Students need to be aware that this is a relatively small ‐scale project and therefore, they may need advice regarding the scale and scope of:

• a clearly justified and defined research problem, with clear objectives;

• an understanding of the theoretical and conceptual framework associated with the

• a clear justification and explanation of the research methods used;

• a clear explanation of the limitations of the methods used;

• a clear explanation of any ethical risks in the research methods, and the methods

• clearly analysed, presented and discussed research results;

• clear and justified conclusions and recommendations.