Participants
In this research, participants were drawn from the visitors attending the City’s Fiesta events on the ninth, 14th, 16th, 17th, the 22nd of March 2014. The celebrations, which were organised by the city of Perth to mark its 20th Anniversary, attracted both local and foreign visitors. The participants were sampled from the visitors attending the Angelo Street Marketplace celebrations, the Waterford Plaza Street festival, the Light up the night event, and the Fiesta Concert Showcase. The selection of study participants involved specified inclusion criteria. Only visitors aged 18 years and above and attending the events within the specified dates were included in the study. Both male and female attendees were included in the study.
The study employed a random sampling approach to recruit sample subjects. Random sampling enhances “the external validity of a study’s results” (Yin, 2003, p. 48), which implies that such a sample adequately represents the parent population. In the current study, a random sample of 227 individuals was drawn from people attending the four events. Out of this sample, 146 were local visitors (Australians) while the rest (81) were foreign nationals from countries such as the USA, the UK, China, and Ireland, among others.
A sampling framework was used to select the participants. As aforementioned, the target population comprised of visitors to the 2014 City’s Fiesta events. The participants were selected from portions of this population within the place (area code) and the time when the event was scheduled to take place. A sample was drawn from the visitors (population of interest) in each festival or fiesta event as defined by the city of Perth. Because a complete sampling frame was not possible, non-probability was not possible in the current research.
Procedure
The participants in this research were drawn from local and international tourists visiting the City of Perth’s festivals to mark its 20th Anniversary. The visitors had attended the festivals in March this year. They were recruited from four locations: (1) Angelo Street Marketplace; (2) Waterford Plaza Street; (3) the Light up night event; and (4) the Fiesta Concert Showcase. In the study, 179 participants were recruited between ninth and the 10th of March 2014 from the Angelo Street Marketplace while 40 subjects were selected from the Fiesta Concert Showcase attendees on 22nd and 27th. The participants from Light up the night event were two while those from the Waterford Plaza event were six. The recruitment in Waterford event occurred on the 14th, 16th, and 22nd of March while that of the ‘light up the night’ event took place on 20th and 21st.
In this survey, after the respondents were located, they were requested to complete a questionnaire during the event and return it to the researcher. Each participant had to sign a consent form as an indication that he or she has agreed to participate in the research. After agreeing to participate, they were required to read the questions to make sure that they understand them. They were also required to give contact details, age, and nationality.
In qualitative studies, the researcher has the role of protecting the participants from potential risks associated with the research (Yin, 2003). In this study, the participants were informed about the purpose of the study prior to participation. The researcher told them the risks and benefits of the research to the improvement of future Fiesta events. In this way, each participant could make an independent decision to participate voluntarily in the survey. Therefore, one way in which the participants and the client were protected in this research was through informed consent. Payne and Payne (2004) write that formal informed consent affects the quality of qualitative research.
Nevertheless, the researcher has an obligation to tell the participants that they are subjects of a research project (Payne & Payne, 2004). In the current study, the researcher informed them of the purpose of the survey and what the data will be used for. The researcher sought the guidance of ECU’s IRB to come up with ways of protecting the respondents and at the same time, promote the integrity of the data collected.
Besides reducing risk, the researcher also undertook measures to promote confidentiality and anonymity. The researcher requested the participants not to write their names or personal identifiers on the questionnaire document. In addition, no field notes contained the respondents’ names. The researcher only shared the raw data with the team members to enhance information security during the research. Moreover, efforts were made to reduce anxiety during the exercise. The participants had the right to participate, withdraw, and seek more details about the study’s objective.
Measurement Instrument
The type of measurement instrument used in research surveys determines the validity of the results. In this regard, the researcher has to address various factors, including sampling, question structure and content, bias, and administrative issues. The measurement instrument used in the current study was a questionnaire. Questionnaires were used to collect data because they are cost-efficient, require less time to complete, collects, and are easy to administer (Creswell, 2009). The survey involved 227 participants drawn from various parts of the world. Thus, due to time and resource limitation, interviewing was not feasible.
The survey questionnaires, which had short closed and open-ended questions, covered key issues pertinent to this research. The target population was dispersed over four geographic locations within the city of Perth. In this view, personal interviews would not have been feasible. In contrast, questionnaires could be mailed to participants located in different areas. Moreover, completed online questionnaires could be returned to the researcher via email. This helped save time and costs.
The nature of questions contained in a questionnaire determines the type of responses that will be given. The questionnaire used in this research had nine closed questions and two open-ended ones. The first three questions (closed) focused on the respondent’s demographic details. The respondent was required to give his/her address (city), nationality, and age group. The respondents were categorised into age groups based on a nominal scale. Questions 5 and 6 sought to find out the respondent’s source of information and transportation means, respectively. The questions also involved a nominal scale. The other questions focused on the respondent’s views about the fiesta event and the opportunities for improvement.
Various types of questions were used in the questionnaire. Question 7 asked the respondents whether they have come across messages communicated by the event’s sponsors. It was a leading question since it hinted that the organisers of the event sponsored the research. Overall, the questions involved simple wordings. The aim was to ensure that the respondents understand the content of each question. The questions were short (less than 20 words), clear, and objective.
References
Creswell, J. (2009). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. Web.
Payne, G. & Payne, J. (2004). Key Concepts in Social Research. London: Sage Yin, R. Web.
(2003). Case Study Research. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications. Web.