Claire L Schmierer

Tourism experiences within an attributional framework

Abstract This paper reports on a conceptualization of previously reported data by the authors. Using the critical incident technique, tourists were asked to recount their most positive and most negative tourism experiences. These qualitative data were reduced using the attribution theory. This framework allows researchers to determine which of four causes (ability, effort, task ease/difficulty, and luck) they use to explain their experiences. Results showed an attribution bias where tourists are more likely to use internal (dispositional) attributions for positive tourism outcomes compared to more external (situation) attributions for negative experiences. Tourists perceive less personal control for both positive and negative experiences. Implications for the industry, tourism education, and tourists themselves are discussed.

Development, refinement and future usage of the scale: “Attitudes toward learning in pregnancy”

Given the continued lack of research and evaluation in relation to antenatal education and the real concern for early parenting influences on childhood development, this research surveyed 705 midwives. Their attitudes were analysed and categorised into six themes which were associated with antenatal education, learning and decision making during pregnancy and the midwifes role in antenatal education. The initial finding was that a sizeable minority (up to 30%) of registered midwives has negative attitudes to the womans ability to learn during pregnancy. In response to this finding, the data were factor analysed and refined. Three factors resulted from this process and were named: cognition, motivation and professional issues. The 30-item ATLIP questionnaire accounted for 36% of the total variance. Professional and further research issues arising from this research were discussed.