A Comparative Methodology Re(de)fined: Place or Space

This chapter provides a revised comparative methodology for studying islands as ecoterritories and their promotion of sport tourism as a vehicle for sustainable development. It is based on the previous work of the International Research Network in Sport Tourism (IRNIST). This comparative framework acknowledges critical factors such as socioeconomic influences, local cultural (e.g., indigenous) contexts, and the relative level of isolation and vulnerability that characterize these unique and highly diverse small island states or territories. By focusing on a geographic or spatial unit of analysis, this international research project seeks to contrast similar or like territories and their unique and diverse relationships to sport tourism and sustainable development. This proposed framework provides a common methodology to research how sport tourism as a local to global (e.g., glocal) enterprise has the potential to integrate the multiple dimensions of sustainable development in these unique contexts.