Investigating Violations of Parametric Test Assumptions in Tourism Research
Abstract
Aim: This study evaluates the extent to which researchers adhere to parametric testing assumptions in quantitative studies published in SSCI-indexed tourism journals.
Method: Using document analysis, 239 empirical articles published between 2020 and 2024 in 19 journals were systematically reviewed with a focus on the statistical methods employed and on whether basic parametric assumptions were acknowledged, tested, and reported.
Results: The findings show a predominant use of SEM/CB-SEM and PLS-SEM. Data-type assumptions were mentioned in 94% of cases, whereas normality and sample-size assumptions were addressed far less frequently: only 43% of tests reported checking normality and 29% reported assessing sample size. Normality was not mentioned in 51% of tests and explicitly stated as “not needed” in 6%, while sample-size assumptions were not mentioned in 58% and claimed to be unnecessary in 13% of cases. When all parametric assumptions were considered together, only 24% of studies reported them comprehensively, whereas 57% did not mention them and 18% explicitly stated that such assumptions were not needed; all of these “not needed” cases employed PLS-SEM.
Conclusion: These results highlight a need for greater methodological rigor in tourism research and underscore the importance of systematically considering parametric assumptions to strengthen the validity and reliability of quantitative findings in the field.
Keywords
References
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Details
Primary Language
English
Subjects
Sociological Methodology and Research Methods
Journal Section
Research Article
Early Pub Date
September 25, 2026
Publication Date
-
Submission Date
July 11, 2025
Acceptance Date
December 15, 2025
Published in Issue
Year 2026 Number: Advanced Online Publication