Australian Postgraduate Theses in Interpretation,Tour Guiding,and Environmental Education

Abstract

This research note presents a summary of a project that reviewed Australian postgraduate theses/dissertations completed to date on interpretation, tour guiding, and environmental education in Australia as one indicator of the state of research in these fields and as a basis for comparison with other countries. An inventory of 120 doctoral and masters-level theses completed in these three general topic areas found that nearly three-quarters were in environmental education, with two Australian states and two universities responsible for a disproportionate number of these. Projects relating to high school environmental education and studies of specific countries were prominent, while specific parks and nature-based settings dominated interpretation research. Australian social, political, and environmental factors help to explain the decline in masters and growth in doctoral research, and the shifts in topical focus over the 30-year period. Implications for both research and professional practice in interpretation are presented.

Keywords

interpretation environmental education tour guiding postgraduate thesis dissertation Australia

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

ADT. Australasian Digital Theses Program, accessed 30 September 2006. http://adt.caul.edu.au/

ANBD. Australian National Bibliographic Database, accessed 30 September 2006. http://www.nla.gov.au/librariesaustralia/

Ballantyne

, & Uzzell

(1999). International trends in heritage and environmental interpretation: Future directions for Australian research and practice. Journal of Interpretation Research, 14 (1), 59–75.

Black

R. S.

(2002). Towards a model for tour guide certification: An analysis of the Australian EcoGuide Program. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Monash University

Australia.

Black

, & Weiler

(2008). Factors facilitating and inhibiting the use of research to inform interpretation practice: A case study of Australian protected area management agencies. Visitor Studies, 11 (2), 163–180.

Hall

C. M.

, (1991). Tourism as the subject of post-graduate dissertations in Australia. Annals of Tourism Research, 18 (3), 520–523.

Hall

C. M.

, & Pedrazzini

(1989). Australian higher degree theses in tourism, recreation and related subjects Occasional Paper No. 2. Lismore: Australian Institute of Tourism Industry Management, University of New England, Northern Rivers.

Jafari

, & Ascher

(1988). Tourism as the subject of doctoral dissertations. Annals of Tourism Research, 15 (3), 407–429.

Laing

, & Weiler

(2008). Postgraduate tourism research in Australia: A trend analysis 1969–2005. Where the Bloody Hell Are We? Proceedings of the Eighteenth International Research Conference of the Council for Australian University Tourism and Hospitality Education (CAUTHE), Gold Coast, 11–14 February, 2008.

10.

Meyer-Arendt

K.J.

, & Justice

(2002). Tourism as the subject of North American doctoral dissertations 1987–2000. Annals of Tourism Research, 29 (4), 1171–1174.

11.

Spear

H. J.

(2007). Nursing theory and knowledge development: A descriptive review of doctoral dissertations, 2000–2004. Advances in Nursing Science, 30 (1), E1–E14.

12.

H. C.

, & Chen

Wei-Li J.

(2005). A 20 years overview and prospect of graduate interpretive research in Taiwan: 1984–2003. Journal of Interpretation Research, 10 (1), 59–66.