The Role of Niche Tourism Products in Destination - Repository ...

Baert, when analysing the development of pragmatist theory, notes how there is ‘not a pragmatist party line that all have to toe’
(Baert, 2005, p.129), but there are a number of key ideological stances that are commonly shared. These include the view of the
active acquisition of knowledge as a way of coping with life’s demands;
the use of a conceptual system; the recognition that human inquiry need not imply the subjectivity of people’s knowledge and the
settling of theoretical disputes by determining what effects they have. Seale et al. also report that ‘the real is never abandoned by
the pragmatist, but rather sensibly put to the test of everyday life’ (Seale et al. 2004, p.4).Therefore the ontological position of
pragmatists is that the ‘mandate of science is not to find truth or reality, the existence of which are perpetually in dispute, but to
facilitate human problem-solving’ (Powell, 2001, p.884). The pragmatist explanation of reality is closer to the researcher’s values.
As Tashakkori and Teddlie (1998) state, instead of searching for truth, pragmatists consider truth to be ‘what works’. They continue
that the pragmatist point of view rejects the forced choice between positivism and interpretivism choosing to use ‘the dazzling array
of both qualitative and quantitative methods’ (Tashakkori and Teddlie, 1998, p. 24) dependent upon the research question and the
phase of the research project. It is this principle that has heavily influenced the approach that I have taken in the field of tourism
enquiry. My research is framed not only in the belief of the existence of the ‘real’, which disconnects knowledge from everyday life,
but also in the belief in collaborative knowledge production with industry partners and other key researchers in the field.
The epistemological positions of pragmatists are that of ‘belief’, ‘doubt’ and ‘habit’ (Pansiri, 2005, p.197). For pragmatists, therefore,
both knowledge and social reality are based on beliefs and habits which are socially constructed. Berger and Luckmann (1967)
argue that knowledge is historical and linked to legitimation, institutionalization and socialisation. The epistemological position of my
research involves the use of the most appropriate approach to developing knowledge with a focus on interaction with the subjects