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Tourism Management 27 (2006) 738749


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Research article

Case studies in tourism research: A state-of-the-art analysis


Honggen Xiao, Stephen L.J. Smith
Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ont., Canada N2L 3G1
Received 12 August 2005; accepted 14 November 2005

Abstract
This paper focuses on the methodological aspects of case study as a research strategy. In particular, it examines case study research in
tourism. Seventy-six full articles from the recent volumes (20002004) of Annals of Tourism Research, Journal of Travel Research,
Tourism Analysis, and Tourism Management were selected for a content analysis. The research discusses (1) themes/topics case studies
addressed, (2) case specicity in research purposes, objectives or questions, (3) authorship characteristics, (4) research designs,
(5) methodological procedures, and (6) the presentation of case study reports. It is concluded that the prevalent arguments of case studies
as conceptually and analytically weak is not justied. Stereotypical perceptions as such can be misleading and may consequently exert a
negative impact on the righteous application of case study methodology in tourism research. Limitations of this analysis and future
research issues are also discussed.
r 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Case study; Tourism research; Research methods; Journal analysis; Content analysis

1. Introduction
In the opening article of the inaugural issue of Tourist
Studies, Franklin and Crang (2001) described tourism
research as stale, tired, repetitive and lifeless(p. 5). The
trouble with tourism scholarship seems to lie in the fact
that its research has simply tried to track and record this
staggering expansion [of the industry], producing an
enormous record of instances, case studies, and variations(p. 5). Part of the problem, these authors suggested,
was attributable to its researchers whose disciplinary
origins do not include the tools necessary to analyze and
theorize the complex cultural and social processes that
have unfolded (p. 5). Similarly, in the concluding remarks
to a methodological reection on triangulation, Oppermann (2000) urged that it is time for tourism researchers
to take on new challenges, namely systematically trying to
add knowledge to the eld rather than continue engaging in
producing more and more case studies of limited additional
scientic value (p. 145). Elsewhere, state-of-the-art tourCorresponding author. Tel.: +001 519 888 4567x3894;
fax: +001 519 886 2440.
E-mail address: h2xiao@ahsmail.uwaterloo.ca (H. Xiao).

0261-5177/$ - see front matter r 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2005.11.002

ism literature also suggests that, despite theoretical and


methodological underpinnings, tourism knowledge has
been generally characterized by case studies, area-specic
discussions, best practice examples, and one-off or onetime research (Carter, Baxter, & Hockings, 2001; Dartnall
& Store, 1990; Hall, Williams, & Lew, 2004).
Indeed, the case study methodology has long been
characterized as a weak approach among social science
methods. This is particularly true when, in the earlier years,
this approach in anthropology, comparative political
science, and comparative sociology was criticized by
experimental or quantitative methodologists, as a method
which often generated common-sense knowing or research
results that were in crying need of verication or
replication (Campbell, 1961). Such an approach was
further characterized as an intensive study of a single
foreign setting by an outsider for whom this is the only
intensively experienced foreign culture, which was often
based on one-time, anecdotal, single-case and naturalistic
observations (Campbell, 1975, pp. 178, 179). In addition,
case study analyses were also thought of as essentially
intuitive, primitive, unmanageable, and less well formulated (Miles, 1979, pp. 597599) in terms of within-case
and/or cross-case analyses, leading other social scientists to

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H. Xiao, S.L.J. Smith / Tourism Management 27 (2006) 738749

reect on case study crisis (Yin, 1981a). As such,


perceptions of case studies as atheoretical, area-specic,
one-time and not following methodological procedures are
historically well-entrenched in a number of social science
disciplines; it is not infrequent that similar criticisms of case
studies are extended to tourism research.
The purpose of this article is to examine case study
research as used by researchers in tourism journals. The
paper begins with a review of case study as a research
strategy. To fulll the goal of this research, 76 articles
bearing explicit terms in their titles, subtitles, abstracts and/
or keywords referring to case study research were selected
from four tourism journals for a content analysis. Results
of this analysis are reported and discussed with respect to
thematic areas, authorship, research designs, methodological procedures, and theory building of case study
research in the observed set of tourism articles. While
readers are cautioned about the limitations of this analysis,
this paper suggests that, to a large extent, the stereotypical
perceptions of case study research in tourism are not
justied, and therefore such a perspective should be taken
critically in the evaluation of tourism research and
scholarship.
2. Case study as a research strategy
Case studies have long been a topic of interest in the
methodological literature. In a historical review of this
approach, Platt (1992) observed a rise (in the 1930s) and
fall (during World War II) of its earlier use and a revival of
interest in this approach since the late 1960s and/or early
70s. In his critique on the renewed interest, Platt (1992,
p. 41) suggested that case study as a research strategy has
grown out of the methodological traditions of both
qualitative and quantitative inquiries such as the grounded
theory approach and the logic of experimental designs.
More recently, Yin (1981b, 2003a) observed that the use of
case studies has been high and increasing over the years in
social sciences research. In terms of disciplinary or eld
coverage, methodological texts have noted that this
approach was frequently found in anthropology, psychology, sociology, political science, social work, business/
marketing, organizational research, community studies,
innovation and technological changes, life histories of
individual or families, industrial relations, education, law
enforcement, public health, planning and development,
and even program evaluation (Ghauri & Grnhaug, 2002;
Gilgun, 1994; Yin, 1981b, 2003a, b). In spite of its frequent
usage, case study is stereotypically perceived as a weak
approachone typically used in exploratory studies, which
often leads to un-conrmable conclusions and should
therefore be used only as a method of last resort.
Over the years, the strengths and weaknesses of case
study designs have caught the attention of methodologists.
Stake (2000), for example, referred to the vantage of this
approach as the study of the particular (p. 438), which
encompasses the nature, historical backgrounds, physical

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settings as well as socio-cultural contexts of a specic case.


