Visual Research Methods in Tourism: From Traditional Visuals to Instagram

The proposed contribution aims at providing the audience with a systematic overview of qualitative methods, tools and insights useful to analyze visuals in tourism. The novel visual landscape, characterized by big data availability, calls for a better understanding and usage of visuals in tourism research. Recent studies encourage new methodological perspectives and promote adequate visual analysis (Volo & Irimias, 2020). This presentation advocates for rigorous visual analysis of images based on systematic, objective, and explicit methodological approaches that enable scholars to analyze the compositional value of images and the associated meanings, to capture relevant visual connotations and patterns (Pink, 2006; Rakić, & Chambers, 2012; Rose, 2012). Different research approaches will be discussed and examples from traditional and visual social networks will be analyzed. The presentation aims at providing participants to the Qualitative Research Methods Workshop the essential qualitative methods, tools and insights to successfully analyze visuals for tourism research purposes. Participants to the workshop will be expose to a variety of visual stimuli -coming from field research and from published works- with the aim of creating a “sensitivity to visuals” from sketches to Instagram snapshots. Finally, the presentation will offer critiques of the currently used methods, discuss alternative methodological approaches and debate on the techniques that can be used to address trustworthiness and reflexivity in the use of visuals as qualitative data. Rakić, T., & Chambers, D. (Eds.) (2012). An introduction to visual research methods in tourism. Routledge. Rose, G. (2012). Visual Methodologies: An Introduction to Researching with Visual Materials, Sage Publications. Pink (2013). Doing visual etnography. Sage Publications. Volo, S., Irimiás, A. (2020). “Instagram: Visual methods in tourism research.” Annals of Tourism Research, 103098

Licking behavior as a function of deprivation, stimulus quality and experience in rats

Work in our laboratory as well as in others has shown that the microbehavioral components of the licking response in the rat (lick duration, lick rate, intake per second and intake per lick) can vary as a result of changes in the motivational state of the animal and the properties of the stimulus solution. Furthermore, Allison (1971) and our own pilot work have shown that these components can show differential fractionation,” to borrow a term from the Classical Conditioning literature. This simply means that these components, although closely interrelated, may vary in different directions as a result of the same stimulus. Thus, Allison’s (1971) hungry rats drinking Nutrament showed increases in ml./lick and ml./sec. while lick duration (sec./lick) decreased. Allison has supposed that “licking reinforces those topographical features of the lick which promote an increase in efficiency.” The present hypothesis is that intake per lick, sec./lick, and lick rate are modified through a learning process so that ml./sec. is maximized for any particular combination of motivational state and stimulus fluid. Deaux’s (1973) investigation of ingestion rate as a reward magnitude variable in classical and instrumental learning in rats provides a mechanism to account for these changes. Deaux found that presenting the same volume of water (UCS) at a greater rate (ml./sec.) resulted in a significantly larger percentage of CR’s in a classically conditioned licking task. The same variable led to differences in asymptotic running speed in a runway task with animals receiving 1 ml. of water at a rate of .04 ml./sec. running consistently faster than those rewarded with the same volume at .01 ml./sec. Deaux reinterprets Spence’s (1956) concept of vigor of a consummatory response in the following way: “it is in actuality not the vigor of a response in physical sense which is crucial in determining its vigor in a theoretical sense, but rather the amount of reinforcement obtained by the response” (p. 314). In the present context, patterns of licking resulting in the highest rate of ingestion (ml./sec. or efficiency), even if these require a decrease in lick rate, duration and/or intake per lick, will be differentially reinforced with respect to patterns of licking providing lesser rates of ingestion. Efficient licking is therefore regarded as a learned response and should show appropriate characteristics. Efficiency of licking, for the purpose of this study, has been defined by rate of intake per second of contact with the fluid. Other definitions are, of course, possible (i.e., total intake during the drinking period) and may even be more appropriate. Rate of intake on a microbehavioral level has, however, been used as an index of efficiency by several other investigators. Experiment I will examine the acquisition of efficient drinking, and Experiments II and III will ask whether licking behavior acquired under one set of stimuli will transfer to another set

An Analysis Of Student Performance On Unit Test Items Not Addressed By Study Questions As A Function Of The Prior Availability Of Study Questions Over The Unit

18, [2] leaves. Advisor: Dr. Margaret LloydThe problem. In what way does the availability of study questions affect student test performance and general comprehension of unit material? Procedure. Students enrolled in an abnormal psychology class were either given study questions or not given study questions to help them prepare for each of their weekly tests. The two dependent variables were (1) performance on test items which had been addressed by the study guide (percent of students passing the test on the first attempt) and (2) performance on probe items over material which had not been addressed by the study guide. Correct answers to probe items did not improve a student's grade. Findings. When study questions were provided, students consistently did better on the unit tests and worse on probe items than they did when study questions were not provided. These relationships were consistent at each of three criteria levels for passing the unit test (50%, 70%, and 90%). Recommendations. Study questions could more effectively be used if they cover a large portion of the unit material. Construction of study questions could also require the synthesis of unit material rather than a discrete response from the student

