Designing a Grounded Theory Model for an Applied Interdisciplinary Tourism Psychology Curriculum in Higher Education
Keywords:
Higher education, curriculum, interdisciplinary applied curriculum, tourism psychologyAbstract
Designing and compiling an applied interdisciplinary curriculum is considered one of the necessities of the educational system. This study was conducted with the aim of designing a grounded theory model for an applied interdisciplinary tourism psychology curriculum in higher education. The present study is a qualitative research type that is fundamental in terms of purpose and has been conducted with an exploratory approach. The data collection tool is a semi-structured interview consisting of 6 questions. The statistical population for answering the interview questions is all experts and scholars in the field of psychology and tourism curriculum planning in higher education in the country, faculty and non-faculty members who are qualified to have at least 10 years of relevant work experience. The sample size was obtained by snowballing and purposive sampling, equal to 12 people. The collected data were analyzed through a coding process based on grounded theory based on the study of Strauss and Corbin (1998) in three stages: open coding, axial coding, and selective coding. The categories were categorized into 6 grounded theory networks including central phenomena, background conditions, causal conditions, intervening conditions, strategies and consequences. Thus, finally, 13 main categories, 37 subcategories and 161 indicators for the interdisciplinary applied curriculum model of tourism psychology in higher education were obtained. The central phenomenon includes 1 main category of the interdisciplinary curriculum of tourism psychology. Background conditions include 2 main categories of curriculum infrastructure and curriculum content. Causal conditions include 2 main categories of teaching methods and teaching evaluation. Intervening conditions include 2 main categories of internal factors and external factors. Strategies include 4 main categories of learner activities, planning and supervision, facilities and equipment and attention to curriculum levels. Also, consequences include 2 main categories of micro-consequences and macro-consequences. According to the results, an interdisciplinary curriculum of tourism psychology requires considering the factors of psychology and tourism together, and with the help of the identified strategies, an effective program can be achieved.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Parvaneh Sarkeshikzadeh (Author); Alireza Manzari Tavakoli; Farshid Khosropour (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
