Mass tourists and destination interaction avoidance

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hee-Jung Lee ◽  
Hugh Wilkins

The concept of the environmental bubble was introduced by Cohen to describe the ‘psychological comfort’ sought by mass tourists. However, there has been little empirical research to investigate the underlying structure of this construct. This study provides insight into the psychological motivations of those who choose mass tourism and provides a scale, named Tourist Interaction Avoidance, which measures the extent to which tourists seek to avoid uncertainty during their trips and can be used as a predictor of travel style. A sequential mixed methods research design was adopted with qualitative data collected through focus group interviews followed by a self-completion survey to collect the quantitative data. The findings identify three underlying components: ‘protection’, ‘food’ and ‘avoidance’. These provide deeper understanding of the needs of tourists from South Korea by identifying the three components that underpin the dimension and provide a means to measure individual tourist preferences.

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Hanan A. Taqi ◽  
Nada A. Algharabally ◽  
Rahima S. Akbar

Learning to speak a language does not necessarily mean learning to realize all the phonemes of that language. When a sound does not exist in a speakers’ mother tongue, s/he tends to use a phonotactic; hence, either replacing the sound with another that might sound similar, eliminating the sound, or adding a sound to make it possible to realize. In some cases, the orthography of the target language causes confusion and is considered misleading to non-native speakers. There are only 6 vowels in Arabic phonetics, long and short. Yet, there are 20 phonetic vowel symbols in Received Pronunciation, and 16 in General American. The following study investigates the realization of the English vowels by Kuwaiti speakers, and the effect of orthography on such realizations. 64 male and female Kuwaiti speakers are recorded reading 55 words and 10 sentences. The data obtained was analyzed by Praat (qualitative data), and SPSS (quantitative data). Focus group interviews were also conducted to gain further insight into the topic. It was found that not only do the speakers replace the vowels that do not exist in Arabic, but they also mispronounce vowels that exist in Arabic as they are negatively affected by the English orthography.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 49-64
Author(s):  
Gunnhild Bergset

The purpose of this article is to present and discuss some of the challenges in communication and interaction between a kindergarten staff and a parent group of migrant background. Based on an interview study conducted in a kindergarten, the article works to provides insight into and understanding of the kindergarten staff’s experiences and reflections from their efforts to improve communication and interaction practices in daily contact with parents of migrant background. The staff completed a kindergarten-based project of the initiative of the principal, in which all employees implemented specific communication and interaction measures. Then, in-depth interviews were conducted with all staff, as well as two focus group interviews with the same group of informants. The study is based on a dynamic concept of culture and highlights the challenges of asymmetric communication and the possibilities of communicating and interacting based on a resource perspective. The findings show that a movement has taken place towards dialogue-based reciprocity in the staff`s attitudes towards communication and interaction with these parents. The article argues that connection between a trying-out of concrete, professionally grounded practice and pedagogical reflection constitutes the necessary basis for a shift from a problem orientation to a resource orientation in communication and interaction. One outcome of this resource perspective was that the kindergarten staff recognized the parent`s experiences and perceptions as valuable for achieving the parental involvement required by kindergarten`s social mandate.


Author(s):  
Min Chung Han

Recently there has been a resurgence of chat bot use among businesses, which employ them as part of their marketing strategy. To provide better insight into instant messaging chat bots as a marketing tool, the present research focuses on mobile users' current understanding and perceptions of chat bots. This study examines what mobile consumers think of instant messaging chat bots, and whether consumers are willing to use the new chat bots. This study employs focus group interviews and online surveys to examine consumers' perceptions. The results indicate that a majority of mobile users have employed chat bots for customer service and for entertainment. Mobile users found instant messaging chat bots easy to use and useful, but not necessarily entertaining.


