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Dear Philip Thanks for posting your email to everyone. I did mention to a student that he had a few grammatical and spelling errors in his survey. I felt a bit uneasy about doing this especially in the age of dyslexia awareness. I do feel that it is a very supportive network where this kind of help/suggestion is well placed but you never really know how well it will be taken. I have recently joined the forum since applying for a PhD with UCLan- and being accepted a few days ago. Regards Gayle Date: Mon, 6 Apr 2009 17:25:49 +0100 From: [log in to unmask] Subject: Observations about recent dark tourism surveys To: [log in to unmask] Dear All (especially students)... RE: Surveys This JISC e-Mail service (Dark Tourism Forum), of which you are all signed-up members, is increasingly being utilised to solicit responses to a range of surveys, which in turn, appear to form an integral part of a students' dissertation or other research project. I applaud such use of the facility and, indeed, I myself shall be posting an online survey via this Forum in due course for a new academic paper on dark tourism, and shall kindly request (some) participants to complete the survey. However, may I offer some observations to those who have or are thinking of using this email distribution list to 'find willing participants' for survey work: 1) I have seen students on this list requesting other members to complete surveys, without really considering a sampling strategy. No or limited sampling criteria has been used, and little attempt is apparently made to distinguish those people who have direct 'professional' or 'academic' interest in dark tourism, and those who may be considered 'lay people'. "Will you complete my Survey" is not a sampling strategy, even on a defined distribution list such as this one... if you are an undergraduate or even postgraduate student, please take appropriate advice from your academic supervisor before posting any survey to this list. 2) I have also seen evidence of poor or lazy survey design. In particular, NO surveys for distribution should contain spelling mistakes or typos. Technology exists in the form of spell and grammar checks, even for non-native English speakers. 3) Beware of 'survey fatigue'. In simple terms, the more students who use this list to 'find a sample', run the risk of perpetuating peoples' sense of 'not another survey', and thereby, inevitably, reducing return rates (which are so important in terms of validity, reliability and research rigour). 4) It is clear, from the surveys I have seen so far posted to this list, that no or limited pilot surveys have been executed. In other words, test and pilot your survey before going live with it, and submitting via this email group. This will clarify any questioning ambiguities and other design faults. Certainly my own students have to have their research methodology and methods 'signed off' before going out and using them for real. I would hope other educational institutions would do the same... 5) Finally, in an age where technology appears to provide us with instant answers, and if you are a student studying dark tourism, do surveys distributed via a defined sample, such as this JISC Mail group, really address your research objectives and fulfil your research design; or it is, as I am beginning to suspect, just an easy way to concoct a (sometimes) ill-defined research tool and post it electronically in order to solicit as many responses as possible, with minium effort. Anyway, please do continue to use this email group for research purposes and to ask for survey completion; but please, do so only if you have fully addressed my five points made above. Best of luck, and thanks for reading.... Regards PHILIP ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Philip R. Stone Senior University Lecturer Editor - The Dark Tourism Forum Course Leader: [International] Tourism Management Undergraduate Programmes UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL LANCASHIRE (UCLan) Faculty of Management (SSTO) Preston PR1 2HE United Kingdom Room: Greenbank 130 Tel: (+44) 01772 894 769 (Direct Line) Tel: (+44) 01772 894 900 (School Admin Office) Fax: (+44) 01772 892 927 Email: [log in to unmask] University Website: www.uclan.ac.uk Profession / Research / Teaching Profile: http://www.uclan.ac.uk/management/ssto/about_the_school/philip_stone.php An International Conference: Tourist Experiences: Meanings, Motivations, Behaviours. (April 1st - 4th 2009). For further information, please visit http://www.uclan.ac.uk/host/international-tourism-conference/index.htm Dark Tourism is the act of travel to sites of death, disaster and the seemingly macabre... Learn more about the 'darker side of tourism' by visiting The Dark Tourism Forum at www.dark-tourism.org.uk Brief Bio: Philip’s main research interests revolve around dark tourism and its fundamental interrelationships with (post)modern society. In particular, Philip is interested in the thanatological aspects of dark tourism consumption, and the societal consequences of contemporary mortality and morality issues. Philip, who is Founder and Editor of The Dark Tourism Forum (see www.dark-tourism.org.uk), has published in a range of leading international academic journals and presented at various international conferences, as well as writing and consulting for print and broadcast media across the world. A book co-authored with Richard Sharpley, The Darker Side of Travel: The Theory & Practice of Dark Tourism, is forthcoming. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >>> Gayle Rogers <[log in to unmask]> 06/04/2009 16:04 >>> Form attached > Date: Sun, 5 Apr 2009 20:29:11 +0100 > From: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Dark Tourism Servey Questionnaire > To: [log in to unmask] > > Dear Sir/Madam > > I am a student at Thames Valley University studying for a BA (Hons) in Travel > and Tourism Management. I am carrying out a research for my dissertation > into Dark tourism motivation for individuals that have visit either the London > Dungeon Museum, The Holocaust Exhibition at the Imperial War Museum > (London) or both. It would be grateful if you could complete the attached > questionnaire, which should take approximately five minutes. Please note that > if you have visit both places, it would be appropriated to complete one > questionnaire for each Museum. The questionnaire does not identify the > respondent, thus you are assure of complete confidentiality. > > > > > > Yours faithfully > > > Frederico Sartori > Get the New Internet Explore 8 Optimised for MSN. Download Now _________________________________________________________________ Share your photos with Windows Live Photos – Free. http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/134665338/direct/01/