Department of Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Hospitality, and Tourism
Bryan School of Business, UNCG
STH 333 Research Methods and Decision Analysis for Tourism and Hospitality
1. INSTRUCTOR INFORMATION:
Contact info: Dr. Bonnie Canziani, Bryan 473, bmcanzia@uncg.edu
Office hours: MW 8:30 to 10; 11 to 12 and by appointment
2. CATALOG DESCRIPTION:
Review of primary and secondary research methods; types and sources of data relevant
to tourism and hospitality decisions. Critical evaluation of research findings based on
validity, reliability, and probability principles. Credits 3:3
3. STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES:
At the end of the course, students will be able to:
1. Describe the importance of research and data analysis activities to effective tourism
and hospitality decision making.
2. Differentiate primary and secondary research methods in the tourism and
hospitality sectors.
3. Identify primary sources of public and commercial secondary data utilized by major
tourism and hospitality organizations.
4. Apply primary research methods in the context of a tourism and/or hospitality issue.
5. Evaluate secondary sources of data in the context of a tourism and/or hospitality
decision.
4. GRADING PLATFORM:
Graded Activity
Statistics quizzes (individual work)
Manual exercises & student
questionnaire
Methods exams based on lectures, ppts,
manual content and supplemental BB
readings (individual work)
Group project (one per group)
Total points possible for final grade
Points
25 pts
25 pts
Details
(5 X 5 pts each on BB)
(5 x 5 pts due in class)
SLOs covered
1, 4
1-5
100 pts
2 exams (25 Q worth 2 pts each
objective exams on BB)
1-5
50 pts
200 pts
(see breakdown below)
1, 4
Project Assignment 1: Research Proposal and Data Collection Instrument
Project Assignment 2: Formatted Spreadsheet and Data Analysis
Project Assignment 3: Final Written Project
1
(10 points)
(10 points)
(15 points)
Project Assignment 4: Final Project PowerPoint and Oral Presentation
Project Assignment 5: Evaluations
(10 points)
(5 points)
5. ASSIGNMENT POLICY:
Due to the format of the class, no work is accepted outside of class [or outside of BB channels, e.g.,
tests on BB]—do NOT email, put under my door, or in my mailbox any work assignments.
a. Tests are not comprehensive and cover all material studied up to the test date as
specified in chart below. No make-ups of tests or quizzes will be given for any
reason.
b. A comprehensive 5-pt opt-in statistics quiz will be posted during last week to replace
lowest quiz score of the semester – optional.
c. Student evaluations of the course will be via a link in the course to a UNCG central
and confidential website and are not conducted by the instructor [moi].




Test One covers:
Business Research
Marketing Research for Business Planning
Measurement, Data, Variables, Scales
Population, Census, Sampling Methods
Test Two covers:




Data collection methods
Survey research design
Reliability and validity (bias and errors)
Response rates
You will receive a score of 0 for any work not submitted. To receive credit for the course, you must earn
a letter grade of D- or higher on the weighted total of all assigned course work (e.g., exams,
assignments, group work, etc.). Your final grade in the course will be a letter grade. Letter grade
equivalents for numerical grades are as follows:
Scoring Equivalencies for the Final Course Grade
200-194
193-186
185-180
179-174
173-166
A+
A
AB+
B
165-160
159-154
153-146
145-140
139-134
BC+
C
CD+
2
133-126
D
125-120
D119 and below F
6. REQUIRED TEXTS/READINGS/REFERENCES:
Canziani, B. Research Project Handbook on Blackboard c. 2006
Assigned readings will also be posted to BB and will be part of test/quiz content.
ABS website: http://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/a3121120.nsf/home/statistical+language
7. ACADEMIC INTEGRITY POLICY
Each student is required to follow the Academic Integrity Policy on all major work submitted for the
course. Refer to the UNCG Undergraduate Bulletin or go to:
http://sa.uncg.edu/handbook/academic-integrity-policy/
8. ATTENDANCE POLICY:
You have three free passes for necessary absences—don’t have to notify me re: the first three. 5
points deducted from final grade for each recorded absence after that.