However, it was also noted that learning from particular
case(s) inevitably reects the researchers values and
perspectives in the (re)construction of case knowledge.
Issues such as comparison, triangulation, description
versus interpretation, and generalization are often perceived as typical challenges in its implementation. In a
critical reection of its use in social sciences research,
Stoecker (1991) concluded, that the case study approach
has been wrongly malignedyand that it is the best way by
which we can rene general theory and apply effective
interventions in complex situations (p. 109). In addition,
the pros and cons of using case studies were also elaborated
in other methodological discussions (Campbell, 1961, 1975;
Gummesson, 1991; McClintock, Brannen, & MaynardMoody, 1979; Rose, 1991; Yin, 1981a, 1981b, 2003a,
2003b).
Methodological texts have demonstrated the effective
use of this strategy through the differentiation of various
types of case studies. Eckstein (1975) categorized the
variations of this approach into congurative-idiographic
studies, disciplined-congurative studies, heuristic case
studies, plausibility probes, and crucial-case studies. From
a functionalist perspective, Yin (2003a) proposed a highly
rened typology of exploratory, descriptive, and explanatory case studies, each of which is dened and outlined as
an effective research tool in contexts or situations that are
often too complex for survey or experimental strategies. In
terms of topical focus, he noted that case study applications cover contexts as diverse as decision-making,
individual behavior, organizational operations, processes,
programs, neighborhood dynamics, institutional structures
and actions, as well as current events.
Technically, and in terms of its scope, a case study is
dened as an empirical inquiry that investigates a
contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context,
especially when the boundaries between phenomenon and
context are not clearly evident (Yin, 2003a, p. 13). It was
further stated that such an inquiry copes with the
technically distinctive situation in which there are more
variables of interest than data points (i.e. the number of
cases), and as one result, [it] relies on multiple sources of
evidence, with data needing to converge in a triangulation
fashion, and as another result, [it] benets from the prior
development of theoretical propositions to guide data
collection and analysis (pp. 13, 14). In other words,
the case study approach comprises an all-encompassing
method, covering the logic of design, data collection
techniques, and specic approaches to data analysis. In
this sense, case study is not merely a data collection tactic
or an analytic method. It is a comprehensive research
strategy or framework of design (Dufour & Fortin, 1992;
Platt, 1992).
As a research strategy, case study is contrasted with
experimental or quasi-experimental designs, which deliberately divorce a phenomenon from its context so that
attention can be focused on a few variables (Yin, 1981b,

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p. 98). In addition, case study is differentiated from history


or historiography in that the latter involves special ways of
verifying documents and artifacts in dealing with noncontemporary events when techniques such as participant
observations, direct measurements, or interviews cannot be
used as corroboratory evidence. However, in view of their
frequent use of secondary/archival documents as data, case
study and history or historiography do overlap in their
documentation of historical or contemporary events.
In terms of situations and types of questions addressed,
case study is recommended when how or why questions
are being asked about a contemporary set of events, over
which the investigator has little or no control (Yin, 2003a,
p. 9). As was also noted by Hartley (1994), case study
allows for processual, contextual and generally longitudinal analysis of the various actions and meanings which
take place and which are constructed within specic social
or organizational contexts (p. 212).
2.1. Design and methodological procedures of case study
research
A research design is the logic that links the data to be
collected and/or conclusions to be drawn to the initial
research questions (Babbie, 1986). In case studies, Yin
(2003a) suggested that such research designs need to be
developed in the maximization of four conditions in terms
of validity and reliability (see Table 1).
While the quality of case study research can be checked
through specic tactics that correspond to different inquiry
stages, validity and reliability concerns apply equally
throughout a case study research process, regardless
of single, comparative, or multiple case designs. As
noted earlier, its strengths and weaknesses in research
designs have been central to methodological discussions
Table 1
Case study tactics for four design tests
Tests

Construct
validity

Case study tactic

Phase of research in
which tactic occurs

 Use multiple sources of evidence  Data collection


 Establish chain of evidence
 Data collection
 Have key informants review draft  Composition
case study report

Internal
validity






External
validity

 Use theory in single-case studies  Research design


 Use replication logic in multiple-  Research design

Do pattern matching
Do explanation building
Address rival explanations.
Use logic models






Data
Data
Data
Data

analysis
analysis
analysis
analysis

case studies
Reliability

 Use case study protocol


 Develop case study database

Source: Yin (2003a, p. 34).

 Data collection
 Data collection

Structural Interviews and Surveys

Open-ended Interviews
Archival Records

FACT
Focus Interviews

Documents

Observations (direct and participant)

Fig. 1. Convergence of multiple sources of evidence in case studies


(Source: Yin, 2003a, p. 100).

(Campbell, 1961, 1975; Gummesson, 1991; McClintock


et al., 1979; Rose, 1991; Yin, 1981b, 2003a). For example,
Campbell (1961) was initially very pointed in his criticism
of single-case study designs, which he thought were
inevitably problematic in the interpretability of results,
although, in later years, he shifted his views on case studies
to recognize the capacity of such designs to either build or
reject theories. Yin (2003a), on the other hand, built a
rather strong argument while accounting for the rationale
of doing single-case studies. He proposes the use of critical,
extreme/unique, representative/typical, revelatory, and/or
longitudinal cases in such case study research designs.
In principle, data collection for a case study is relatively
straightforward. Case study methodologists have outlined
a series of procedures that can be employed in a variety of
contexts. These include tasks such as the training or skill
preparation of principal and/or co-investigators, the
development of case study protocols, the conduct of pilot
case studies, and the actual implementation of a case study
research plan. These steps are suggested in order for case
study data collection (usually from multiple sources and by
various means) to triangulate on the fact or the set of
pre-specied research questions (see Fig. 1).
2.2. Analysis and theory building in case study research
Methodological literature suggests that dening priorities
for what to analyze should be among the rst set of
considerations while doing data analysis for case study
research. In analyzing case study data, for example, Yin
(2003a) proposed three strategies (i.e. relying on theoretical
propositions, setting up frameworks based on rival
explanations, and developing case study descriptions) and
ve specic techniques (i.e. pattern matching, explanation
building, time-series analysis, logical models, and cross-case
synthesis). In a state-of-the-art research on building theories
from case study methodology, Eisenhardt (1989) developed
a systematic process with a series of steps to watch for
while doing analysis (p. 533). Based on her review, theory
building from case study research is primarily associated

