Quantative methods in tourism : a handbook / Rodolfo Baggio and Jane Klobas.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Tourism studies often deal with complex mixes of external and local factors and the attitudes, perceptions and actions of tourists themselves. In seeking to understand individual elements of this mix, or the results of interactions between them, tourism authorities, managers and researchers often collect quantitative data, but until now the few existing guides to understanding quantitative data have been either very simple or very complicated. This book provides a guide to dealing with real-world data and goes beyond the methods usually covered in introductory textbooks. The first part considers key issues associated with using well known methods to produce valid and reliable models of real-world phenomena, emphasizing issues in data selection, approaches to factor and cluster analysis, and mathematical modelling using regression methods (including logistic regression) and structural equation modelling. The second part covers new approaches to modelling: maximum likelihood estimation, simulation and agent-based modelling. Each chapter includes extensive references to additional reading, and an appendix summarises the software introduced in the book. The book provides many practical examples of applications to tourism research, considers practical issues associated with application of quantitative techniques, and discusses common pitfalls and how to identify and remedy them. The result is a guide to quantitative methods in tourism that de-mystifies both simple and apparently complex techniques and makes them more accessible to tourism researchers.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• List of Examples (p. vii)
• List of Figures (p. ix)
• List of Tables (p. xv)
• Contributors (p. xvii)
• Foreword (p. xix)
• Introduction (p. xxi)
• Part 1 The Analysis of Data Introduction to Part 1 (p. 3)
• 1 The Nature of Data in Tourism (p. 5)
• Introduction (p. 5)
• Data: A Taxonomy (p. 5)
• Data Harmonization, Standards and Collaboration (p. 9)
• Data Quality (p. 12)
• Concluding Remarks (p. 16)
• Sources of Secondary Tourism Data (p. 16)
• 2 Testing Hypotheses (p. 21)
• Introduction (p. 21)
• Parametric and Non-parametric Tests (p. 24)
• Effect Size and Statistical Power (p. 26)
• Sample Size and Significance (p. 28)
• A Summary of Statistical Tests (p. 37)
• 3 Data Analysis (p. 42)
• Introduction (p. 42)
• Factor Analysis (p. 42)
• Cluster Analysis (p. 73)
• Multidimensional Scaling and Correspondence Analysis (p. 84)
• 4 Model Building (p. 88)
• Simple Regression (p. 89)
• Multiple Regression (p. 100)
• Logistic Regression (p. 107)
• Structural Equation Modeling (p. 112)
• Mediation and Moderation in Model Building (p. 130)
• Multi-Level Modeling (p. 133)
• 5 Time-dependent Phenomena and Forecasting (p. 136)
• Introduction (p. 136)
• Basic Concepts of Time Series (p. 138)
• Filtering Techniques (p. 147)
• Comparing Time Series Models (p. 149)
• Combining Forecasts (p. 151)
• Stationarity, Stability and System Representations (p. 157)
• Part 2 Numerical Methods Introduction to Part 2 (p. 173)
• 6 Maximum Likelihood Estimation (p. 175)
• Estimating Statistical Parameters (p. 175)
• Likelihood Ratio Test (p. 186)
• 7 Monte Carlo Methods (p. 189)
• Numerical Experiments (p. 189)
• Random and Pseudo-Random Numbers (p. 193)
• 8 Agent-based Modeling and Simulations (p. 199)
• Complex Adaptive Systems and Simulations (p. 199)
• Agent-based Models (p. 202)
• Issues with Agent-based Models (p. 207)
• Evaluation of an Agent-based Model (p. 209)
• Concluding Remarks (p. 216)
• Appendix: Software Programs (p. 220)

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Rodolfo Baggio holds a degree in Physics (MPhys) and a PhD in Tourism Management. After having worked for leading information technology firms for over 20 years he is presently at the Bocconi University, Milan, Italy, where he teaches courses in Computer Science and coordinates the Information and Communication Technologies area at the Master in Economics and Tourism. He is also Research Fellow at the Carlo F. Dondena Centre for Research on Social Dynamics. He has managed several international research projects and actively researches and publishes in the field of information technology and tourism. His current interests focus on the application of complexity theory and network analysis methods to the study of tourism destinations.

Jane Klobas is Alberto Dondena Research Fellow at the Carlo Dondena Centre for Research on Social Dynamics at Bocconi University in Milan, Italy, and Professor at the University of Western Australia Business School. She teaches quantitative research methods to undergraduate, master and doctoral degree students in Italy and Australasia, and conducts applied research using both qualitative and quantitative research methods. She is author or co-author of several books and book chapters, and has published research on the psychology and management of technology-mediated learning and knowledge sharing in many journals.