**2. Methods and Materials**

Due to the diverse social and political situation in both countries, both the research and the research procedures were adapted to the existing conditions and limitations. In addition, during the course of the project, the coronavirus pandemic began, which hampered the research process. However, despite the difficulties in both cases, every effort was made to achieve the set objectives.

The following formula was used in calculating the minimum sample size for an infinite population, following guidance from the Statistical Office (https://www.statystyka.az.pl/ dobor/kalkulator-wielkosci-proby.php, accessed on 18 November 2020):

$$N \text{min} = z^2 P (1 - P) / e^2$$

The symbols used in the formula are as follows:

*P* is the estimated fraction size—infinite fraction size;

*z* is the value resulting from the assumed significance level (α), calculated using the cumulative distribution function of a normal distribution;

*e* is the maximum estimation error.

In the conducted empirical studies, the following assumptions were made for the infinite population; when the researcher is not able to estimate the size of the fraction *P*, its value should be set at 50% by default. Accordingly, the following assumptions were made:


The sample size calculation allows the minimum sample size to be determined and the resulting figure should be a natural number, which under the given assumptions is 384 units (respondents). The study used simple random sampling. The sample size for an infinite population (here: tourists) is calculated for quantitative research and has wide applicability in statistical research. In the survey part, the empirical analysis of the results and their prioritisation was based on the respondents' indications. The indicator that differentiated the level of impact of individual factors was the number of respondents' indications for a given factor and its level. In this way, structure indicators were calculated. Here, the structure indicator means the number of statistical units characterised by the n-th variant of a given characteristic, in relation to the number of all statistical units surveyed, and indicates the share of statistical units that possess the n-th variant of the characteristic in the entire surveyed population; it is usually presented as a percentage share. In the assessment of mobility needs and proposed innovative solutions, structure indicators presented in the form of a percentage share were used, on the basis of which the factors were prioritised, starting from a value of 1, indicating the lowest position in the hierarchy, to a value of 5, indicating the highest position in the hierarchy.

The research on the mobility needs of tourists in the Hajnowka Poviat was conducted using a survey method. The survey in Poland was conducted between 2019 and 2021. Two research methods were used, F2F (face-to-face) and CAWI. Respondents and interviewers were able to download the survey questionnaire to their mobile devices (smartphone, tablet) by scanning the QR code. They had access to a paper version of the questionnaire to provide their answers in the questionnaire or to the interviewer who would record them electronically. The survey conducted in Russia was translated and partly adapted from a questionnaire developed by the Bialystok University of Technology in Poland (in Hajnowka Poviat). The respondent group consisted of tourists visiting both regions for tourism purposes. The distribution of a representative sample of Polish tourists is N = 421, while there were 390 respondents in Russia. The questionnaire contained semiopen questions, with a developed set of multiple- or single-choice answers and evaluation questions. The evaluation question used a five-point Likert scale (Poland). The survey questionnaire consisted of the following three parts: preamble, questions concerning the research problem, and respondent specifications. Some questions and answer options concerning means of transport that do not occur in Karelia, i.e., questions on boats, planes and railways, were removed.

The collection and processing of information on the accessibility study in Zaonezhye as part of the MARA project was organised in two stages. The first stage of the work was carried out in summer 2019, together with the Kizhi Museum-Reserve and the "Kizhi Ozherel'e" (necklace) and "Karelia Excursion Bureau" travel companies, as part of a study to determine the motivations of tourists from different regions of Russia and foreign countries to visit Kizhi Island. The second phase was organised in the summer of 2020, when the research expedition aimed to survey local residents and tourists to determine motivations for visiting the sites and the accessibility of the area, and to compile the resulting data. In 2020, the interviewers were interested in the purpose of the trip, the availability of transport services, and the services needed in the remote areas of Zaonezhye. The survey was conducted in the village of Oyatevshchina, Velikaya Guba and on the islands of the Kizhi skerries. This is the first time such work has been carried out in the territory of Zaonezhye in the last few decades, The field phase of the study was organised between June and September by the Centre of Social Tourism Development, at the request of the Tourist Information Centre of the Republic of Karelia. The NGO "Zaonezhskaya Izba" and the Sailing Federation of Karelia were involved in the collection of information. Tool development, data processing and analysis (data entry, data processing and analysis, report preparation) were carried out by sociologist A.G. Chukhareva (Sociological Laboratory of PetrSU). The obtained quantitative data was processed and analysed in SPSS between October and November 2020.

The description of respondents was carried out in a slightly different way due to the rules of the survey directly (Poland) and through contacts of state institutions (Russia). The survey showed that the main purpose of visiting Zaonezhye for the majority of respondents (74.7%) was tourism, while one in ten respondents (8.8%) were a local resident. Of the tourists surveyed in Poland, 46.1% were men and 53.9% were women. Other variables were not examined, so there is no need to provide detailed characteristics of the respondents in Poland.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic and the temporary ban on visiting Kizhi Island in June, the majority of respondents were locals and dacha residents from the villages of Oyatevshchina, Ersenevo, Boyarshchina, Sychi, Yamka, Sennaya Guba, Potanevshchina, Zharnikovo, Korba and Volkostrov. However, already in July and early September, the questions were already answered by tourists from different parts of Russia from Apatity to Bryansk and Belgorod, from Kaliningrad to Perm and Orenburg. In total, the respondents came from 84 cities and regions (except Karelia). The largest influx of tourists was recorded from Moscow (20.7%), Petrozavodsk (19.3%) and St. Petersburg (13.6%). Only two foreign visitors were recorded, from Kiev (Ukraine) and Brest (Belarus).

In general, it should be considered that both groups of respondents constituted a representative sample of the population of tourists who visited both destinations in the analysed period.
