Triangulation in qualitative tourism research

Abstract

Qualitative research in tourism is often blamed for missing the tenets of 'good' science. There are two major reasons for this. On one hand, positivism is still the prevailing paradigm in many areas of tourism research. On the other hand, qualitative researchers often fail to explain how and why their methods are sound. This results in confusion and misunderstandings. In this paper, basic criteria to assess the trustworthiness of a qualitative study are listed, and triangulation is proposed as a way to implement them. Refining the concepts of corroboration and validation, triangulation consists of strengthtening qualitative findings by showing that several independent sources converge on them, or at least, do not oppose them. Denzin's four basic types of triangulation (i.e. data, method, investigator and theoretical triangulation) are described and illustrated by appropriate tourism examples.