Sampling Methods

The study focused on the impact of family decision making on tourism behavior and attitudes. The investigation was directed by the following study objectives; to establish the influence of children on family decision making, to investigate how different family decision making options affected tourism behavior and attitudes, to survey the changing sex roles and how had influenced vacation decision making and tourism behavior in the recent years and to find out the economic aspects of changing tourism behavior and attitudes. The results of the study showed that children greatly influenced the vacation decision making process and that there existed diverse family decision making options which influenced behavior and attitudes in tourism. Further, changing sex roles were identified to influence the choices of family vacations and that there were economic aspects associated with changing tourism conduct and attitudes. Based on the findings, the study gave recommendations for improvement by various investors in the tourism segment like governments and hotels and recommendations for future scholars.

Key words: Family, Decisions, Tourism, Behavior, Attitudes

Chapter Three: Methodology

3.0 Introduction

The section will analyze the precise methods that the researcher will employ in the study. In the chapter, the researcher will give attention to the methodology to be applied, type of design to be employed in the research, target populace, sampling and sample size, pilot study, collection of data, reliability and validity, data analysis and presentation and ethical considerations. The different methods will be analyzed in distinct sub-sections below.

3.1 Quantitative methodology

Quantitative methodology refers to the type of methodology that uses statistics to make inferences about a given topic under investigation (Creswell, 2014). The methodology is essential in the generalization of results from a large population to aid in formulation of facts and unearthing of different patterns in a study (Babbie 2016). In the study, the researcher will employ a quantitative methodology due to its numerous advantages and suitability to the study over other methodologies such as qualitative methodology. Firstly, using a quantitative methodology will allow the researcher to remain objective on the topic of study (Bordens & Abbott, 2017) as well as obtain accurate results on impact of household choice making on tourism behavior and attitudes. Secondly, the methodology will enable the researcher to avoid bias by ensuring that the respondents employed in the study are anonymous thus increasing accuracy of the data obtained (Daniel & Sam, 2011). Moreover, employing the methodology will aid in fast analysis of data as well as making of generalizations related to family decision making on tourism behavior. The data obtained will be used to build a better argument in comparison to the use of a qualitative methodology that uses observations and minimal quantitative data (Hammond & Wellington, 2013). As a result, it is also easier to make predictions on family decision making based on the numerical data acquired.

3.2 Research design

The researcher will employ a descriptive research design. Descriptive research design is recognized to be the type of design that aims to find answers to such as questions as what, which, when, where and who. Kothari (2014) asserted that a research design was significant for the organization of concepts in a logical form, in order to make studies beneficial to researchers and the society as a whole. Using a descriptive research design will enable the researcher to analyze the condition in which the variables in the study are found (Jha, 2014). Precisely, the research design will aid in describing the current condition on how families make choices on the destinations to visit during vacations. Additionally, using descriptive research designs among quantitative studies is common (Leavy, 2017) thus making it easy to make comparisons between the findings that will be obtained in the research and those of other scholars in the field of tourism.

3.3 Target population

Target population refers to the elements that a researcher will monitor, use or interrogate in a study in order to obtain reliable findings (Lim, 2013). Statistical data obtained from the target population is employed in providing answers to the research questions as well as helping to achieve the study objectives. Khan (2011) identified that elements in a target population tend to have similar traits due to such factors as they reside in the same geographical area. In this study, the researcher will focus on various categories of individuals in Nigeria. Specifically, the focus will be on individuals who dwell in diverse family structures and different travel agents. The research will target to collect data from the individuals on different aspects on family decision making in tourism behavior and attitudes. Precisely, the researcher will aim to obtain their views on the impact of children in the choice making procedure, the diverse household choice making options available, the role of changing sex roles in the process of making choices and economic impact of changing behaviors and attitude in tourism.

3.4 Sampling and sample size

Each of the aspects will be discussed in distinct sub-sections below.

