Research and Evaluation

In this chapter we will demonstrate that research is at the heart of good festival management. Good festival management involves informed decision making, and research methodologies support this at all levels from planning and programming, through the marketing and the running of the festival, to event evaluation and audience development. Research is a key element of the iterative process through which festivals develop year on year via experience and feedback, not only from audiences, but also from artists, staff and volunteers; this information then feeds into the successful planning of the next event and so on and so forth. The aims of this chapter are to introduce the research process as a whole, give advice and encouragement, discuss the key considerations in carrying out successful research, and identify and describe the main research methods that managers will encounter in running and evaluating their festival. Whilst we will focus on the most often used methodologies of questionnaires, interviews, focus groups and observation, we will also offer some other complementary approaches and discuss the use of digital and online resources in festival research. Carrying out research is all about making the right decisions. Each method has its advantages and disadvantages, and research can be time-consuming and expensive; this chapter will help you to make the right decisions about the methodologies and their use. Successful research is all about juggling a number of key factors such as cost, time, sample size, response rates and reliability. Research does not have to be either costly or time consuming – indeed a great deal of what festival managers already do could be considered as research, and this chapter will help them sharpen up some of those practices.