Beyond Positivism: Studying the Experience of Family Farms Engaged in Agritourism

Abstract

Studies into agritourism have predominately privileged positivistic methodologies and quantitative approaches. As such extant studies have highlighted the economic importance of adding tourism enterprises on farms, while not adequately uncovering or probing the complex web of factors influencing the start-up and operating of tourism enterprises on family farms. Further the need to explore, describe and better understand the complexity of how tourism is impacting the farm, the families and rural areas continues to grow. This paper captures and documents the experience taken by three researchers while conducting independent agritourism studies following an interpretative research approach, specifically Q-Methodology, Appreciative Inquiry, and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.