The Scientific Identity of Tourism Research. Polish Views Versus Those of Foreign Academia
The Scientific Identity of Tourism Research. Polish Views Versus Those of Foreign Academia

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this article is to present empirical results of a survey devoted to the issueof the scientific identity of Polish and international scholars of tourism. The survey hasa firm theoretical background and the results are presented in the light of achievementsof international literature. The article features: 1) a theoretical discussion and an overviewof previous research and selected literary sources; 2) a presentation of the resultsof the author’s empirical studies of the scientific identity carried out among Polishand international researchers of tourism; 3) more general conclusions related to the issuesaddressed in the paper.The empirical research project has the qualitative character(the non-representative survey on a purposeful sample) and was carried out in 2013and 2014. The project covers two subsamples: international and Polish. The internationalsubsample encompasses around 180 scholars of different scientific grades, ageand experience in tourism research. The respondents represent leading public and privateinstitutions (mostly universities as well as national and international tourism scientificassociations and independent institutes) from almost 50 countries and all the continents.The Polish subsample includes 90 tourism scholars of various age, profile, experienceand academic degree. They are representatives of the main national academic centresand scientific disciplines which deal with the issues related to tourism.The general resultssuggest that Polish scholars of tourism hold more conservative positions than theirinternational colleagues as far as the recognition of the specific scientific identity of tourismresearch is concerned. At the same time it should be noted that some similaritiesin the Polish and international academia’s views on the subject in question exist. Finally,it should also be stated that both Polish and international scholars dealing with tourismare internally divided as regards the methodological position of tourism research – especially its cognitive and formal status. The article develops certain ideas and findingspresented in the previous works by the author focused mainly on the scientific identityof Polish scholars of tourism.

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