Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
It is the researcher as the bricoleur who pieces together the research as
a set of cognitive patterns which represents a map of the future (here, of
family tourism). Such a pattern is called a bricolage (Levi-Strauss, 1966),
which represents a series of findings that 'make sense' to the researcher
(Weick, 1979). Guba's (1990) assumption that all research is interpretative
places the bricoleur at the centre of the research. This paradigm of con-
structivist interpretation (Schwandt, 1994) is based upon ontology, where
the reality of knowledge is predominantly specific and local. It is a form of
knowledge that is expertise and grounded in practice. This epistemology
views knowledge in a subjective and transactional manner as merely sug-
gesting directions along which to look, rather than providing descriptions
of what to see (Blumer, 1954). This methodological stance is founded upon
subjectivity and interpretation, in which the bricoleur explores the mind of
the researchers in order to construct a cognitive map of the future.
Fundamentally, the constructivist interpretative paradigm believes that
the world of events and meaning must be interpreted (Schwandt, 1994).
This process of construction is about clarifying, through reflection and
debate, the language of those researched. The process is about 'question-
ing' and 'searching' for a construction, where the bricoleur has a 'knowing'
and 'being', rather than being concerned with methods (Wolcott, 1988,
1992). These constructions, according to Guba and Lincoln (1989), are
about 'making sense' of the research, where making sense is a process of
debate between the researchers, to the point at which the researchers feel
comfortable with the construction of the cognitive map, often described as
a 'eureka' moment.
The cognitive map
Cognitive maps (also known as mental maps, mind maps, cognitive models,
or mental models) are a type of mental processing composed of a series of
psychological transformations by which an individual can acquire, code,
store, recall and decode information about the relative locations and attri-
butes of phenomena in their everyday or metaphorical spatial environment
(Eden & Ackermann, 1998). Applied as a research methodology they are
used to represent a cognition of researched thoughts through a series of links
as a map or picture.
Jones (1993: 11) states that a cognitive map:
Is a collection of ideas (concepts) and relationships in the form of a map.
Ideas are expressed by short phrases which encapsulate a single notion
and, where appropriate, its opposite. The relationships between ideas
are described by linking them together in either a causal or connotative
manner.