3.4.1 Sampling

Since the target population for the study is large, sampling will be employed to obtain the participants to be engaged in the study. Sampling refers to the technique that is used to choose representatives from an entire population that will be used in conducting a study (Piersol & Bendat, 2013). Sampling will aid in making the process of data collection to be cost effective as well as increase efficiency in the study (Pruzan, 2016). Sampling techniques are of varied nature with some being probabilistic while others non-probabilistic. Precisely, the study will use simple random sampling approach. The sampling approach is probabilistic in nature and it is unique due to its ability to give all members an equal chance of engaging in a study (Remler & Ryzin, 2014). Using the technique will be beneficial to the research due to numerous motives. First, due to the equal probability of each member to partake in the research, the investigator will be free from bias thus increasing accuracy of the data obtained. In addition, the technique is appropriate in helping the researcher to remain objective rather than subjective since they are few errors involved (Thompson, 2012). In the study, family members and travel agents will be randomly sampled from the city of Abuja since they are the groups of interest in the study. The participants will be selected from Abuja since it possesses diverse individuals from different family structures and working in different travel agencies.

3.4.2 Sampling size

Sampling size refers to the exact number of respondents that will deliver responses to the investigation questions of the research (Kuada, 2012). The sample size in the study will be 200 participants emanating from different family structures and travel agents. All the 200 participants will be required to answer the questions provided by the researcher in questionnaires with the aim of finding out their opinions on the impact of household choice making on tourism conduct and attitudes. The sample will provide the opportunity for the development of diverse views on household choice making on tourism conduct and attitudes.

3.5 Pilot study

It refers to the pre-test that a researcher conducts with the aim of investigating the powers as well as flaws of the research tools to be used in the study (Moutinho & Sokele, 2018). Fifteen individuals will be randomly sampled and subjected to the same questionnaire. The exercise will investigate whether the questions to be employed in the study are clear and lack ambiguity and detect any misinterpretations of questions that may occur. The researcher will however ensure that the individuals employed in the pilot study do not constitute the sample size of 200 respondents. Failing to include pre-test participants in the final research will increase the efficiency of the research since none of the respondents involved in the study will have any prior information concerning the topic under study.

3.6 Data collection

The major instruments of data collection to be employed in the research are questionnaires. The researcher will employ survey monkey to collect data using the questionnaires. Precisely, the questionnaires to be used in the research will be composed of both closed-ended and open-ended questions. The bulk of the questions will be close-ended to ensure that all participants provide responses that are within the range of the research. Using a bulk of close-ended questions will warrant that the research objectives are adequately addressed in addition to providing responses to the investigation questions. Additionally, close-ended questions will be easier for the respondents to respond to, hence taking short durations of time to complete the questionnaires. Upon filling of the questionnaires, the qualitative data obtained will be converted to quantitative forms through coding. Transforming the data to quantitative forms will make it easy for the researcher to use descriptive techniques of analyzing data. The questions in the questionnaires will be categorized in to various sections for easy coding of data. Specifically, the first section will give attention to the background data of the participants while the subsequent sections will be categorized based on the research objectives.

3.7 Reliability and validity

The two terms above aim at ensuring that there is accuracy and trustworthiness in a study. Each of the terms is discussed in the sub-sections below.

3.7.1 Reliability

In the research, a reliability test will be conducted to ascertain whether the independent variables would be suitable for providing information on the impact of household decision making on tourism conduct and attitudes. In the study, the researcher will give attention to internal reliability. Cronbach’s alpha test will be used to determine if influence of children on family decision, different family decision making options, changing sex roles as well as economic aspects linked with tourism behavior and attitudes could provide data that would be relied upon to make conclusions. As a result, the researcher would verify whether all the alpha values for the independent variables were above the recommended value of 0.7. Values above 0.7 would signify that each of the variables would provide information that was relevant in the field of family decision making thus there would be consistency of the findings obtained with those of other researches in the field.

3.7.2 Validity

In the study, the researcher will focus on content validity that will investigate whether the questionnaires, being the instruments of gathering data, would provide credible information related to the impact of household decision making on tourism conduct and attitudes. If the questionnaires were legitimate, credible data would be obtained, which would help to verify whether children, sex roles, diverse decision making options and economic aspects of changing tourism behavior had any impact of the process of making decisions related to family vacations.

3.8 Data analysis and presentation

Data analysis is the practice of converting the raw data obtained from questionnaires in to more useful data that can be interpreted and from which inferences are made (Bryman, 2012). In the research, Microsoft excel will be used as the data analysis tool. Precisely, the tool will clean, code as well as scrutinize the data obtained from the questionnaires. Upon conducting the process of data analysis, the results will be presented in tables and graphs to make it easy for the researcher to make elucidation. According to Johnson & Christensen (2012), data presentation is the procedure of displaying information in diverse pictorial forms like tables and graphs for easy interpretation. In this study, the investigator will take precaution to ensure that the findings of the research are not only credible but can also be relied upon.

