The invitation for the Delphi panelwas sent via the eDelphi tool. The
103 potential panellists (the ones that signed up to be product developers)
received an invitation to sign into the system and answer the
questions. As Table 3 presents, altogether 60 panellists answered the
questions (the response rate being 57.3%). The responses were rather
diversified some of them written in story form and some of them just
giving listings of services or things that they wanted the holiday to contain.
As the data made it possible to draw different kinds of product descriptions
a narrative analysis was used. In a narrative analysis a
researcher organises and interprets the empirical data in such a way
that the results construct one or more narratives, which are then
discussed and interpreted (Eriksson & Kovalainen, 2008). In a narrative
analysis the focus can be on meaning, structure, interactional context
and/or performance (Elliot, 2005; Eriksson & Kovalainen, 2008;
Riessman, 2002). In this study, as the aimwas to formdifferent product
theme narratives based on the responses, the responses were analysed
by focusing on the meaning. Examining the meaning means that the
analysis focuses on the content of the narrative, namely on issues,
themes and patterns (Eriksson & Kovalainen, 2008). The empirical
data in this case was organised by using thematic analysis in which different
themes of the responses from the first Delphi round were examined
and based on the themes storylines were developed. Hence, in this
case the narratives developed are constructed by the researcher and the
construction of the narratives formed a central part of the analysis (see
e.g. Eriksson & Kovalainen, 2008). Altogether nine thematic tourism
products/product themes were formed based on the analysis (see
Appendix 1 for examples):
1. Togetherness and activities for all the family
2. Enjoying the natural environment, relaxing and pampering
3. Independently outdoors/in the wild
4. Hiking, physical exercise and a dash of luxury
5. Strength from the natural environment
6. Towards adventures
7. Actively outdoors
8. Fishing at rapids
9. Speed and exciting situations.
In addition to the narrative analysis, a thematic analysis was carried
out to collect comments and suggestions related to services and activities.
The comments received were categorised into six themes, namely
accommodation, activities, services, relaxation and pampering, food,
and service environment. Under each theme the wishes of the customers
were collected in relation to, for example, what kinds of accommodation
they would prefer and what kinds of things they would
connect with relaxation and pampering. The summary report for
Round 1 included results from the thematic analysis and the narrative
stories (thematic product descriptions).
4.4. Round 2: gathering and analysing the data
The objective of the second round was to evaluate the interest and
appeal, and also get critical opinions regarding the thematic products/
product themes created from the panellists' responses in the first
round by narrative analysis. The second round aimed to obtain concrete
and detailed information about how interesting the developed service
(theme) products are to the respondents,what kinds of feelings they invoke,
what kinds of improvements are required and forwhomthe panel
see the products and service modules being suitable for. This aimed to
get answers and concrete solutions e.g. for product cards. Itwas thought
that evaluating all nine products would be too much for the panellists,
so they were asked to choose four thematic products they found the
most interest in and describe:
• What kinds of feelings they get from the product?
• What is good?
• What is bad or what would they improve?
• Would they take part in this kind of trip?
• Who is the product suitable for?
If the respondents wanted they could evaluate more than just four
products. Again the invitation was sent to the Delphi panellists via the
eDelphi tool. Altogether 37 panellists answered the questions, which
made the response rate 61.7% (see Table 2).
Based on the responses: the appeal and content of the products and
product themes were evaluated. The data was analysed product by
product by using thematic analysis (positive and critical comments
e.g. related to the content of the product/product theme, service components
of the product and price). The appealwas alsomeasured by calculating
the number of comments related to each product, and the
products were ranked based on the number of the comments. It can
be argued that the products commented on the most were seen as
being themost appealing because the panellistswere asked to comment
on the products/product themes that they found the most interesting.
The summary report was made based on the evaluations of individual
products and an evaluation of the appeal of the products partly based
on the number of comments.