title: Holiday Destinations: Understanding the Perceptions of Omani Outbound Tourists

authors: Alsawafi, Abdulaziz Mohammed

subjects: Motivation

abstract: It is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the growing numbers of Islamic tourists from countries such as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) zone and Indonesia. This thesis aims to understand Omani outbound pleasure travellers by identifying their travel motivations, the main travel and leisure constraints they experience, and how they overcome these constraints. It also investigates the influence of Islamic teachings on their choice of a pleasure destination and their participation in leisure activities. 
The main data collection methods involved in-depth interviews (n = 27) (the qualitative phase), and the distribution of a self-completion questionnaire (n = 298) (a quantitative phase) to both actual travellers and non-travellers. A mixed method approach allowed further insight into the research phenomenon as well as enhancing the trustworthiness of the research findings. Content analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data using CatPac (CATegory PACkage) and Leximancer software, while the quantitative data were analysed by utilising analysis techniques including T-tests, ANOVA, factor analysis, cluster analysis, regression, and MANOVA in SPSS.
The study identifies: (a) the most important push and pull travel motivations for Omani outbound tourists; (b) the main travel and leisure constraints that inhibit Omanis from travelling overseas and participating in leisure activities; and, (c) the most frequent travel and leisure negotiation strategies that are adopted to overcome these constraints. The results of the study also determine the influence of socio-demographic variables (gender, marital status, age, educational level, income, and occupation) on Omani tourists' perceptions and behaviours. In terms of the impact of Islamic teachings, this study finds that the Islamic teachings have an indirect influence on the choice of a pleasure travel destination and a direct influence on participation in leisure activities. In relation to market segmentation, the study finds that it is possible to segment Omani outbound tourists based on their travel motivations. Further, this study suggests that participation, or nonparticipation, in overseas travel is an outcome of the joint action of travel motivations and constraints. Other useful findings relate to the three-dimensional leisure constraints model as well as the influence of travel motivations and constraints on the use of negotiation strategies are reported.
The current study provides information that will aid the travel and leisure industry in targeting the Muslim travel market to formulate effective marketing strategies and develop appropriate product plans. Finally, both the managerial implications of the study’s results, and possible future research directions, are discussed.

text: Holiday Destinations: Understanding the Perceptions of Omani Outbound Tourists It is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the growing numbers of Islamic tourists from countries such as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) zone and Indonesia. This thesis aims to understand Omani outbound pleasure travellers by identifying their travel motivations, the main travel and leisure constraints they experience, and how they overcome these constraints. It also investigates the influence of Islamic teachings on their choice of a pleasure destination and their participation in leisure activities. 
The main data collection methods involved in-depth interviews (n = 27) (the qualitative phase), and the distribution of a self-completion questionnaire (n = 298) (a quantitative phase) to both actual travellers and non-travellers. A mixed method approach allowed further insight into the research phenomenon as well as enhancing the trustworthiness of the research findings. Content analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data using CatPac (CATegory PACkage) and Leximancer software, while the quantitative data were analysed by utilising analysis techniques including T-tests, ANOVA, factor analysis, cluster analysis, regression, and MANOVA in SPSS.
The study identifies: (a) the most important push and pull travel motivations for Omani outbound tourists; (b) the main travel and leisure constraints that inhibit Omanis from travelling overseas and participating in leisure activities; and, (c) the most frequent travel and leisure negotiation strategies that are adopted to overcome these constraints. The results of the study also determine the influence of socio-demographic variables (gender, marital status, age, educational level, income, and occupation) on Omani tourists' perceptions and behaviours. In terms of the impact of Islamic teachings, this study finds that the Islamic teachings have an indirect influence on the choice of a pleasure travel destination and a direct influence on participation in leisure activities. In relation to market segmentation, the study finds that it is possible to segment Omani outbound tourists based on their travel motivations. Further, this study suggests that participation, or nonparticipation, in overseas travel is an outcome of the joint action of travel motivations and constraints. Other useful findings relate to the three-dimensional leisure constraints model as well as the influence of travel motivations and constraints on the use of negotiation strategies are reported.
The current study provides information that will aid the travel and leisure industry in targeting the Muslim travel market to formulate effective marketing strategies and develop appropriate product plans. Finally, both the managerial implications of the study’s results, and possible future research directions, are discussed.

year: 2013

title: Taste predicates and retraction data: An improved framework

authors: Wyatt, Jeremy

abstract: Predicates of personal taste (PPT), which include words like ‘tasty,’ ‘fun,’ and ‘cool,’ have been at the centre of a set of lively, interdisciplinary debates spanning the past 20 years. Over this period, philosophers and linguists have developed five major accounts of what PPT mean and the sort of truth (if any) for which assertions involving PPT are apt. In this talk, I will explore one of the main empirical diagnostics that should be used in evaluating the ‘big five’ analyses of PPT, which involves considerations about retraction. After setting out the ‘big five’ analyses, I'll review the most influential account of why retraction data matter in the PPT debates, which comes from John MacFarlane. I take MacFarlane’s account to suffer from two significant problems, and after identifying them, I’ll develop an improved framework for thinking about retraction data and PPT. I'll then draw on this improved framework in reframing the significance of our current empirical data.

text: Taste predicates and retraction data: An improved framework Predicates of personal taste (PPT), which include words like ‘tasty,’ ‘fun,’ and ‘cool,’ have been at the centre of a set of lively, interdisciplinary debates spanning the past 20 years. Over this period, philosophers and linguists have developed five major accounts of what PPT mean and the sort of truth (if any) for which assertions involving PPT are apt. In this talk, I will explore one of the main empirical diagnostics that should be used in evaluating the ‘big five’ analyses of PPT, which involves considerations about retraction. After setting out the ‘big five’ analyses, I'll review the most influential account of why retraction data matter in the PPT debates, which comes from John MacFarlane. I take MacFarlane’s account to suffer from two significant problems, and after identifying them, I’ll develop an improved framework for thinking about retraction data and PPT. I'll then draw on this improved framework in reframing the significance of our current empirical data.

year: 2022

title: Sharing, listening, learning and developing understandings of Kaupapa Māori research by engaging with two Māori communities involved in education.

authors: Kana, Fred

subjects: Kaupapa Maori research methodology

abstract: This paper is a culmination of common understandings that were elicited from two pieces of research: ‘The Impact of the BHP New Zealand Steel Mining on the Tangata Whenua and the Environment’ and ‘The Impact of Maori Medium Education within a Mainstream Secondary School on the Lives of its Participants, in particular the Teachers, Caregivers and Students’. It was at the conclusion of each research project and as a consequence of informal conversations and discussions that this paper evolved. The paper discusses shared understandings in the context of Kaupapa Māori research methodology and key findings from the two research projects.

text: Sharing, listening, learning and developing understandings of Kaupapa Māori research by engaging with two Māori communities involved in education. This paper is a culmination of common understandings that were elicited from two pieces of research: ‘The Impact of the BHP New Zealand Steel Mining on the Tangata Whenua and the Environment’ and ‘The Impact of Maori Medium Education within a Mainstream Secondary School on the Lives of its Participants, in particular the Teachers, Caregivers and Students’. It was at the conclusion of each research project and as a consequence of informal conversations and discussions that this paper evolved. The paper discusses shared understandings in the context of Kaupapa Māori research methodology and key findings from the two research projects.

year: 2006