Validated health or formal approved UNCG documentation, e.g., sport team travel, must
accompany all requests for consideration of special circumstances.
9. FINAL EXAMINATION:
No final exam is given. Final exam period reserved for group presentation overflow—attendance on
all presentation days will be part of project grade.
10. ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS:
Students with documented disabilities requiring accommodation need to notify the instructor at the
beginning of the semester or as soon as accommodation request is authorized by UNCG.
3
Week
starting
In-class Topic
BB Readings
& Manual (M)
August 18
Syllabus overview
Look over manual
W
F
Business Research
BB Readings 1
August 25
Overview of project and
library assignment
W
Describing Frequencies
Frequency Distribution
Measures of Shape
ABS Website
W
Stats quiz 1
Holiday no class
Marketing Research for
Business Planning
W
Share research findings
Central Tendency
Measures of Spread
Group work—Online library work
(M) PAGES 4-7 DUE IN CLASS
typed, bring page 8 to work onreport orally on relevant articles
M4-8
ABS Website
F
September 15
W
Stats quiz 2
What are Data?
Quantitative and
Qualitative Data
What are Variables?
What is a population
Census and sample
Data sources
BB Readings 3
ABS Website
M15-25
Data collection methods
W
Data collection methods
Survey research design
W
Survey research design
F
Online
Review of data collection
proposed by each group
Review of data collection
proposed by each group
October 6
W
Stats quiz 3
TEST 1 ONLINE
Group work—Research proposal
BB Readings 5
M35-40
BB Readings 5
M35-40
F
September 29
Group work—Research proposal
(M) PAGES 15, 16, 19 DUE IN
CLASS, typed, be ready to discuss
in class orally
(M) PAGES 28, 35 DUE IN CLASS,
typed, (present proposed study
population/sampling method)
Group work—Research proposal
BB Readings 4
ABS Website
M25-35
F
September 22
Group work—Online library work
BB Readings 2
F
September 8
Mandatory Activities &
Deliverable Due Dates
(Group work listed is a
reminder and is expected
to occur outside class)
ALL MANUAL PAGES TO BE
TYPED, ONE-SIDED, NAME AT
TOP OF EACH PAGE--- NOT !!!
STAPLED—I WILL SCAN TO READ
STUDENT QUESTIONNAIRE DUE
Be familiar w/manual
and have pages M4-8
accessible in class
F
September 1
(Tests &
Stats
Quizzes
Online at
BB)
BB Readings 6
BB Readings 6
Group work— Research proposal
(M) PAGE 40 DUE as a
PPT&ORAL, one per group only
(M) PAGE 40 DUE as a
PPT&ORAL, one per group only
RESEARCH PROPOSAL AND DATA
INSTRUMENT DUE VIA BB
F
4
October 13
W
F
October 20
W
F
October 27
W
Fall break no class
Reliability and validity
Response rates
BB Readings 7
M38-40
Group work--Collect data
No class (data collection)
No class (data collection)
TEST 2 ONLINE
Data set manipulations
BB Readings 8
Descriptive Statistics
BB Readings 8
F
November 3
W
F
November 10
W
T-test
Correlations,
Cross-tabulations
Table formatting
Graphing options
Data visualization
Time series
December 1
Stats quiz 4
Group work—Data analysis
BB Readings 11
Group work—Data analysis
Group work—tables
BB Readings 12
Group work—graphing
F
November 17
W
F
November 24
W
F
Group work—Data analysis
BB Readings 9
BB Readings 10
Group work--Collect data
Group work--Collect data
Group work--Collect data
Group work--Collect data
Group work--Collect data
FORMATTED SPREADSHEET DUE
VIA BB
Group work—Data entry
Stats quiz 5
Discussing results
Discussing results
Practice presentation
Holiday no class
Holiday no class
DRAFT DATA ANALYSIS DUE VIA
BB
Group work—prep reports
Group work—prep reports
DRAFT PPT SLIDES DUE VIA BB
FINAL REPORT & PPT DUE VIA BB
WITH TWO HARD COPIES DUE IN
CLASS
ELECTED GROUP REPS PRESENT
Oral final report
5