Researchware, Inc.

Julia Harrison of Trent University, Canada (Jharrison@trentu.ca) used HyperRESEARCH in an ethnographic study of Canadian Tourists in Vol. 8, No. 1 pp 44-59 (2008) issue of Tourist Studies titled "Shifting Positions."

In her abstract, she notes "This article discusses the research methodologies used to gain an understanding of what the touristic/cottage experience meant to a group of Canadians who traveled internationally on a regular basis; and a sampling Ontario second home tourists, or cottagers. Spatial, temporal and cultural constraints prevented me from engaging in traditional models of participant observation with them. The article details how I selected my subjects; how I positioned myself in relation to them to find out what I needed to know; and how I gained insight into the affective dimensions of these experiences. I argue here that mobile populations such as tourists prompt a continual shifting of the ethnographic `I', challenging any taken-for-granted notions of how ethnography is best done. I end with reflections of the tensions between single/multi-sited ethnographic positionings and my research with these two groups of tourists."

The article can be found here.