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with qualitative methodologies such as the grounded theory


approach (Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Strauss, 1987).
With the more recent increase of literature on case study
methodology (Hamel, 1992; Platt, 1992; Stake, 2000;
Stoecker, 1991), the stereotypical views that this approach
is generally atheoretical have been changing over the years.
For example, compared to his earlier criticisms, Campbell
admitted, in later publications, the intensive cross-cultural
case study has a discipline and a capacity to reject (and
perhaps to build) theories which are neglected in my
caricature of the method (1975, p. 182). He further
commented on the extended presentation of evidence
through case study research as crucial to scientic
evaluation (Campbell, no date, p. ix). Moreover, Hartley
(1994, p. 211) also noted that, the case study method can be
distinguished by its approach to theory-building, which
tends generally (but not exclusively) to be inductive. The
opportunity to explore issues in depth and in their contexts
means that theory development can occur through the
systematic piecing together of detailed evidence to generate
(or perhaps replicate) theories of more general interest.
While this approach may also result in overly narrow,
idiosyncratic, or complex theories that are sometimes
against the principle of parsimony, Eisenhardt (1989)
concluded that case study research has three strengths in
the building of theories: (1) its likelihood of generating
novel theories, (2) the testability of its emergent theories or
hypotheses, and (3) the likelihood of empirical validation
of resultant theories. However, it should be pointed out, as
Yin (2003a) has, the process of replication or generalization in case study means the generalization of ndings
into theories rather than generalizing from one case to
another, as is often associated with a sampling logic (p. 38).
Indeed, due to its incorporation of ontological and
epistemic considerations in its design logic, Hamel (1992)
succinctly concluded from a sociologist perspective that
the case study approach embodies undoubted theoretical
and methodological qualitiesyIt is certainly the approach
in which the specifying of a move from one epistemic form
to another is ensured under ideal conditions, because of the
depth of the description which characterizes this methodyIn this sense, the case method may thus be considered
as a cornerstone of the new theoretical and methodological
strategies for sociology (p. 7).
In short, case study is recognized as a serious research
strategy. As a result of its widespread use, methodological
discussions on its applications can also be found in a
variety of social sciences elds such as public administration (Agranoff & Radin, 1991), technology transfer
(Moore, Jefferson, & Crosse, 1991), and health services
(Yin, 1999). This analysis aims at extending such methodological discussions onto the eld of tourism.
3. Case study in tourism research: data and method
Case study research articles from four journals in a 5year period (20002004)Annals of Tourism Research

741

(ATR), Journal of Travel Research (JTR), Tourism Analysis


(TA), and Tourism Management (TM)were selected for
this analysis. While these journals represent a broad range
in terms of their scope and breadth in publishing tourism
research, the choice of this set and the time frame is
primarily a reection of practicality and availability of the
sources as well as the desire to use the same time period
for all of the selected journals. The retrieval of articles
was primarily based on the electronic version of these
publications.
In the actual selection of data, the researchers rst read
through the titles, subtitles, and keywords (or abstracts if
keywords are not provided) of all research articles from
these periodicals in the specied period of years. As these
search items reect the choice of words on the part of the
authors, only articles with explicit terms suggestive of case
studies such as a/the case study ofy, a/the case ofy,
and a/the y case in their titles, subtitles, keywords (or
abstracts) were retrieved. Those that bear related terms
such as evidence fromy, a comparison/comparative
study ofy, a focus ony, the perspective ofy, an
empirical study ofy, an exploratory analysis ofy, an
example ofy, a/theyexample, a (place)-based study, the
(place) experience are not included. Also, only full articles
were used, as methodological procedures are more likely to
be described in greater details in full-length papers than in
shorter pieces such as research notes.
Seventy-eight articles met these pre-specied criteria in
the rst round of selection. In a further examination, the
search items in the selected instances were matched with
their substantive contents. It was found that the term
case was used ambiguously in two subtitles, which were
subsequently dropped. As a breakdown of percentage in
the study period, these articles represent 1.3% (or 3 out of
236 full articles) for ATR, 7.2% for JTR (15 out of 209),
8.5% for TA (10 out of 117), and 17.2% for TM (48 out of
279 main articles). In total, 76 articles were subjected to
critical reading and data coding (see Table 2).
These articles were sequentially numbered in the order of
volumes, issues, and page ranges. Each article was read
through with special attention paid to the contents or
sections such as abstracts/keywords, introduction, research
purpose/objectives/questions, literature or theoretical contexts, place and/or time specicity of research, description
of data and methods, analytic techniques/tools/approaches
used, styles of result presentation, and discussions of
ndings in a broader or theoretical context. To reect the
structure and/or sections of the manifest content
(Berelson, 1952, p. 18) of the published texts, these articles
were coded into the following categories to reect
the characteristics of case studies in tourism research:
(1) themes and/or topics, (2) case specicity in research
purposes, objectives and questions, (3) authorship characteristics, (4) place specicity of research, (5) time
specicity of research, (6) case study research designs,
(7) methodological procedures, and (8) generalizations or
discussions in the context of literature. In the synthesis of

