The Empirical Data

In this study, tourist experience is incorporated as a central element in the exploration of identity construction in tourism, which makes the choice of interviewees essential in terms of getting data that does contain elements of tourist experience. A particular group of people has therefore been chosen as the focal point, namely the so-called best-ager segment.¹⁶ The reasons for choosing this specific segment is, as mentioned, firstly that they have had opportunities to travel at different stages of their lives; secondly, the segment is characterised by very varied and individualised behaviour; and thirdly, they are also characterised by being relatively resourceful, which makes travelling interesting and possible for them. Therefore, they pose an interesting case for exploring tourist experience as part of identity construction.

16 See section 1.3 The Best-Ager Segment as an Empirical Focus

Besides the element of tourist experience, elements of age, place of residence, and family status have been considered in the selection of interviewees.

Experience and age go hand in hand in the sense that experience at different stages of one’s life requires a certain age; place of residence is included because this study is not a case study, but a more generic exploration of identity construction; and family status because identity is perceived to exist both on a personal and social level, and family is the most immediate influence on tourist experiences, wherefore it is also included. These elements were defined according to the factors explained below:

• Tourist experience: based on an estimate of travel activities, domestically and/or internationally, on a regular basis, i.e. at least every other year over the past ten years – based on an assumption that travel activities have increased over the years, and thus travelling may not have been regular at all life stages, and variation in travel activities throughout these stages was also pursued.

• Age: 50-65 – based on an assumption that people of this age are for the most part still in the workforce, wherefore time and money for travelling are assumed to be influences by the work situation. At the same time, children in the family are grown up and thus not travelling with the interviewees on a regular basis. There are variations to these rules, and eventually retirees were also included in the group because they were often part of a couple.

• Place of residence: Aalborg, Denmark or Sheffield, England¹⁷ – based on a desire to make the study relevant in terms of exploring identity construction at a level not that is not case specific, and on an assumption that cultural differences in this respect would be relatively limited in a European context. Aalborg and Sheffield were chosen for practical reasons explained below.

• Family status: single or couple – based on the idea that travel partners influence tourist experiences greatly, and thus identity construction.

17 Specifically in or in proximity of these two cities

The interviewees were chosen based on these considerations. In practice, the interviewees were initially found through a process of snowball sampling in the author’s network, simply by letting people know that interviewees that would fit these characteristics were needed. Subsequently, each contact was accessed in terms of these characteristics and their relations to the author, i.e. people that the author had met before were ruled out. The result of this selection process is illustrated in the table below, which obviously includes the fact that they do have the required age and experience.

Table 2.1

Aalborg, DK Sheffield, UK

Working 17 18

Retired 4 3

Single 3 4

Couple^a) 18 17

Number of interviewees 21 21

Number of interviews 12 13

a) Individuals in a couple.

The interviews were semi-structured interviews based on an interview guide of themes to be covered in the interviews.¹⁸ The interviews were structured in such a way that the interviewees were asked to bring photos of their choice that would then work as a vantage point for the interview and served the purpose of getting the interviewees started. When needed, the interviewer would bring up the themes from the interview guide. This means that most often, the interviewees set the structure of the interview, and when not, the interviewer would return to the interview guide¹⁹.

The interviews took place at the interviewees’ homes, or of another place of their choice, e.g. at a university meeting room. It was important to create and environment that was relatively comfortable for the interviewees, and to a great extent the interviewees provided that by themselves by opening up their homes

18 See Appendix 1.

19All interviews have been recorded and transcribed, but only one example has been included for illustration – see Appendix 2. All transcripts and sound files can be provided if required. Contact the author: ksmed@ihis.aau.dk

at this occasion. Also for the reason of comfort, the only technical device used was a voice recorder, as only the spoken word was important in this context. It seemed relatively easy though to find people willing to speak about their experiences, and very often the interviews lasted longer than anticipated, which is perceived a sign of the interviewees’ great willingness to address these issues.

It needs to be added that it might have been a great advantage that the interviewees were contacted through personal connections, because a sense of trust may have been invoked by this, for the interviewees as well as the interviewer. This personal connection may also have had some negative effects, but the advantages were deemed more significant than the disadvantages.

The choice of Aalborg in Denmark, and Sheffield in England needs to be specified a bit further as they will be included in the study on completely similar terms. If differences appear, they will be addressed. Denmark is a straight forward choice because of interest, accessibility and language efficiency – the author being a Dane, a native Danish speaker and living and working in Denmark.

In terms of identifying an appropriate second case, the same practical approach would have to be applied for this research to be possible at all. Moreover, there would be sense in choosing a cultural context that is to some extent similar to the Danish, but at the same time different, because of the possibility to determine different variables within each context, and their influence on the topic at hand. Based on these considerations, England is chosen, because the same tendencies within the best-ager segment also apply in England, and because a general geographical, political, social and economic compatibility can be established at a macro level between Denmark and England. Therefore, unity between these two contexts seems plausible in the light of this research and its objectives.