3.9 Limitations of the study

The study limitations refer to the weaknesses that are envisioned in the research and the investigator has no control over them (Salaberry & Comajon, 2013). In the research, the investigator envisages that it would be possible to determine the level of honesty of the respondents providing information on the impact of family choice making on tourism behavior and attitudes. The researcher will however ensure that most of the questions employed in the questionnaire are of a closed-ended nature in order to ensure that the respondents are encouraged to provide accurate responses on family decision making as well as they are able to complete the questionnaire in the shortest time possible. Employing closed-ended questions will help in mitigating the impact of the study’s limitation.

3.10 Delimitations of the study

Delimitations refer to the aspects that affect the research and the investigator has control over them (Bryman, 2012). In the research, the delimitations that the researcher envisions include the research objectives, research questions, independent and dependent variables and the target population. Specifically, the researcher will ensure that the research objectives and research questions will focus on obtaining information related to the impact of family decision making on tourism behavior and attitudes. Precisely, the research objectives will show the connection between the independent variables and the dependent variable of the study. Research questions on the other hand will focus on obtaining more information on the relationship between the independent variables and the dependent variable which is tourism behavior and attitudes. Moreover, the researcher will ensure that the study’s independent variables specifically; influence of children on family decision, different family decision making options, changing sex roles as well as economic aspects linked with tourism behavior and attitudes are in line with the research objectives and questions for the achievement of credible results. Further, the researcher will randomly select the respondents to be involved in the study. Employing random selection will reduce any chances of bias in the study and ensure that all the target participants provide credible information on the impact of family decision making on tourism behavior and attitudes. Controlling the research objectives, research questions, independent and dependent variables and the target population will ensure that credible results are obtained showing how family decision making impacts tourism behavior and attitudes. Further, the researcher will ensure that all the delimitations identified above are strictly followed to avoid any cases of ambiguity. Following the delimitations will result to the achievement of the researcher’s goals and provision of outcomes that inform the tourism sector.

3.11 Ethical considerations

Ethics refers to the practices that the researcher recognizes to be morally acceptable during the process of conducting a research (Johnson & Christensen, 2012). Ethical considerations contribute in the realization of credible results (Salaberry & Comajoan, 2013). In the study, the researcher will aim to ensure that integrity is observed when conducting the study. Precisely, integrity will be acquired by ensuring that there is confidentiality of the data obtained from the respondents. The researcher will have non-disclosure agreements with all participants to give them the assurance that the information they provide will be employed for academic use only. Additionally, the questionnaire will not contain a slot for personal details of the respondents as a means of ensuring confidentiality. Secondly, the researcher will acknowledge the work of other scholars who contributed to the realization of credible findings. Particularly, the Harvard referencing style will be used to acknowledge the findings of other authors in the in-text citation as well as the reference list. Thirdly, the researcher will notify respondents of their freedom to freely pull out from the exercise at any specific time. In the incidence where a respondent withdraws from the exercise, the researcher will sample another participant in a random manner to ensure that the threshold of 200 respondents is met. Fourthly, the researcher will ensure that the data obtained is analyzed as soon as possible to reflect the true image of the findings obtained in the study. In addition, only the acquired data will be presented in tables and graphs as well as elaborated in the discussion section.

3.12 Chapter Summary

The section had provided a detailed explanation of the techniques to be employed in the study. Precisely, the section has provided more information on descriptive research design, target population, sampling and sampling size, the process of data collection, pilot study, checking for reliability and validity and data analysis as well as presentation. The next section will focus on the outcomes and discussion.

Chapter Four: Results and Discussion

4.0 Introduction

The section will analyze the results obtained from the 200 respondents used in the research. Additionally, the section will also provide a detailed discussion of the results.

4.1 Questionnaire response rate

The researcher issued out 200 questionnaires and was able to obtain all of them back. As a result, the response rate was 100%. The response rate was high above the average recommended rate by Kothari (2014) which is 40%. 100% response rate contributed to the attainment of a high level of accuracy in the investigation. The questionnaire reply level is summarized in the table 4.1 that follows.