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Table 2
Seventy-six case study articles in four tourism journals (20002004)

Table 3
Themes and/or topics of case study research in tourism

ATR (3)

JTR (15)

TA (10)

Journals

27:611623
30:927941
31:855878

39:426432
39:449460
40:2740
40:316327
40:328336
41:414
41:1522
41:6876
41:177184
41:185196
41:311314
41:400409
42:3647
42:172185
42:297304

6:5360
6:203211
7:259269
8:137141
8:205210
8:253257
9:1522
9:153166
9:269284
9:285298

TM (48)
21:2332
21:323330
21:379393
21:395406
21:417424
21:515524
21:525534
22:8392
22:157165
22:193202
22:259269
22:289303
22:345350
22:403409
22:435443
22:511521
22:551563
22:629635
22:637648
22:649657
23:6779
23:133143
23:145154
23:233244

23:379388
23:557561
23:597607
23:631637
24:7381
24:8395
24:97110
24:217226
24:289308
24:331339
24:371385
24:387399
24:587595
24:687697
24:699712
25:1730
25:267273
25:275283
25:421428
25:559564
25:623636
25:657667
25:751759
25:789800

Themes/topics

ATR (3)

 Economic impact of tour operations


 Tourism demand analysis
 Adventure tourism

JTR (15)












TA (10)

 Residents attitudes towards tourism development/tourism









TM (48)

Market segmentation, motivation, and travel behavior*4


Tourism planning and development*2
Destination image and competitiveness*2
Tourist area life cycles
Environmental justice in land use
Yield management
Tourism as an agent of social change
Tax/duty-free shopping and tourism
Tourism and religion
The use of internet as a research tool

as economic development*3
Destination marketing/destination image*2
Cultural/heritage tourism
Tourism decision making
(Motivation for) domestic tourism
Visitor satisfaction
Museums as visitor attraction products

 Tourism planning, community development and


sustainability*14

Note: Numbers refer to journal volume: page range.

 Rural tourism, nature-based tourism, wildlife tourism, and


these categories, this research provides a basis for discussions with respect to the state-of-the-art of case study
research in tourism.
For consistency, all data entry and coding were
performed by the rst author. This research is basically a
content analysis, which, according to methodologists,
involves the discovery of patterns and categories in the
data (Luborsky, 1994). It was also described as a method
for objective and systematic description of the manifest
content of a text (Berelson, 1952, p. 18), to be carried out
on the basis of explicitly formulated rules and procedures which aims for generalization from the analyzed
text (Holsti, 1969, pp. 3, 4).


















ecotourism*5
Tourism profession/job satisfaction/career development*5
Destination image, and destination competitiveness*3
Hotel and accommodation*3
Heritage tourism*2
Tourism impacts and hostguest relations*2
Leisure and outdoor recreation*2
Tourism and terrorism/crime, recovery from crisis or
disaster*2
Tourist shopping and tourism tax*2
Tourism demand forecasting
Tourism policy and administration
Internet-based tourism marketing
SERVQUAL and tourist satisfaction
Airline marketing
Family businesses in tourism
Outbound (international) travel
Knowledge acquisition and organizational learning

4. Results
Results of this analysis are described under the aforementioned categories. First, as can be seen from this set of
articles, case studies are used as a method in the treatment
of a wide range of themes/topics in tourism research, and
often for the fulllment of case specic purposes/objectives.
4.1. Themes and objectives of case study research in tourism
In terms of the frequency of adopting a case study
approach, the results suggest that this methodology is most
often seen in research pertaining to tourism development,
planning, and community perceptions of or reactions to the
impacts of tourism (see Table 3).

Note: Superscript numbers indicate numbers of articles bearing same


theme/topic.

It is also frequently used to address themes or topics


such as alternative forms of tourist experience, career/
professional development, destination marketing or
image, segmentation or tourist markets, cultural/heritage
tourism, hostguest relations, as well as the management
and operation of the tourism industries or sectors. In
addition, the versatility of this approach is reected in
the diversity of other, albeit less frequently treated,
topics that range from demand forecasting to knowledge
management.

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This analysis found that the majority of case study


research attempt to fulll case-/place-specic purposes in
terms of the stated or proposed objectives or research
questions directly related to the site or locality of study (see
Fig. 2).
At one end, all instances from ATR in the study period
have case-/place-specic goals in their purpose statements
or research questions, while half of the case studies in JTR
aim at addressing general objectives or questions. Moreover, some 6070% of case study research from TA and
TM has case-/place-specic purpose statements. While
these minor differences can be explained by the limited
number of articles recruited for this analysis, in general,
120
100
80
60
40
20
0

68

ATR(3)

JTR(15)

TA(10)

TM(48)

Average

Fig. 2. Case/place specicity in purposes, objectives, or research


questions.

