What We Do

As a full service research unit, the Tourism Center provides a range of quantitative and qualitative services custom-designed to meet your needs. We offer custom research services as well as packaged research opportunities for organizations and communities. Engage our experts to provide the research framework, facilitate data collection and analysis to inform your decisions.

Research planning

Contact us at tourism@umn.edu to help you get to your root question, determine if and what data you might need to collect or provide insight on data already available for your needs. Our first meeting sets the tone and pace for the rest of the project.

Data collection

Surveys

• Center staff create, implement, and analyze survey data with clients across the state, country, and world. Decades of experience inform our work as do our ongoing efforts to stay current on emerging technologies and survey opportunities. Find examples of our survey work in our Research Reports section.
• We work with organizations in a variety of ways, depending on your needs and expertise. We can help design the questionnaire which you implement, analyze data you’ve collected or take on the entire process with you.

Interviews/focus groups

• Interviews and focus groups provide the opportunity to get deep and detailed information about issues important for your business or community. Tourism Center staff can help you determine if these qualitative methods are right for your group as well as collect the data required to answer your important questions.

Data analysis

• If your organization collects or has collected questionnaires but wonders what next, we can help. Data entry and analysis can quickly and efficiently be performed to get answers to your important questions.
• Zip codes and addresses can also provide great consumer insight. A Market Area Profile organizes data from multiple sources into a comprehensive description of those who shop in and visit your community – their demographics, purchasing power, lifestyles, information sources and values. Extension organizes this data into easy-to-understand reports and leads discussions about the learning. The information stimulates a plan for businesses and the community to proactively meet the needs of customers and tap opportunities to increase revenue.