STATISTICS

This course aims to provide basic statistical techniques for investigating socio-economic phenomena, with specific attention to the tourism domain. Particular emphasis is addressed to the descriptive and inferential techniques for data analysis also in a multidimensional context. At the end of this course, the student will be able to i) collect and organize tourism data; ii) arrange a sample survey and build a questionnaire for his/her own research purposes; iii) perform statistical analysis in the tourism field.

Formal Lectures

Basic statistical techniques

Types of measurement scales: nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio scales. Representation of data in graphs and tables, Central indicators, variability indicators. Probability, sum and product principle. Probability application. Hypothesis test: null and alternative hypotheses. Brief description of linear correlation and regression, Regression analysis.

Design of a sample survey

Sources of error in primary surveys, sampling and non-sampling errors. The primary research process. Steps in a survey research design. Types of surveys: sample or total. Diagnostic tests: sensitivity, specificity, predictive values.

Questionnaires and field work

Issues in designing questionnaires for primary research. Administration methods. Tourism surveys & data. Scaling techniques. How to formulate the questions. The methods for administering a questionnaire. The methods to validate the question.

Methods for analyzing data from a questionnaire

Contingency tables and chi square test. Factorial analysis. Cluster analysis. Data requirements. Interpretation of estimation outputs

• Candela G. e P. Figini (2010) Economia del Turismo e delle Destinazioni. McGraw-Hill, Milano.

• Vaccaro G. (2007) La statistica applicata al Turismo - Hoepli, Milano

• Paul Newbold Carlson William Statistics for Business and Economics, Pearson, 2012
• Alan Bryman Social Research Methods, Oxford, 2015

• SKIFT MAGAZINE, Megatrends Defining Travel in 2018, 2018, https://skift.com/2018/01/17/the-megatrends-defining-travel-in-2018/.

• UNWTO and UNEP, Tourism in the Green Economy, Background Report, (pp.1-64).

• UNWTO (2017), TourisM, 2012 highlights, http://mkt.unwto.org/publication/unwto-tourism-highlights.

• Garibaldi R. (2020) Rapporto Turismo Enogastronomico

• M. R. Costanzo, (2020). “Le aziende ricettive del settore luxury in Sicilia: analisi della performance”, Kindle Direct Publishing, ISBN:9798637542031