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case-/place-specicity in purpose/objective statements of


tourism case studies can be attributable to factors such as
the nature or type of research, its funding bodies, and even
simply the writing styles of authors.
4.2. Authorship of case study research in tourism
As noted in Section 1, tourism research has been
characterized as too often being a production of case
studies. This characterization had to do, in part, with the
background of tourism researchers (Franklin & Crang,
2001). Table 4 presents a number of authorship characteristics of the selected case study research from the four
journals.
First, as a ratio of academics versus non-academics, it
was observed, from these instances, that the great majority
of these authors are academics in the sense that they are
afliated with colleges, universities or research institutions.
This dominance is denitely a reection of the media (i.e.
academic journals) selected for this study.
Second, of the institutional or disciplinary backgrounds,
these authors are primarily from tourism, hospitality,
recreation and/or leisure studies departments, followed by

Table 4
Authorship characteristics of the selected case study articles
Journals

Authorship characteristics
Background of academic authorsc

Geographic distribution of authorsd

Academics
vs nonacademicsa

Single vs joint
(two or more)
authorsb

ATR (3)

6:1

0:3

 Economics/business/marketing/management (6)

US (3), UK (2), Norway (1), Sweden (1)

JTR (15)

27:1

5:10







Tourism/hospitality/recreation/leisure (11)
Economics/business/ marketing/ management (9)
Education (2)
Geography/environmental studies (1)
Background unspecied/unknown (4)

US (9), Australia (4), Israel (3), UK (3), New


Zealand (2), Singapore (2), Switzerland (2), France
(1), Greece (1), Netherlands (1)

TA (10)

22:3

1:9






Tourism/hospitality/recreation/leisure (11)
Economics/business/marketing/management (4)
Geography/environmental studies (3)
Background unspecied/unknown (4)

US (6), UK (5), Spain (3), Turkey (3), Norway (2),


Saudi Arabia (2), Taiwan (2), Australia (1), Israel (1)

TM (48)

83:9

16:32








Tourism/hospitality/recreation/leisure (46)
Economics/business/marketing/ management (11)
Geography/environmental studies (11)
Information technology (2)
Public administration (1)
Background unspecied/unknown (12)

UK (25), HK (11), Australia (10), New Zealand (8),


US (8), Taiwan (5), Israel (4), Spain (4), Canada (2),
Demark (2), Kenya (2), Turkey (2), Brazil (1), Czech
(1), Italy (1), Mainland China (1), Netherlands (1),
Singapore (1), Slovakia (1), South Africa(1),
Thailand (1)

a
Academic authors refer to those afliated with colleges, universities, and/or research institutes. Non-academic authors mainly consist of consultants,
government ofcials, and/or industry practitioners. Ratio is based on total number of authors of the selected case study articles.
b
Ratio is based on total number of articles selected for this analysis.
c
Backgrounds of academic authors are derived from bio-sketches or afliated institutions (e.g. faculties, departments, and/or research centers) reported
in the selected articles. Numbers in brackets refer to the number of authors having the same attributes.
d
Distribution is recorded according to authors locations at the time of publication; counting is based on total number of authors of the selected articles.
Numbers in brackets refer to the number of authors from the same country or region.

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economics, business, marketing and/or management. Geography/environmental studies stood in the third place.
Other elds such as education, information technology,
and public administration are also represented. A number
of case study researchers did not provide departmental
divisions in their biosketch information.
Third, in the ratio of single versus joint productions of
case studies, it was found that the instances of co- or jointauthorship have been high for all these journals. Such a
high rate of joint authorship may be a reection of the
extensive time or prolonged efforts needed for case study
research. In addition, inferences can also be made with
respect to situations such as the work team of a research
project, or a mentoring relationship between graduate
students and their supervisors.
Fourth, in terms of geographical distributions of these
authors, it was found that Anglophone countries or regions
dominate as the media selected for this analysis are
exclusively English journals. Nevertheless, it is interesting
to note that there is a substantial proportion of case study
authorship from non-English-speaking communities.
4.3. Research design of case studies in tourism
This analysis also looked at geographical scale, time
points of observations (or time specicity), and the use (or
number) of cases in the research design of tourism case
studies. First, in terms of geographical scale and distributions of the case study sites, the great majority of the
selected research fell into either the small or the large
category; such an approach was less frequently seen at the
medium geographical scale; while a number of instances
were in fact non-place-specic case studies (see Table 5).
Nevertheless, readers are cautioned about the potential
limitations that are inherent in the categorization of
content analysis. In the above analysis, some instances
can be grouped into different categories of geographical
scales, depending on administrative boundaries and the

Table 5
Geographical scale of case study research in tourism
Geographical scale of the Journals
selected case studies
ATR (3)
Small/local
Medium/provincial/state
Large/national/
international
Not place specic

2
1

Total
JTR (15) TA (10)

TM (48)

6
3
5

28
4
13

43
8
21

7
1
2

Notes: Small/local scale refers to a municipal, local or site specic


coverage; medium/provincial/state ranges from a province or state to an
inter-provincial/inter-regional coverage within a country; and large/
national/international scale includes a geographical coverage that
examines either an international region or a country as a whole.Number
in cells indicates frequency of case study instances at a particular
geographical scale.

actual spatial coverage of a case study research. In coding


the textual data, distinctions between geographical boundaries were made at three levels to indicate scale variations.
To illustrate, a case study of Chinatown in Singapore was
classied as a small-scale inquiry, while a case study of
Singapore was classied as a large-scale research because
the study examined the nation in its entirety. Case studies
with provincial or inter-provincial coverage within a
country were coded as the medium scale.
While it is not possible to infer that case study research
at the smaller range is easier to implement or manage than
at the larger ones, the frequency of instances identied in
this analysis does seem to indicate that case study research
in tourism tends to have a local focus. Take the 28 small/
local-ranged instances from one of the journals for
example. These case studies covered a wide variety of
locations or geographical areas with local focuses in
different countries or regions. It included, for example,
ve local sites in Australia; four local-scale studies in Hong
Kong and the UK, respectively; three local sites in China;
two local sites, respectively in New Zealand, Spain and the
US; and one, respectively in Singapore, Slovak Republic,
South Africa, Kenya, Turkey, and Denmark. In accordance with the geographical distributions of case study
authorship described above, the results on place specicity
also suggest a dominance of English-speaking locations or
regions, which is largely consistent with a previous
observation on the geographical coverage of articles
subjects in a social sciences journal (Xiao & Smith, in
press).
Second, the number of times case study researchers use
for data collection was also examined. In terms of the time
points of observations, most of the selected studies adopted
one-time or cross-sectional approach; a small number of
instances can be regarded as longitudinal in their utilization of two or multiple time points for observation or data
collection; while one of the recruited instances was not
explicit nor inferable in its observation or data collection
procedures (see Table 6).
While it is not the intent of this analysis to evaluate
which observational approach (one, two, or multiple time
points) is more useful, the frequent use of one time point in
data collection suggests that this approach appears to be
the preferred approach by most researchers doing case
studies. This may be attributable to any of a number of
reasons such as budget constraints, report deadlines, or
the researchers choice of paradigms in the case of an
ethnographers need for a prolonged engagement with a
study site versus a quicker, one time survey.
Third, the use of cases or number of cases observed is an
essential consideration in case study research design (Yin,
2003a). In the coding of this set of case studies in tourism,
examples were grouped into single, two/comparative, and
multiple case designs (see Table 7). Results from this
analysis suggest that, regardless of the journals observed,
there was a high proportion of doing (or publishing, to be
exact) single-case study research, with some 67%, 73%,

