GASTRONOMICAL HOLIDAY

An investigation into motivation and perception on having a Gastronomical holiday. Focalizing on Italy



An investigation into mativations and perceptions on having a gastronomical holiday. Focalizing on Italy.

Methodology

Research methods employed

Mixed methods came into emergence during the 1990s as a process of combining quantitative and qualitative approaches at different stages within a single research study. Known as the third paradigm in research methodology after traditional quantitative and qualitative methods, mixed methods attempts to legitimate the use of multiple approaches in answering research questions. (Mosteller, 2002: pp105) The use of mixed methods is particularly suitable for research in curriculum studies because it permits the exploration of complex instructional issues that do not lend themselves to numerical examination and interpretation. The use of mixed methods eschews the belief that researchers are constrained in their choices for approaching the study of phenomena, relegated to solely selecting either the quantitative or qualitative approach.

Qualitative methods rely primarily on the use of text to generate findings, whereas quantitative methods use numbers to conduct descriptive or inferential statistics. Just as qualitative and quantitative approaches have requirements for application, so does mixed methods. In mixed methods inquiry, methodological congruence must be maintained. As a result, all of the assumptions of applicable methods must be adhered to and the components of each method must be consistent. Thus, strategies cannot be applied, combined, and selected liberally. Researchers must identify the overt dominance of each in study. The continuum that describes the degree of mixture ranges from monomethod to fully mixed methods. The potential for mixing methods is large because for example, a researcher may locate an emergent design during a study dependent primarily on the information that emerges or on the conditions of the study. Rather than be limited by long-standing designs, the researcher has the opportunity to let the findings guide subsequent phases of the research study. In essence, the researcher is not restricted to selecting among a menu of preplanned designs; instead, the researcher can create a design that is likely to answer his or her research questions. (Rossi, 1993: 235)

The researcher must have solid understanding of both quantitative and qualitative approaches to conduct mixed methods studies. Quantitative research problems are generally confirmatory or outcome-based, while qualitative questions are typically process oriented, exploratory, descriptive, and/or centered on a phenomenon. Quantitative data collection methods include the use of instruments, observations, documents, scoring, close-ended processes, or predetermined hypotheses. Qualitative methods are interviews, observations, documents, audiovisuals, participant determined or open-ended processes, or text or image processes. Descriptive or inferential statistics are the quantitative data analytical procedures, while thematic identification or the identification of the horizontal or vertical connections among themes or categories is commonplace in qualitative research. (Creswell, 2008: pp45)

One assumption underlying the use of mixed methods is that the use of qualitative or quantitative approaches simultaneously provides a better understanding of the research question than either method by itself. Also requisite to using mixed methods is that an integration of the findings and an explication of the linkage between what has ...