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“When in Rome Do as the Romans Do”? A Reflective Account on Methodological Approach During PhD Journey

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Asian Qualitative Research in Tourism

Part of the book series: Perspectives on Asian Tourism ((PAT))

Abstract

Although social and behavioral scientists (such as (Denzin NK, Lincoln YS: The sage handbook of qualitative research, 3rd edn. Sage, Thousand Oaks, 2005)) have contributed tremendously to legitimize qualitative approaches to research, debates still center around true knowledge construction and interpretation between positivists and interpretivist. Accordingly, tourism and hospitality scholars have highlighted that quantitative approaches have been preferred to qualitative methodologies in tourism research, particularly in Southeast Asia (Mura P, Pahlevan Sharif S: The crisis of the ‘crisis of representation’ – mapping qualitative tourism research in Southeast Asia. Curr Issue Tour 18:1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2015.1045459, 2015). This status quo also reflects the academic circles’ inclination to adopt objective and detached ways of conducting research in Asian academic contexts. As a PhD scholar, even if I was encouraged to adhere to the tenets of quantitative research, I struggled to follow what was perceived as the “tradition” and decided to choose a qualitative approach. Hence, this chapter is a reflective account that presents and reflects upon my background, memories and experiences before and during my doctoral studies. This work would allow the reader to have a better understanding of my choice of research topic, research paradigm as well as my approach to conducting PhD research. Furthermore, it provides insights for PhD scholars, especially Asian students, to reconsider choosing quantitative methodological approaches only due to general misconception of being more scientific and recognized than qualitative methodologies in representing their research work.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Taylor’s Business School, Taylor’s University Lakeside Campus, Subang Jaya, Malaysia

    Vahideh Abaeian

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  1. Vahideh Abaeian
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Correspondence to Vahideh Abaeian .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Taylor’s University, Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia

    Paolo Mura

  2. Griffith University, Nathan, Queensland, Australia

    Catheryn Khoo-Lattimore

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Abaeian, V. (2018). “When in Rome Do as the Romans Do”? A Reflective Account on Methodological Approach During PhD Journey. In: Mura, P., Khoo-Lattimore, C. (eds) Asian Qualitative Research in Tourism. Perspectives on Asian Tourism. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7491-2_16

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