Self-completion questionnaires have dominated tourism image research; for example, Han et al. (1994) found that 32 studies out of 40 used a self-administered questionnaire as choice of survey mode in country image studies. This thesis also adopted a self-completion questionnaire as a tool to examine the image of Jordan as a tourist destination as it exists in the UK and Swedish markets. The rationale behind choosing a questionnaire as a data collection method was because the sampled population were those potential and actual tourists to Jordan and, therefore, choosing a questionnaire to reach a bigger sample of the target population is the best choice.
Other possible methods, such as in depth interviews or focus groups, were excluded
because they did not fulfil the aim of this research, which was to know the images of Jordan as expressed by potential and actual British and Swedish tourists. In-depth interviews or focus groups are a better fit if small samples of respondents are chosen and when the purpose of the research is not to generalise the research results to a greater population (Veal 2006; Bryman 2008).
For the purpose of this thesis, both the organic and the experiential questionnaires contained similar questions to facilitate comparison across the two surveys. The organic image study was undertaken in Bournemouth, UK and Borlänge, Sweden (July-August 2006). The experiential image survey was conducted in Jordan (October-November 2006). The questionnaire was a mixture of structured quantitative and open-ended questions to eliminate the shortcoming of being fully dependent on a structured questionnaire. Both the questionnaires in the organic and experiential images stages consisted of similar questions, such as importance, performance, attitudes towards religion and religious beliefs, demographic variables, and others, to make it easy for the searcher to compare the results in both stages of the research process of Jordan‟s image. The organic questionnaire took approximately 10-15 minutes to complete and the experiential questionnaire took 8-10 minutes to fill, because it contained fewer open-ended questions than the organic survey. A copy of each questionnaire is included in the appendices of this thesis (Appendix 1 and 2).
3.7.2.1 Organic image stage
The organic image questionnaire consisted of 7 sections and 34 questions. Section 1 dealt with general questions about past holidaymaking characteristics of potential tourists from both Britain and Sweden in the last three years (questions 1-5 in the pre-visitation questionnaire). The purpose of this type of question was to know the ability and tendency of respondents to travel and to derive their attitude and intention to the destination of the Eastern Mediterranean and particularly Jordan. The second section of the questionnaire was about the important travel choice factors that affect the tourists‟ decision-making towards selecting a certain holiday destination. This question consisted of 23 factors or attributes a destination may have to influence the tourists‟ decision making towards the travel (question 6 in the questionnaire from Figure 3.2 in subsection 3.3.1 above). This question helped the researcher to know the
factors that influence the tourist decision-making process. Section three of the questionnaire (question 7 from Figure 3.2 in subsection 3.3.1 above) dealt with the pre-performance of Jordan‟s image as perceived by British and Swedish potential tourists. Respondents were asked to evaluate the performance of Jordan as a holiday destination against 23 attributes on scale between 1 and 7, where 1= „performs very low‟ and 7= „performs very high‟). Jenkins (1999) further hypothesises that combining the two rating scales, evaluative perception and construct preference, discussed in subsection 3.7.2.2 below, gives the researcher the chance to understand destination image more rigorously, and this enables her/him to compare the findings of importance/performance. This procedure is discussed in further detail in the next chapter (chapter 5, organic images of Jordan). The fourth section dealt with holistic images and attributes‟ performance of Jordan‟s image as a tourist destination and it contained four questions. The first three questions (questions 8-10) were open-ended questions and represented the holistic (functional and psychological) and unique components of Jordan‟s image respectively. Respondents were asked to write the first word or statement that comes to their minds when thinking of Jordan as a holiday destination (functional holistic component). This question has a sub-question about the source of this knowledge. The second question dealt with the psychological holistic component of Jordan‟s image, where respondents were asked to describe the mood or atmosphere they would like to expect or feel when they are visiting Jordan.
The last question was about the unique component of Jordan‟s image. Respondents were asked to name the major distinctive tourist attractions in Jordan they already know. Section five of the organic image questionnaire (questions 11-21) was about knowledge of travel characteristics of Jordan in the country and motivation to visit country as well as reasons hindering travellers going there. This set of questions includes how many times they had visited Jordan; whether visit(s) were for leisure or business or both; consideration of going back to Jordan for those who have visited it and the intention to visit Jordan to those who have not visited it. It further asked the reasons that motivate respondents to visit Jordan as well as reasons that deter them from visiting the country and if they prefer to travel to Jordan independently or in a package tour. It also sought the main purpose for visiting Jordan; sources for information about Jordan; places they would like to visit in Jordan; if they were interested in visiting religious sites and the main sacred place they would like to visit
in Jordan. Finally, they were asked also if anyone ever recommended them to visit Jordan and what the basis was of this recommendation. Section six of the pre-visitation questionnaire dealt with religious attitudes and destination image (22-28).
Questions included attitude towards Jordan as a tourist destination; commitment to practise religion; attitudes towards religion; strength of religious belief; respondents‟
religious affiliation; if they have travelled to destinations, where religion was the main purpose of visit. Finally, they were asked which main sacred place in Jordan they would have to visit. The last section of the pre-visitation questionnaire dealt with respondents‟ socio-economic variables (6 variables, questions 29-34 in the pre-visitation questionnaire). These included gender; marital status; age; education;
occupation and income. The purpose of this question was to identify differences in perceptions of tourists to destination image, according to these different socio-economic variables.
3.7.2.2 Experiential image stage
The experiential images questionnaire was shorter and asked some detailed and specific questions about their visit to Jordan. It included attribute questions from the organic images questionnaire so that the organic and experiential scores could be compared. In order to fully explore the image held, it also contained a number of open-ended questions relating to image change, expectations, satisfaction level, religion and the strengths and weaknesses of Jordan as a tourist destination. The experiential (post-visitation) questionnaire consisted of 5 sections and 28 questions.
The first section of the questionnaire dealt with experiential knowledge of British and Swedish tourists about Jordan (questions 1-5). Questions included how many times they have visited Jordan; whether the visit (s) for leisure, business or both; the main influence in selection of Jordan as a holiday destination; the purpose(s) of visiting Jordan; composition of travel (alone or with others) and if it is independent travel or with a package tour. The second section of the questionnaire consisted of one question (question 6) about the evaluation of Jordan‟s image by British and Swedish tourists who have visited Jordan, including this holiday during the time of data collection, on a scale of 1-7 (1= „performs very low‟ and 7 „performs very high‟).
This question consisted of the same 23 attributes as in the organic images questionnaire to make it easy to compare the images, and whether images changed or
not and in which direction. The third section of the post-questionnaire dealt with the holiday experience of Jordan during their stay in the destination (questions 7-16).
They included evaluation of expectations; (dis)satisfaction; atmosphere or mood experienced in Jordan; consideration to return back to Jordan; factors that encouraged and discouraged them to visit Jordan; image change, in which direction and the causes of that; places visited; nights spent or intended to spend in Jordan during the time of data collection. Section four (questions 17-21) dealt with respondents‟ religious attitudes towards certain cultural factors such as the practice of religion, religious belief, attitudes towards certain religions, respondents‟ religion and if they have travelled to a religious location before. The last section (questions 22-28) dealt with the socio-economic variables, and included the same questions as in the organic stage.