The time has come: a systematic literature review of mixed methods research in tourism

Abstract

The existing literature mapping the state of mixed methods research in tourism does not provide in-depth information concerning the number and type of mixed methods studies published in tourism, or the paradigmatic beliefs informing the mix of quantitative and qualitative studies in the same project. By conducting a systematic review of articles published between 2005 and 2016 in tourism journals, this work seeks to answer four main research questions: (1) how have different tourism scholars employed mixed methods in their studies?; (2) what approaches have been utilised in mixed methods studies?; (3) how are paradigm(s) conceptualised in mixed method designs?; and (4) how is reflexivity operationalised in mixed method designs? Overall, the findings show that the majority of mixed methods tourism studies have not declared their epistemological, ontological and axiological stances. Also, the studies tended to privilege sequential mixes over concurrent approaches, and reflexivity was rarely contemplated.