BCR Tutorial Week 9

FIC0154 Basic Comm Research

Reference materials: Sample journal article & how to read a journal article reference sheet.

1. What is the Research Topic?
Islam and online imagery on Malaysian tourist destination websites

2. What Background Information did the authors give you in order for you to understand their research?
In December 1996, TIME magazine published an article titled ‘‘Finding God on the Web,’’ which projected how the Internet would shape information seeking on faith and religion. A decade later, the Web has become a popular tool for gathering religious information as well as information and imagery related to religious travel. Yet there is little research on religious destination imagery online. Imagery—positive or negative, pictographic or 

narrative—influences the selection of tourism destinations. This study explored online Muslim images in 

Malaysia via interviews and content analyses of pictures and text on tourism destination websites’  

homepages. The results reveal minimal portrayal of Muslim images by Malaysian tourism destination 

organizations. This study adds to the small body of research, especially in Muslim countries, on online 

religious imagery and suggests avenues for tourism operators in Malaysia and elsewhere to improve their 

online image with both Muslim and non-Muslim travelers.

3. Why do you think each of those topics/sections of Background Information is necessary?

Background information is the summary of the entire paper. Finding background information in the beginning of 

the research is important to us when the topics are unfamiliar or not sure. 

4. What are the Research Questions of this study, if any?

-   How do Malaysian DMOs perceive Islam’s role in promoting their destination to Muslim and non-Muslim
tourists?

-        How do Malaysian DMO websites differ among themselves in portraying Islamic images?

-        How do Malaysian DMO websites portray Islamic images during festive and non-festive seasons?

5. What is the Hypothesis of this study, if any?

-      Compared to other Malaysian DMOs, Kelantan will have stronger Islamic imagery on its websites.

-      Compared to DMOs in Sabah and Sarawak, peninsular Malaysian DMOs will have stronger Islamic imagery on     
their websites.

-      Compared to other seasons, there will be stronger Islamic Imagery on DMO websites during Hari Raya.

6. What is covered in the Literature Review?

-       Religious tourism

-       Islam and tourism

-       Islam and Malaysian tourism

-       Religion and online destination image

7. Why do you think the above topics are covered in the Literature Review?

It is because the topics contained overview of information from previous studies, identification of relationships  

in current knowledge, and recommendations for future work.

8. What Method(s) did the authors use to conduct their research? Briefly outline what they did and how  

they did it.

      DMO Interviews -Malaysian DMOs’ perceptions and presentation of Islamic imagery DMOs representing  

      Malaysia’s 13 states and three federal territories. An email in English was sent to DMOs, there are two 

      question regarding their study. To increase replies, respondents could answer in Malay or English. Interviews 

      were carried out over the phone and face-to-face.

      Content Analysis- A content analysis of Muslim imagery on the DMO websites was conducted to complement 

      the interviews. The homepage was used the unit of analysis. Web content analysis studies often use home 

      pages as the unit of analysis. A pre-test conducted on three Muslim countries’ websites familiarized coders 

      with the variables. The pre-test led to minor changes in numbering, wording, and layout of the coding sheet. 

      The researchers coded the sites during Hari Raya, to investigate the festival season related to the presence of 

      Muslim images on the DMO websites. They are using Internet Explorer 6.0 Web browsers and the same 

      Internet connection to collect the data at the same time.

      

      9. What were the Results obtained from the Method(s)?

The results obtained from the method is the DMO homepages seemed to respect Islam by not showing  

prohibited acts in the presence of Muslim imagery on each websites. Malaysian DMOs recommended to 

include Islamic imagery on their websites. Through the content analysis, it founds that all websites were active 

except Negeri Sembilan, Pahang and Putrajaya. As a result, photo graphic and images was clear during 

festival.

10.What Discussion points/Conclusions did the authors bring up as a result of their study?

-       More Islamic pictographic and narrative imagery was evident during Hari Raya.

-       No picture of Islamic museums/information about halal or halal outlet or any homepage in either season.

11.What were the Implications/Significance/Importance of this research study, according to the authors?

How religion group use the Internet and online behavior by religious surfers by illustrating how destination use 

online religious imagery to appeal to religious and non-religious surfers.

12.What recommendations for Future Research did the authors propose?

-       Avenues regarding the Internet’s role in marketing religion and religious destinations.

-       Should validate the new variables as well as add more categories and variables to paint fuller picture of online  
Muslim imagery.

-       Extend this research to other Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia, Oman, Brunei and Indonesia in order to 
compare their online Islamic imagery.

-       Compare how government and private agencies differ in portraying Islam on their websites.

-       Be fruitful to compare the presence of Muslim images with images of other religions in Malaysia such as 
Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Sikhism.

-       Consider what strategies besides the presence of Muslim imagery are used by DMOs.

-       Organizations evolve in their Internet use.

-       Survey Muslim and non-Muslim tourists who vacation, or do not vacation, in Muslim countries about how 
online Muslim images affect their decision to visit.

13.Were their Limitations in the study, according to the authors?
Yes

14.What Kind of Sources did the authors use for their entire research paper?

Journal article