Table 4.1 Questionnaire response rate

Description

Number of questionnaires

Percentage

Issued

200

100.00%

Returned

200

100.00%

Source: (Survey findings, 2018)

4.2 Data reliability

As stated in the methodology section, data reliability would aim to ensure that there is internal steadiness of the variables employed in the study. The alpha measures for the independent variables employed in the study all showed to be greater than the suggested rate of 0.7.More importantly; the average reliability value for the research was 0.787 which sufficiently confirmed the reliability of the data employed in the study. Specifically, the specific alpha values for the independent variables of the study were 0.816, 0.907, 0.736 and 0.816 for influence of children, family decision-making options, changing sex roles and economic aspects respectively. Table 4.2 below summarizes the Cronbach’s alpha reliability assessment values for the self-regulating variables of the study.

Table 4.2: Cronbach’s Alpha Test

Independent variables

Number of Items

Cronbach’s Alpha Test

Influence of Children

8

0.816

Family decision-making options

11

0.907

Changing sex roles

6

0.736

Economic aspects

6

0.816

Overall Reliability Value

0.787

Source: (Survey data, 2018)

4.3 Background information

The first section of the questionnaire required the respondents to provide information on their bio-data. Specifically, the participants were required to indicate their age bracket, gender and the highest level of education that they had obtained. The results on the background information of the respondents are analyzed in the sub-sections below.

4.3.1 Age bracket

All the respondents were required to specify the age bracket in which they belonged to. 25% of the respondents were in the grouping of 21-30 years, 45% were between 31-40 years while 30% were amid 41-50 years. The findings above are shown in the table 4.3 below.

Table 4.3 Age bracket

Age Bracket

Frequency

Percentage

Cumulative Percentage

21-30

50

25.00%

25.00%

31-40

90

45.00%

70.00%

41-50

60

30.00%

100.00%

Source: (Survey data, 2018)

4.3.2 Gender

The participants were further expected to specify their sex as being masculine or feminine.52.5% of the respondents was male while the residual 47.5% were female. The results are presented in the figure 4.1 below

Figure 4.1 Gender

Source: (Survey findings, 2018)

4.3.3 Level of education

In addition to age and gender, the participants were expected to indicate the level of education that they had attained. The available categories were primary/elementary level, high school, vocational training, diploma, bachelors, masters and PhD. Out of the 200 respondents, 20 of them indicated that they had obtained a high school level, 15 had attained vocational training level, 77 indicated diploma, 50indicated bachelors, and 26 indicated masters while 12 indicated PhD. None of the participant’s employed in the study was at the primary/elementary level. The results are accessible in the table 4.4 below.

Table 4.4 Level of Education

Level of education

Frequency

Percentage

Cum. Percentage

Primary

0

0.00%

0.00%

High School

20

10.00%

10.00%

Vocational Training

15

7.50%

17.50%

Diploma

77

38.50%

56.00%

Bachelors

50

25.00%

81.00%

Masters

26

13.00%

94.00%

PhD

12

6.00%

100.00%

Source: (Survey findings, 2018)

4.4 Influence of children in vacation decision making process

The research aimed at investigating the effect of youngsters in vacation choice making practice. The respondents were thus required to indicate their views and opinions on the impact of children in the process of making decisions related to family vacations. The section findings are analyzed and presented in the sections below.

4.4.1 Frequency of children involvement

Participants were expected to indicate their opinion on whether children were very frequently, frequently or rarely involved in the process of making decisions related to family vacation. 16% of the participants indicated that children were very frequently involved, 73% indicated that children were frequently involved and 11% showed that children were rarely involved as shown in the figure 4.2 below.

Figure 4.2: Frequency of children involvement

Source: (Survey findings, 2018)

4.4.2 Impact of children aged below and above 9 years

The respondents were further expected to state their view on whether children aged 9 years and above had a greater impact in the decision making process on vacations in comparison to those below the age of 9 years. 174 of the participants gave yes as their view while the remaining 26 respondents gave no as their answer. The outcomes are presented in the table 4.5 below

Table 4.5: Impact of children aged below and above 9 years

Opinion

Frequency

Percentage

Yes

174

87.00%

No

26

13.00%

Source: (Survey data, 2018)

4.4.3 Importance of engaging children on the decision making process

The next question expected the participants to state whether they believed it was significant for youngsters to be involved in the procedure of creating decisions related to vacations. More importantly, they were required to provide a justification for the response they had selected.

