Situation, Participation and Reflexivity in Tourism Research: Furthering Interpretive Approaches to Tourism Enquiry

Abstract

In this paper we advocate the further development and application of research methodologies and programmes which foreground the ‘situated researcher’ and which encourage greater participant involvement and reflexivity. We argue that such approaches can offer unique insights into the meanings consumers ascribe to tourism experiences, practices and performances. Such approaches also require more open-mindedness on the part of the gatekeepers of the tourism academy and place an onus on the wider tourism research community to make intellectual space for approaches that rely on procedures which differ from the traditional ways of analysing and reporting data.