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4.4. Methodological procedures and reports of case study


research in tourism

Table 6
Time specicity of case study research in tourism
Time specicity in terms of
Journals
data collection or observations
ATR JTR
of the selected case study
(3)
(15)
research
One-time point
Two-time points
Three or multiple time points
Time not described nor
specied

1
0
2
0

Total

11
3
1
0

TA
(10)

TM
(48)

7
3
0
0

36
5
6
1

55
11
9
1

Table 7
Research design of case studies in tourism
Case study research
design

Journals

Total

ATR (3) JTR (15) TA (10) TM (48)


Single case
2
Two/comparative cases 0
Multiple cases
1

11
3
1

7
3
0

745

36
4
8

56
10
10

70%, and 75% for ATR, JTR, TA, and TM, respectively.
A small number of research adopted either two/comparative or multiple case designs.
While some methodologists tended to favor multiple case
designs over a single-case study, especially in the sense of a
replication logic (Campbell, 1975), it is equally one-sided to
suggest that one-case designs are without merits. For
example, Yin (2003a) has argued for the importance of
doing unique case studies involving extreme, rare, critical,
and/or revelatory cases. Multiple case designs are not
necessarily free of disadvantages, especially in the requirement of extensive resources and time, which is often
beyond the means of a single or independent researcher. In
addition, it should be noted that the choice of a particular
research design, as demonstrated in this set of case studies,
could be seen as a matter of the research purposes or
research questions of the specic projects. From a
disciplinary perspective, it is not uncommon to consider
multiple case studies as a different methodology from
single-case designs. For example, while the afnity or
relationships of multiple case designs to comparative
studies in anthropology and political science has long been
established, methodological literature noted that these
disciplines or elds tend to develop one set of rationales
for doing single-case studies and a second or separate set
for doing what has been considered comparative (i.e.
multiple-case) studies (Eckstein, 1975; George, 1979;
Lijphart, 1975). Again, the purpose here is to reveal what
is found from this sample of case studies, rather than to
evaluate on which is a/the better design for case study
research in tourism.

This section looks at the implementation and presentation of case study research seen through this sample of
publications. First, from the perspective of data collection
(see Table 8), there is a fairly spread-out usage of single
source, two sources and multiple sources for case study
research in tourism, with a rough average of 46%, 26%,
and 26%, respectively regardless of journals. This evenness
is particularly notable among ATR, JTR and TM. In terms
of the actual ways or methods of data collecting, secondary
data (e.g. archival/statistical documents, government reports, and/or news articles) and survey were most often
used in the reported instances, followed by interviews,
while data collection through focus groups and other
methods such as participant or on-site observations was
less frequently seen from this sample. However, it is
important to note that, very often, a case study may adopt
several collection methods such as a combination of
secondary data with surveys and/or interviews, which is
particularly true for those case studies that rely on two or
multiple sources.
Second, in terms of the description of methodological
procedures, the data and/or method section of the selected
articles was examined. An estimate was made with respect
to the approximate length devoted to the description of
method and/or data collections (see notes to Table 8). The
majorities (or 84%) of the instances were bearing either a
limited or a moderate description of the researchs
methodological procedures. Detailed descriptions of such
procedures were found in about 16% of the studies. As
noted with previous observations, this should not be taken
Table 8
Methodological procedures of case study research in tourism
Methodological
procedures

Sources of data
Single
Two
Multiple

Journals

Total

ATR (3) JTR (15) TA (10)

TM (48)

1
1
1

Data collection methods


Survey
1
Interview
2
Focus group
Secondary data
1
Other

7
4
4

7
2
1

21
13
14

36
20
20

9
2

5
2
1
4

23
15
2
29
9

38
21
3
41
10

22
20
6

32
32
12

7
1

Description of data and method proceduresa


Limited
2
4
4
Moderate
1
8
3
Detailed
3
3
a

Data coding for the entrydescription of data and method


procedureswas based on an estimate of approximate length of the text,
in which limited is less than 500 words, moderate 5001000 words,
and detailed more than 1000 words.

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746

as a the-longer-the-merrier issue. Categorizations of content analysis as such can be subject to limitations.


