It is from the above theoretical background that this research aims to analyse the professionalism, competitiveness, surfing spots/locations, contest organization, and challenges of surfing within Taiwan. It is thereby particular to surfing spots witch hosts contests, alongside other spots, which may be treated by the research and subsidiary surf spots. The data obtained from this qualitative research will then be analysed qualitatively for the prospective outcome.
For a better and more comprehensive qualitative research and subsequent qualitative analysis, this research will centrally focus on questionnaires, with both open-end and close-end questions for the respondents, which will allow the respondents to explain the answers they provide. This will also allow for maximum data/information gathering, which could otherwise not be possible through live interviews. This will allow for more information collection on the resources utilizes, such as costumes, clothing or design, type and level of competitiveness, professionalism and experience, as well as challenges faced by the competitors (surfers) and controllers/managers.
This research looks at different aspects of surfing in Taiwan and how these aspects are related, with the aim to understand the possibilities and opportunities for the development of the sport.
To start with, earlier research states that there are several small enterprises focuses at surfing in Taiwan, but the facilities on surfing locations fall behind. However these facilities make the sport more accessible. Therefore, it is important to examine the status of these facilities around the coast.
Second, this research examines the influence of competition on the sport. Competitions seem to have a positive influence on the sport. We want to discover if there are enough competitions in Taiwan and if there are enough surfing training facilities.
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At last, this research examines the relationship between competitive surfing and the surfing tourism business.
Based on these three points, some hypotheses have been created as a basis for the research questionnaire.
The following graphic shows the research model and the expected relations between the variables. This model is based on the finding of the literature review and developed in order to find answers to the questions of this research.
Figure 3 Research model
This model is created with as a centre point, the competition aspect of surfing. This centre point has influences on five other major aspects which are all connected. These other major aspects influencing competitions are the competitive surfer, the location and organisations on the one hand. On the other hand, there is an analysis of the influence of competitions on the amount of surfers and beginner surfers as well as the publicity around surfing.
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The first factors influencing competitions are the competitive surfer, the location of the surf and the organisation around the competitions have their own influencers. To start with, the first influence on competitions is the amount of competitive surfers which is influenced by the age, level and interest in surfing of this competitive surfer. Therefore, this contributes as well to increasing the general amount of surfers. Furthermore, the level of a surfer can be improved by coaching and practice. However, to enable a surfer to focus fully on competitions and practice as much as he needs to, a surfer needs support both financially and socially.
The second influence is the location. This factor is mostly influenced by the surfing conditions which are dependent on the topographies and the weather. Both these aspects are hard to control as it involves natural events. However, other influences on the quality of a location can be controlled by local governments and local enterprises: facilities can be maintained and safety solutions such as installing lifeguards. These two aspects, facilities and safety are not only necessary for the good development of a competition but are also required and major contributors to the quality of a location and the increase in the total amount of surfer including beginners.
The third and last influence on competitions, according to this model, are the organizations which are highly dependent of financial and social support. This support may come from different sources. In earlier research, the following organisations were found to give support to competitions: local volunteers, local and national governments, local surf organizations and international such as the WSL. Through this research the support given to surfing competitions in Taiwan is established.
This research not only focuses on the aspects which influences on good development of competitions themselves but also determines the influences competitions may have on the broader surfing scene in Taiwan. Competitions may have a positive influence on the amount of people interested in the sport of surfing as they come to watch a competitions. As a result, the total amount of surfers would increase. Furthermore, an increased total amount of surfers, have the potential to lead to a higher amount of good surfers who could become competitive surfers.
Besides, more surfers may lead to more publicity around the sport of surfing which would influence positively the support given to these surfers and the amount of organisations involved.
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In addition, as the amount of surfers grow, the surfing market grows, This will have a positive impact on the budget allocated to surfing related activities and facilities. Further, this generates a bigger awareness for the surfing sport.
Surfing competitions also attract surfers that sometimes come from other cities or other countries. Increased amount of competitions and the growth of the surfing industry may lead in a higher surf tourism market and tourism market in general. Because tourists may be interested in trying sports activities like surfing when this activity is well known in the area.
All in all, this model shows the links between the different factors influencing the growth of competitions and competitive surfing and the influences of these factors on each other. These links are at the moment hypotheses and will be investigated further in this research. In order to validate or not these links and find the right information, competitive surfers in Taiwan as well as organisations involved in the Taiwanese surfing scene have been interviewed through an online questionnaire.
If it wants to be an accurate representation of the surfing community, the following conditions need to be met. It has to be conducted at several known surf spots in Taiwan and it has to be held in both English and Chinese to get a wide range of support.
After collecting the data from the questionnaire, the outcome will be organized for interpretation. When the results of the questionnaire are analysed a comparison can be made with the expected outcome.