An Introduction to Visual Research Methods in Tourism

Book excerpt: "An Introduction to Visual Research Methods in Tourism", is the first book to present, discuss and promote the use of a range of visual methods, including still images (such as photographs, postcards, drawings) and moving images (such as video) within the context of tourism research. The book focuses on key issues important for students, researchers and academics actively doing visual tourism research or those who are contemplating using these methods. These range from the questions surrounding philosophical approaches, (inter)disciplinary location, range and choice of methods, implementation and data analysis techniques to provide an essential guide to using visual methods in tourism research. While recognising that visual methods are predominantly employed within qualitative research, this text will discuss various philosophical approaches and academic disciplines indicating how these influence a particular choice of visual method, mode of implementation and type of analysis. In this regard this book will incorporate perspectives from a range of disciplines including anthropology, geography and sociology, demonstrating how these might be applied within the context of studies in tourism. The discussions surrounding these key issues are supplemented with international case studies from existing research to show how these methods are used in practice. In addition to this practical tip boxes are included to help avoid some of the pitfalls associated with visual research. This book is an essential guide for tourism students, academics and researchers embarking on research using visual methodology in this field.