Academic readers are largely familiar with journal policies
and/or length restrictions on acceptable manuscripts in
their elds, of which this could well be a reection.
Table 9 contains information on analytic techniques
or the style of presentation. Approximately half of the
selected instances were quantitative reports with statistical
tables, gures, and occasionally econometric equations or
formulas. Thirty-seven percent of the reports are distinctly
qualitative, which are often characterized by thick descriptions, historical accounts, and/or ethnographic narratives,
with information-rich texts or extensive quotes from key
informant interviews. Thirteen percent used a mixed
approach in their style of report writing as seen in their
published layout.
Analytic techniques used in these case studies are varied.
On the quantitative side, the most frequently used
Table 9
Reports of case study research in tourism
Case study reports

Journals

Total

ATR (3) JTR (15) TA (10)


Qualitative techniques
Thick description
Historical
Narrative/story
1
Grounded theory
Ethnographical
Textual analysis
Content analysis
Hermeneutic
Photographic
Quantitative techniques
Descriptive statistics 1
Factor analysis
ANOVA
Regression
Spatial analysis/GISArcView
t-Test
w2
Econometrics
1
Cross-tabulation
Cluster analysis
Correlation matrix
Correspondence
analysis
MANOVA
Structural equation
modeling (LISREL)

2
2

13
8
2
2
2
2
2
1
1

16
10
3
2
3
2
2
1
1

5
6
1
2
1

10
3
4
2
2

24
12
7
5
4

1
1

4
3
4
2
1
2
1

1
1

15
17
16

25
28
23

8
3
2
1
1
3
3

3
1

1
1
1

Discussions or theoretical enhancementa


Limited
1
3
Moderate
1
8
Elaborated
1
4

TM (48)

6
2
2

a
Data coding for the entrydiscussions or theoretical enhancement
was based on the presence or absence of theoretical discussions/generalizations of ndings and an estimate of the approximate length of such
texts, in which limited is less than 500 words, moderate 5001000
words, and elaborated more than 1000 words.

techniques were descriptive statistics, factor analysis,


ANOVA, regression, spatial analysis/GIS-ArcView, t-test,
w2, and econometrics. Qualitative features are accordingly
represented by thick description, historical approaches,
narratives/stories, grounded theory induction, ethnographic accounts, and textual/content analyses. It is
interesting to note that more instances with qualitative
style of writings were captured in TM than in other three
journals. However, readers should also be aware of the
limited recruitment of articles from journals such as ATR,
which bears a social sciences journal as its subtitle and is
generally perceived as more accommodating to qualitative
inquiries.
The last category of data coding for this analysis
considers the extent of generalizations or enhanced
discussions of the selected case study research in the
broader contexts of literature cited by the authors. While
this examination is not based on a substantive evaluation
of theoretical enhancement, which is often highly controversial and beyond the scope of this article, the
categories of limited, moderate, and elaborated indicate
the presence or absence of, and the length of such
discussions based on approximate length estimates (see
notes to Table 9). The results reveal an average of 33%,
37%, and 30%, respectively for limited, moderate, and
elaborated discussions. Furthermore, there is a visible
internal variability within journals, yet no notable difference was found among or across the selected periodicals.
Similar to the previous observation on the extent of
descriptions on methodological procedures, it is also
important to note that lengths of discussions and conclusions may be a reection of journal policies or length
restrictions, other than theoretical contributions or generalizations from a case study research.
5. Discussions and conclusions
This article has examined a set of case study research
from four tourism journals. Results were presented in
accordance to themes/topics, authorship characteristics,
and research designs of case studies in tourism. Methodological procedures, analytic approaches and presentation
styles of these case studies were also scrutinized. In general,
this analysis suggests that the case study methodology has
been used to address a variety of subjects or issues in
tourism. Although there is a slightly higher frequency of
using case studies to address broader or more holistic
subjects such as tourism planning and development,
distinct patterns on its use by subject areas are not
identiable from this analysis. Also, based on this
observation, case study authors tend to be academics with
backgrounds in diverse elds such as tourism and
hospitality, recreation and leisure, marketing and management, business, economics, geography, environmental
studies, and even information technology or education.
In terms of geographical distribution, both authors and
case study sites tend to be associated strongly with

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Anglophone regions, which is attributable to the characteristics of the journals selected.


From the perspective of research designs and implementation, this sample of articles indicates that the majority of
case studies focus on small geographical locales, adopt one
time points for data collection, and limit themselves to
single cases. Various data collection methods and analytic
techniques were found in use. Their reporting styles
embrace qualitative, quantitative and mixed approaches,
with varying degree of richness in their descriptions of
methodological procedures and/or their discussions in the
contexts of literature, which arguably is also a reection of
journal policies.
While the limited number of articles selected for this
analysis does not warrant an overall comparison among
the journals, some general differences can be noted. With a
column devoted particularly to case studies in some issues,
TM has published many more titles bearing terms such as
cases or case studies than the other three journals in this
study period. However, TM is also the only journal that
publishes six issues a year in this selected set of periodicals.
Therefore, this forum, in the editors words, can be taken
as literally bigger in publishing more pages and consequently a larger number of total articles per year (Ryan,
2005). In addition, there are more case study instances
from TM that focus on small locales, with more longitudinal observations and more comparative or multiplecase designs. Notably, case study instances in TM were also
found to carry more extensive methodological descriptions
and/or theoretical discussions. Moreover, from a standpoint of research production, single-authored work
appeared more often in JTR and TM than in the other
two periodicals. Nevertheless, these differences should not
be taken as distinctive due to the limited number of
instances and the small range of journals observed.
As noted in the introduction, tourism research is often
criticized as being dominated by case studies, which are
stereotypically perceived as atheoretical, area-specic, one
time, and not following methodological procedures. While
it is not the intent of this analysis to argue or defend that
tourism research is in a better state than what was
suggested or implied, it is indeed fair to conclude that
these perceptions are not justied and that the consequences and/or implications of such stereotypical observations upon the eld should be interpreted with caution and
care. Results from this analysis show that these journals
jointly published an average of some 9% case study
research in 5 volume years. The observed instances also
suggest that although case studies often have clearly
uttered case-related/area-specic objectives or purposes,
the majority of these instances have followed scientic
research procedures with sound analytic techniques. A
substantial proportion of work relied on longitudinal and/
or triangulated observations for the published report.
Some have come up with moderate to extensive discussions
in the literature or theoretical contexts, at least in terms of
the visual length of such textual elaborations. Likewise,

