3.3Research Strategy

For comparative cross-cultural research conduction ethnological strategy was applied, because It is commonly used in qualitative cultural investigations which are complex in nature and are not possible to measure. To illustrate, Hall’s classification was formed as a result of ethnological strategy application. (REFERENCE).Using ethnological strategy it was possible to identify cultural differences, which might be important for further studies.

Although, ethnological strategy usually implies the use of observation as a primary data collection and spending ideally a year in research field (Collis and Hussey, 2003). This is still appropriate for this study which was conducted using interview instead of observation, because the observation was done indirectly by interviewed marketers of tourism companies. Indeed, similar studies studies were done in terms of both non-participant or participant observation. Therefore, non-participant observation was done by marketers indirectly and it was possible to get to know this primary data through interviews (Denis et al., 2011; Jarzabkowski, 2008; Kaplan, 2008), http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1476127014554745

In fact, It is argued by professionals that nowadays marketers are inclined to understand how different customers react towards marketing mix by simply gaining this information throughout the years from their work experience. https://hbr.org/2009/03/ethnographic-research-a-key-to-strategy

Overall, my research ethnological strategy was based on information obtained from marketers of three tourism companies located in Spain, the UK and Ireland and helped me to get in-depth understanding of the cultural differences through one-to-one interviews using online technologies.

3.4Collection Primary Data

1.2. Research Methodology

Research for this thesis was conducted through archival newspaper analysis, a study of scholarly books and articles published on the northern British Columbia region, interviews with members of the Prince Rupert Port Authority, Initiatives Prince George, and a member of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada, and a review of statistical data published on the Port of Prince Rupert. Archival newspaper articles proved very valuable to research as they provided details on all of the main meetings, trade delegations, conferences, public hearings, and other such events that the Prince Rupert Port Authority participated in during the years 1999-2014. Given the inter-connectedness of Northern British Columbia, the City of Prince Rupert and other groups with interests in Northern British Columbia also often participated at these Prince Rupert Port Authority events, and these events were well documented by local news

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sources. Scholarly articles related to port governance were helpful in forming research questions and providing a framework for analyzing port governance. Interview data also provided insights, into the relations of port-connected actors. For instance, I conducted interviews with staff of the Prince Rupert Port Authority, as well as management staff of Initiatives Prince George and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (Vancouver). These interviews were guided by questions found in Appendix B, questions chosen to determine the role of the interviewee in their place of work, and how their organization works in conjunction with other organizations related to transportation.

This cross-cultural research required comparison at a national country scale rather then at individual level. In order to obtain valid and ?extend (l results I interviewed international tourism related companies.

Indeed, interview is a way of gathering information by asking questions about a certain topic in person or using other sources of communications (for example phone, Internet communications). This tool of primary data collection is widely used due to its flexible approach as interviewer is able to adjust or change questions so that the meaning is understood and results will be trustworthy. http://iaear.weebly.com/uploads/2/6/2/5/26257106/research_methods_entiree_book_umasekaram-pdf-130527124352-phpapp02.pdf

As it is qualitative study, which aimed at getting opinion about tourists’ perception and reaction towards marketing communications, I believe that a semi-structured interview was the most appropriate to apply and it suits the main aim of this paper. In connection with interpretivism semi-structured interview was implemented to get subjective answers from respondents with relation to specific situation and their experience. This type of interview was helpful because there was enough knowledge about research subject, but lack of practical information. The questions created a structure of semi-structured interview in accordance with main themes from literature review, however interviewees were free to bring their ideas and views. Such technic covered not only main fields of research, but also provided with new ideas.

http://journals.sagepub.com.ezproxy.gcd.ie:2048/doi/pdf/10.1177/2333393615597674

The set of 11 questions was designed in accordance with 3 objectives of the work:

How does culture affect the perception of marketing communications?

What are emerging trends in marketing communication regarding to Ireland and Russia?

Are there any cultural aspects, which should be taken into account by international businesses when applying marketing activities in both countries?

The research was done under comparison of Russia and Ireland.

http://iaear.weebly.com/uploads/2/6/2/5/26257106/research_methods_entiree_book_umasekaram-pdf-130527124352-phpapp02.pdf