ABSTRACT
This last section considers how trustworthiness and triangulation are implemented in the field. The author’s own PhD research (Decrop 1999b) serves as a case study. The research focuses on vacationers’ judgement and decision-making processes. Existing models (e.g. Moutinho 1987; Um and Crompton 1990; Woodside and Lysonski 1989) postulate a very rational and sequential tourist decision-making process. While useful for measurement and prediction, those models fail to explain the complexity and the context of vacation decision-making. Moreover, the experiential aspects of vacation choices such as fun, feelings and fantasies (Holbrook and Hirschman 1982) or nostalgia and daydreaming, are not taken into account. Finally, the models lack relativism since all cases are reduced to one average decision-making process, which overlooks both the contingency of decision-making and the adaptability of the consumer (Payne et al. 1993). For these reasons, an interpretive qualitative approach was chosen in order to investigate vacationers’ decision-making processes in more depth. This case is a typical example of the limitations of quantitative research and the potential of qualitative approaches for tourismrelated issues.