747

this analysis did not yield any ndings to support or refute


the perception that case studies are one-off research in the
sense that an identical approach was repeated in the same
locale. Arguably, based on results from this analysis, it can
also be concluded that case study is not only a frequently
used but also a highly useful and much needed approach in
tourism research.
In the meantime, it should be acknowledged that content
analysis like this is not free of limitations, a number of
which were noted as the process of analysis unfolded.
Additionally, readers should also be aware of the limited
time frame (20002004) and the potentially ambiguous use
of the term case in some of the recruited instances.
Nonetheless, this study triggers discussions related to
theoretical implications of case study methodology in
tourism research.
From a research evaluation perspective, Eckstein (1975)
outlined a bipolar scheme to the scrutiny of theory or
theory building through case studies. On the hard end of
the spectrum are theories characterized by critical traits
such as (1) concepts dened precisely in terms of empirical
referents which are intended to abstract characteristics
(rather than to describe phenomena) for formulating
general propositions, (2) connected sets of propositions
that are either axioms (assumptions) or theorems deducted
from concepts, (3) logical consistencies or correspondence
of propositions to observations of phenomena or empirical
import, and (4) empirical tests of propositions. On the soft
end of the spectrum, Eckstein (1975) argued:
Theory is simply regarded as any mental construct that
orders phenomena or inquiry into them. This qualies as
theory many quite diverse constructs, including classicatory schemes that assign individual cases to more or less
general classes, analytic schemes that decompose complex phenomena into their common elements, frameworks and checklists for conducting inquiry, any
empirical patterns found in properly processed data, or
anything considered to underlie such patterns (pp. 86, 87).
By means of the former, case studies in tourism research
and indeed tourism research in general still have a long
way to go to achieve theoretical status. Yet, in terms
of the latter within the above evaluation scheme, it
seems reasonable to suggest that the case study approach
has contributed considerably to tourism research and
scholarship.
Arguably, the assumption or hypothesis that case studies
are atheoretical has to do with what is meant by theory in
different disciplines and/or to different eld researchers.
From the standpoint of classical economics, for example,
the term theory usually connotes a set of principles,
based on empirical evidence, that provides reliable,
consistent, and veriable predictions about the functioning
of some systems or phenomena (Myrdal, 1932). In such a
context, theory is not simply a model or a set of
hypotheses, it is the formal articulation of cause-and-effect
relationships that have been veried repeatedly, and that

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H. Xiao, S.L.J. Smith / Tourism Management 27 (2006) 738749

reveal insights into how the system of a phenomenon


actually functions. From such a strictly disciplinary
perspective, one might argue that the term theory is
often used inconsistently in young multi-disciplinary elds
such as tourism and recreation/leisure studies, and that
despite frequent debates on theoretical advancements
(Kaplan, 1997; Valentine, Allison, & Schneider, 1999),
there is not much theory in these elds.
In contrast, in the evaluation of theoretical advances
of tourism research from a sociological perspective,
theory can also be dened as a conceptual framework for
understanding, explanation, and prediction in which
theoretical advance is taken to mean the synthetic outcome
of a dialectical exchange of ideas (Dann, Nash, & Pearce,
1988; Dann, 2000). In line with this argument, critical
theorists and constructivists such as Bruner (1994, 1999)
would prefer to emphasize only the understanding component of a theory, arguing that interpretation overrides a
more neo-positivist preoccupation with causality. As
Bruner (1999) noted, social theory both reects and is
constitutive of changes in the worldyIt does not regard
earlier work as totally discontinuous with the present or as
fatally compromised politically, or as subversive of truth. It
charts where we were and where we are going (p. 462).
Therefore, as Dann (2005) pointed out, it would be
misleading to simply give either an afrmative or negative
answer as to whether a foregoing theoretical contribution is
still as valid today as when it was initially articulated, as in
the case of MacCannells (1976) The Tourist and Urrys
(1990) The Tourist Gaze, both of which are arguably
ethnographic case studies related to Paris of the 1960s and
70s and the UK of the 1980s, respectively.
With respect to the role of case study research in theory
development in particular, it can be inferred from previous
state-of-the-art analyses that confusions and/or a lack of
consensus still exist with regard to the replication versus
the sampling logic. This is especially true in the use of
single versus comparative or multiple case designs when the
essential question has to do with the number of cases
deemed necessary or sufcient for a case study. As is
suggested in the above methodological discussions, a study
with a limited number of cases or replications is not
necessarily less articulate in theory building, nor do
multiple case designs necessarily lead to a guaranteed
development of theory. From the perspective of substantive theory generation in a eld, Glaser and Strauss (1967)
have had a classic elaboration on the methodological
aspect of constant comparisons, which are often characterized by case studies. By the same token, Eisenhardt (1989)
also observed that the assessment of theory building from
case study research depends as much upon the concepts,
frameworks, or propositions emerging from the process, as
upon the empirical issues such as the strength of the
method and the evidence grounding the theory. On these
observations and based on results emerged from this
analysis, it is imperative that future discussions on case
study research in tourism be carried on with a different

focus. This would imply a shift from issues such as whether


tourism research is overly characterized by case studies
and/or whether such an approach has a theorizing
capacity, to more constructive arguments or critiques
pertinent to its methodological implementations, which,
arguably, would be more benecial for and/or indeed much
needed by the eld of tourism research and scholarship.
Acknowledgements
This research was made possible through a support from
the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of
Canada.
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