1997 ◽  
Vol 45 (10) ◽  
pp. 1563-1570 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn Coggan ◽  
Pam Patterson ◽  
Jacqui Fill

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela YM Leung ◽  
Cindy S. U Leong ◽  
Pak Leng Cheong ◽  
Alice S. M. Tsang ◽  
Bernice O. C. Lam Nogueira ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: As population ageing and dementia incidence continue to increase worldwide, health systems are urged to empower the public to address factors related to dementia. This study aims to assess Macau citizens’ knowledge of dementia, attitudes towards persons with dementia, and help-seeking behaviours and intention toward dementia.Methods: This is a mixed-methods study with both quantitative (cross-sectional survey) and qualitative components (focus group interviews). The Alzheimer’s Disease Knowledge Scale (ADKS) and Dementia Attitude Scale (DAS) were utilized in the quantitative data collection, whereas focus group interviews were employed to gather context-specific understanding of dementia in the local setting. Descriptive statistics and Chi-square tests were used to analyze quantitative data, while content analysis was used for qualitative data.Results: The overall level of knowledge on dementia was low (ADKS mean total score = 17.38, SD = 3.31), with the least amount of knowledge in the caregiving domain. Meanwhile, attitudes toward persons with dementia was generally positive (mean [SD] = 89.07 [11.99]). Many of the focus group participants were also uncertain regarding the availability of dementia services in the region. The general public was interested to obtain dementia information through social media.Conclusions: Efforts should be made to build up dementia literacy in Macau, especially in terms of caregiving. Information about dementia could be disseminated in social media and by healthcare professionals.


1994 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marilyn J. Hoppe ◽  
Elizabeth A. Wells ◽  
Anthony Wilsdon ◽  
Mary R. Gillmore ◽  
Diane M. Morrison

Author(s):  
Min Chung Han

Recently there has been a resurgence of chat bot use among businesses, which employ them as part of their marketing strategy. To provide better insight into instant messaging chat bots as a marketing tool, the present research focuses on mobile users' current understanding and perceptions of chat bots. This study examines what mobile consumers think of instant messaging chat bots, and whether consumers are willing to use the new chat bots. This study employs focus group interviews and online surveys to examine consumers' perceptions. The results indicate that a majority of mobile users have employed chat bots for customer service and for entertainment. Mobile users found instant messaging chat bots easy to use and useful, but not necessarily entertaining.


Author(s):  
Stephen Flynn ◽  
Eric Laflamme ◽  
Danica Hays

This article outlines an exploratory sequential mixed-methods study on the environmental supports and barriers for students attending a rural college. Data collected through six focus group interviews (N = 19) indicated 20 themes associated with student success; faculty practices with students; administrative issues; or president, cabinet, and board of trustee vision. An 86-item survey, grounded in qualitative themes, yielded evidence of convergence and divergence for an initial sample of 256 students.


Author(s):  
Tandin .

The purpose of this study was to examine the factors affecting the learning of grade ten students’ history. The study sample consisted of 165 students and 18 teachers from four secondary schools under Paro Dzongkhag. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected and analysed. Questionnaire on a 5-point Likert scale was used for the quantitative data collection and focus group interviews were used for the qualitative data collection. Quantitative data analysis was done using mean scores and standard deviation. The content of the focus group interviews was transcribed and thematic analysis was conducted on the transcript. The results of the study revealed that the learning of history in grade ten students were affected most by the school related factors such as curriculum, teachers, teaching techniques and resources. Non-school factors like students’ attitude, and parental support had very less effect in learning history by grade ten students.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-67
Author(s):  
Supanee Sengsri ◽  
Kiki Juli Anggoro

e-CLIP or Content and Language Integrated Pedagogy via Electronic Communication is an innovation in the Thai education system which supports the integration of electronic media and content-based English. e-CLIP is one of the tools developed to cope with the 21st century and has been integrated into several Thai schools in recent years.  This research aims to compare students' perceptions of e-CLIP application in two distinct settings: a small and large-sized school. This study was conducted in Secondary Educational Service Area 39 Thailand. The data were collected through a survey, focus group interviews, and observations. The collected qualitative data were analyzed through content analysis. Additionally, descriptive and inferential statistics were performed to interpret the quantitative data. The quantitative findings exposed that students from both schools showed positive perceptions of integrating electronic media and content-based English in their classes.  However, qualitative data showed that small-sized students were more motivated to participate in activities utilizing the e-CLIP model than those in the large-sized school. Keywords: e-CLIP Model, electronic media, content-based English


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