4.4.3.1 Opinion on engaging children in decision making

In the first part of the question, respondents were required to indicate whether they thought it was essential for children to be involved in making choices related to the choice of destination that a family would visit.89% of the participants indicated that the involvement of children was significant while 11% of the respondents indicated that children engagement was not essential. The results are presented in figure 4.3 below.

Figure 4.3: Opinion on children involvement in decision making

Source: (Survey findings, 2018)

4.4.3.2 Justification for children Involvement

In the second part of the question, the participants were expected to give a justification for their choice of response in the preceding part. Some of the reasons given by majority of the respondents who were in favor of the need to involve children include; children played a noteworthy duty in determining the nature of vacation activities that a family would engage in; children gave opinions on such aspects as date of departure and the restaurant to spend in; they initiated conversations related to the choice of holiday, they gave opinions related to the shopping materials needed in the trip and helped in choosing areas that were not only attractive but also boosted their educational experience. On the other hand, the small percentage of respondents that were not in favor in children engagement mainly stated that children did not pay much attention to the expenses involved in the vacation but rather gave attention to the attractiveness of the travel destinations. More importantly, some participants also mentioned that some children could not easily understand that parents had limited finances hence could not take them to certain travel destinations that they desired.

4.4.4 Likert scale

In the last part of the section, respondents were expected to the extent in which they agreed to two statements. The first statement indicated that attraction sites and weather were essential determinants of the choice of travel destination for different family structures (with or without children) while the second statement stated that in financially stable families, children have more influence on the decisions made in comparison to children from unstable income families. Regarding the first statement, 0.5% of the respondents strongly disagreed, 3.5% disagreed, 12.5% were neutral, 72.5% agreed and 11% strongly agreed. In reference to the second statement, 1% strongly disagreed, 6.5% disagreed, 21.5% were neutral, 62.5% agreed and 8.5% strongly agreed.The results obtained are presented in the bar graph 4.4 shown below.

Figure 4.4: Likert Scale

Source: (Survey findings, 2018)

4.5 Influence of different family decision making options on tourism behavior and attitudes

The study further sought to find out the impact of various family decision making alternatives on tourism and attitudes. To address the objective, participants were required to state their views on various questions that sought to find more information on the study objective. The results are analyzed and displayed in the sections that follow.

4.5.1 Individual that plays the dominant role in making vacation decisions

All participants were required to specify the individual they thought had the most influence in the determination of the destination that a given family would visit.105 of the respondents were of the view that men played the dominant role, 91 were in favor of women while 4 were in favor of children. The results are shortened in the table 4.6 that follows.

Table 4.6: Individual that plays the dominant role in making vacation decisions

Individual

Frequency

Percentage

Cum. Percentage

Men

105

52.50%

52.50%

Women

91

45.50%

98.00%

Children

4

2.00%

100.00%

Source: (Survey findings, 2018)

4.5.2 Factors influencing family decision making on vacation

The researcher additionally sought to discover the features that mainly influenced the choices made in families on the vacations they would visit. 18.5% indicated that money/price was the main factor that affected the decision making process, 11.5% stated the length of vacation, 4.5% indicated cultural aspects, 3.5% indicated individual characteristics, 5% stated socio-demographic aspects while 57% indicated that all the factors influenced the choices made by families on vacation. The results are presented in the figure 4.5 below

Figure 4.5: Factors affecting family decision on vacation

Source: (Survey findings, 2018)

4.5.3 Impact of recommendations from other families, experience and advertisements

The investigator sought to investigate whether recommendations from other families, experience as well as advertisements had an influence on the decisions made by families on vacation destinations. 172 of the respondents agreed that experiences, advertisements and recommendations from other families had an impact on the decision making options of a family on a given destination while 28 participants were of the opinion that they had no influence on the vacations choices made among families. The outcomes are presented in the table 4.7 displayed below.

Table 4.7: Impact of recommendations, experience and advertisements

Opinion

Frequency

Percentage

Cum. Percentage

Yes

172

86.00%

86.00%

No

28

14.00%

100.00%

Source: (Survey data, 2018)

4.6 Influence of sex roles on vacation decision making

In the next section, the investigator wanted to find out the influence of sex roles on vacation decision making as the main objective. As a result, participants were required to answer some questions that were linked to the research objective. The results are presented in the sub-sections that follow.

4.6.1 Variation of ch