APPLIES TO ACADEMIC YEAR 2014/2015

RLS 3695 Bachelor Thesis in Tourism Management - RE-SIT EXAMINATION

Responsible for the course
Sølvi Lyngnes

Department
Department of Innovation and Economic Organisation

Term
According to study plan

ECTS Credits
15

Language of instruction
Norwegian

Introduction
The bachelor thesis is a major independent work where the students shall show that they can apply the syllabus of the programme to a concrete problem from the travel industry and aim to prepare proposals to solutions to defined problems.

Learning outcome
Acquired knowledge
The student shall learn how to make an independent report within a defined time period. The students shall acquire concepts, theories and methods from the subjects in the programme, be able to see correlations between the subjects and see choice of solutions and expected consequences. The students shall understand what is needed in order to fulfil scientific requirements to form and content.

Acquired skills
The students shall be able to formulate a concrete problem to be solved taking into account that it shall be included in a total process from understanding the problem to data collection and analyses to strategy, plan or measures. Application of knowledge from several disciplines will in any case be required. The students shall also have acquired skills in collecting primary data and analysing them with relevant instruments.

Reflection
While working on the thesis the students shall have acquired insight into how knowledge is created through research and reporting and have acquired an ethical and critical approach to using sources, data and informants and hence use of references in own work and the work of others.

Prerequisites
The students must have an in-depth knowledge of the tourism disciplines and a basic knowledge of social studies methodology.

Compulsory reading
Books:
Troye, Sigurd Villads, Kjell Grønhaug. 1993. Utredningsmetodikk : hvordan skrive en utredning til glede for både deg selv og andre. 3. utg. TANO. Obligatorisk litteratur vil ikke være tilstrekkelig. Studenten har selv ansvar for å finne utfyllende litteratur.

Recommended reading
Books:
Altinay, Levent and Alexandros Paraskevas. 2008. Planning research in hospitality and tourism. Butterworth-Heinemann

Course outline
The thesis is to written within all the disciplines and industries that are related to the programme. The following demands are made on choice of topic: the thesis must be rooted in a tourism company or a tourism organization. (In very particular cases this requirement may be set aside after an application to the person in charge of the programme). A concrete problem shall be formulated that is to be included in an overall process, from understanding the problem, collecting the data and analysing them to a strategy, plan or measure. Application of knowledge from several disciplines will in any case be required. The thesis shall include collection of a set of primary data for the analysis.

Computer-based tools
Statistics tools for analysing quantitative data.

Learning process and workload
The students are expected to take an independent responsibility for their bachelor thesis work. Tutoring and seminars therefore require that the students are prepared in advance so that discussions and tutoring are fruitful.

The students shall fill in a registration form stating the chosen topic .The students are then assigned a supervisor. The course is given over a semester and includes both seminars and tutoring. Guidelines for writing Bachelor thesis

The teaching includes 4 seminars. Before each seminar the students are usually expected to prepare and present, and/or hand in material beforehand.

Up to three hours of individual tutoring is offered to each student group. The seminar teaching is mandatory. Students that have not attended the seminars and/or have not submitted documentation must expect to be called in for an oral test.

• Problem definition and problem understanding
• Professional integration
• Structure and outline
• Choice of theory and application of theory
• Choice of method and application of method
• Presentation, interpretation and discussion of results
• Originality, creativity and independence in choice of measures
• Use of sources and references