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A survey of doctoral theses accepted by universities in the UK and Ireland for studies related to tourism, 1990-1999

Botterill, David; Haven, Claire; Gale, Tim

Authors

David Botterill

Claire Haven

Tim Gale



Abstract

The Index of Theses provided the single source for multiple searches utilizing the following key words: ‘holiday’, ‘holidaymaker’, ‘holidays’, ‘tourism’, ‘tourist’, ‘tourists’, ‘travel’, ‘visitor’ and ‘visitors’. A refined list of 149 doctoral theses accepted by universities in the UK and Ireland between 1990 and 1999 is reported. Results of the survey are reported for awarding university and year of acceptance, subject categories, location of fieldwork and methods of data collection and analysis. The universities of Strathclyde and Surrey accepted just over a quarter of all theses in the reported period. The frequency of accepted theses rose from four in 1990 to 29 in 1997 with a mean yearly average since 1996 of 23. Twenty-two subject categories were created. Four frequent areas of study were reported; development, impact, behaviour and industry and these accounted for approximately half of the theses. Fieldwork locations were spread across the major regions of the world with studies of the UK comprising less than a quarter of the theses. The analysis of methods confirms the prevailing influence of positivist (questionnaire) and hermeneutic (interview) epistemologies in these studies of tourism. © 2002, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.

Citation

Botterill, D., Haven, C., & Gale, T. (2002). A survey of doctoral theses accepted by universities in the UK and Ireland for studies related to tourism, 1990-1999. Tourist Studies, 2(3), 283-311. https://doi.org/10.1177/14687976020023004

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Jan 1, 2002
Journal Tourist Studies
Print ISSN 1468-7976
Publisher SAGE Publications
Peer Reviewed Not Peer Reviewed
Volume 2
Issue 3
Pages 283-311
DOI https://doi.org/10.1177/14687976020023004
Keywords discipline, DPhil, epistemology, index to theses, PhD, quality assessment, research, tourism studies, Underlabouring
Public URL https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1080099
Publisher URL http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/14687976020023004

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