ABSTRACT
Research involving children at dark sites raises concerns from research review boards. This concern is based on the presumed vulnerability of young participants and prior research suggesting that even indirect exposure to death and suffering may evoke distress. Fortunately, child-centered disciplines offer research methods that can be adapted to accelerate children’s inclusion in tourism research. Our recent studies have included data collection at dark sites such as war memorials, Holocaust museums, terrorism-related memorials, disaster sites, and cemeteries. The implications of this emerging research are new theoretical conceptualizations, suggestions for tourism industry professionals, and guidance for youth group leaders who plan travel.
First, this chapter reviews research methods relevant for tourism research. Next, we use actual case studies annotated to explain multiple qualitative data collection and analysis methods. We first share methods used to analyze children’s archived artwork and letters sent to dark tourism sites as memorial tributes. We then explain how to observe young tourists and collect their visitor comments. Computer-assisted analysis techniques follow. Last, we describe how to collect and analyze social media comments.
