Abstract:
Tourism higher education is an emerging discipline, more specifically tourism postgraduate
study. Within these tourism postgraduate qualifications, the module research methodology is a
common module. The tourism higher education landscape is in a state of volatility, affected by
macro and micro environmental forces, the latter specifically relevant to the Generation Z cohort
of current students. There are also specific challenges in the perception of research methodology
as a module by students. This paper sought to explore challenges faced by lecturers of tourism
research methodology in South Africa as a high-level benchmarking study using semi-structured
interviews. We employed a thematic data analysis approach to analyse the interviews and by
means of a constructivist epistemology, discuss these results and make recommendations in this
regard. These recommendations call for the promotion of a constructively aligned competency-based research methodology curriculum.
