The Role of Local Food in Maldives Tourism - Scholarly Commons ...

possible” (Sarantakos, 1998, p. 282). In this regard, Maldivian food and other types of
food were selected as categories. The units of analysis were words, sentences,
paragraphs and messages that indicated the presence of food. Following a manifest
coding approach, these units were coded and their frequency and presence recorded.
In the second stage of content analysis, the units of analysis were evaluated. In
analysing data for content and discourse analysis, Sarantakos (1998) proposed
explication method, a technique that enables analysis in a broad context, using
information sources outside the procedure, and also enables the content of the
documents to be explained in the context of the case being researched.
The next stage of the content analysis involved carefully reviewing the websites and
printed materials for words and images depicting food and food related activities. The
analysis was conducted manually and recorded on Excel Spreadsheets as the volume of
responses did not require computer assisted review.
A total of 12 image and nine textual categories were identified and the frequency of
occurrence of textual content and images were recorded. Following the categorization of
images and texts, the fourth stage of the content analysis involved data consolidation
and reduction. The initial 12 categories of images and nine categories of texts were
reduced to two categories of images and two categories of textual content. After the
process, the two image and textual categories to emerge were: (a) local food, (b) other
food.
In order to portray the extent that food was used in tourism marketing materials, the
most frequently used themes from the texts and images were identified and their
frequency of occurrence were recorded. Web-based and printed materials were recorded
separately (Tables 5.2 and 5.3).
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