A microscopic mechanism for self-organized quasi periodicity in random networks of non linear oscillators

Self-organized quasi periodicity is one of the most puzzling dynamical phases observed in systems of non linear coupled oscillators. The single dynamical units are not locked to the periodic mean field they produce, but they still feature a coherent behavior, through an unexplained complex form of correlation. We consider a class of leaky integrate-and-fire oscillators on random sparse and massive networks with dynamical synapses, featuring self-organized quasi periodicity, and we show how complex collective oscillations arise from constructive interference of microscopic dynamics. In particular, we find a simple quantitative relationship between two relevant microscopic dynamical time scales and the macroscopic time scale of the global signal. We show that the proposed relation is a general property of collective oscillations, common to all the partially synchronous dynamical phases analyzed. We argue that an analogous mechanism could be at the origin of similar network dynamics.Comment: to appear in Phys. Rev.

Heterogeneous Mean Field for neural networks with short term plasticity

We report about the main dynamical features of a model of leaky-integrate-and fire excitatory neurons with short term plasticity defined on random massive networks. We investigate the dynamics by a Heterogeneous Mean-Field formulation of the model, that is able to reproduce dynamical phases characterized by the presence of quasi-synchronous events. This formulation allows one to solve also the inverse problem of reconstructing the in-degree distribution for different network topologies from the knowledge of the global activity field. We study the robustness of this inversion procedure, by providing numerical evidence that the in-degree distribution can be recovered also in the presence of noise and disorder in the external currents. Finally, we discuss the validity of the heterogeneous mean-field approach for sparse networks, with a sufficiently large average in-degree

Visual Content Analysis of Instagram posts: The case of an Alpine destination

Image sharing on social media platforms offers freely available datasets for researchers to explore the role of user-generated visuals for value creation in tourism. Within this research it became apparent, that social media limit the DMOs ability to create and maintain a desired destination image. In this changing landscape, adequate methods are required to fully harvest the potential of visuals and to systematically analyze the compositional value and the associated meanings of images. This research explores selected images posted on Instagram with reference to the Alpine destination of Tyrol in order to analyze the congruity between user generated and DMO generated visuals. To reach this aim, the methodological principles outlined in the visual methods related literature are applied. The results are particularly relevant to advance visual research in tourism and to provide stakeholders with a more holistic understanding of their destination image identity

Chaos and correlated avalanches in excitatory neural networks with synaptic plasticity

A collective chaotic phase with power law scaling of activity events is observed in a disordered mean field network of purely excitatory leaky integrate-and-fire neurons with short-term synaptic plasticity. The dynamical phase diagram exhibits two transitions from quasi-synchronous and asynchronous regimes to the nontrivial, collective, bursty regime with avalanches. In the homogeneous case without disorder, the system synchronizes and the bursty behavior is reflected into a doubling-period transition to chaos for a two dimensional discrete map. Numerical simulations show that the bursty chaotic phase with avalanches exhibits a spontaneous emergence of time correlations and enhanced Kolmogorov complexity. Our analysis reveals a mechanism for the generation of irregular avalanches that emerges from the combination of disorder and deterministic underlying chaotic dynamics.Comment: 5 pages 5 figures; SI 26 pages 14 figures. Improved editing, 3 subsections added in S

Genetic studies of Northern Goshawks (Accipiter gentilis): genetic tagging and individual identification from feathers, and determining phylogeography, gene flow and population history for Goshawks in North America

Department Head: William K. Lauenroth.2008 Spring.Includes bibliographical references (pages 125-133).The Northern Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) is a large, highly mobile, mostly nonmigratory and widespread forest raptor. It ranges across the Boreal forests from Alaska to Newfoundland, and south into forests of the Great Lakes, and montane regions of the Appalachian, Cascade, Sierra Nevada, Rocky Mountain, and Sierra Madre Occidental. There has been much interest in the population and taxonomic status of Northern Goshawks, especially for populations occurring west of the 100th meridian. The objectives of my dissertation were to (1) determine whether alternative methods to capture-recapture methods were feasible; and (2) evaluate the genetic relationships among goshawk populations across their continental U.S. range. The genetic "marking" studies (Chapters 1 and 2) provided feasible and cost-effective alternative methods for capture-recapture, and are logistically easier to implement. If used, these methods have the potential to standardize the collection of demographic data across the species' range. Assessment of the genetic status among goshawks (Chapter 3) indicated populations are subdivided at a regional scale, with some gene flow within and among regions