Special issue on Event and Festival Research Methods and Trends

Citation

Mair, J. and Whitford, M. (2013), "Special issue on Event and Festival Research Methods and Trends", International Journal of Event and Festival Management, Vol. 4 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijefm.2013.43404aaa.001

Special issue on Event and Festival Research Methods and Trends

Article Type: Guest editorial From: International Journal of Event and Festival Management, Volume 4, Issue 1.

As the global event industry continues to demonstrate significant growth potential, the level of research into events and festivals continues to escalate exponentially. With such growth comes increasing opportunities for new avenues of research, calling for new research methods and innovative ways to examine the growing phenomena of events and festivals. In addition, as the field of event and festival research grows and expands, there are new issues and trends to be noted and understood.

Arguably, for too long, however, research agendas have focused on the economic dimension of festivals and events at the expense, in too many instances, of the socio-cultural, political and environmental benefits that can be realised with the staging of a festival or event. Accordingly, methodologies have been dominated by quantitative economic impact and evaluation studies. During the 1990s, however, academic researchers in this field of study began to note the need for expanding research agendas. Consequently from the turn of the twenty-first century, event research has begun (albeit slowly) to include investigations focusing on broader issues within the social, environmental and political dimensions (amongst others), of festivals and events. Associated methodological approaches have also begun to encompass qualitative methodologies which arguably, provide us with nuanced understandings and an holistic appreciation of the importance of event benefits outside of the economic sphere of events and festivals.

The focus of this special issue is on the expanding field of event and festival management research agendas and methodologies with a view of identifying and sharing the varied perspectives on a range of research issues, approaches, trends and opportunities relating to this burgeoning field of study. In particular, this special issue is concerned with the methods of researching and ways of understanding new aspects of events and festivals; innovations in event and research methods and new trends and issues of importance to event and festival studies. The goal of this issue is to offer substantive insights into the theoretical and/or applied dimensions of festival and event management research in order to stimulate research dialogue and help frame relevant research agendas for a competitive industry operating in an environment of increasing resource scarcity.

The selection of papers in this issue will illustrate both the range of topics and issues that have been the focus of papers in the events and festivals sphere, as well as the breadth of methodologies that event and festival researchers are turning to in order to deepen our understanding of these fascinating phenomena. The first paper in the special issue, by Mair and Whitford, identifies and examines emerging trends in event and festival research and also in the themes and topics being studied in this area. Their research highlights the continued need for studies on the socio-cultural and environmental impacts of festivals and events along with a better understanding of the relationship between events and public policy agendas. This paper sets the scene for the other papers in the special issue.

Despite a preponderance of research into the economic impacts of events and festivals, there are still questions to be answered about the methods used and results obtained. Davis, Coleman and Ramchandani discuss the tensions created between the pragmatic approach required by event organisers and the more robust and the rigorous approaches used by economists. They also question whether the Direct Expenditure Approach to economic impact research remains the most practically relevant methodology for evaluating more routinely held events, given the wider constraints within which event organisers and research consultants operate.

Moving away from the focus on economic impacts, the next two papers in this special issue take innovative approaches to understanding events and festivals. Brown and Hutton's paper discusses international developments in the evaluation of the psychosocial domain of audiences at planned events and the range of research methodologies being used. The paper examines research being undertaken in Sweden, Austria and Australia to identify trends internationally in this nascent field of research. Mackellar, on the other hand, delves into the world of participant observation, as part of the broader qualitative research paradigm. Her work considers how practitioners can use participant observation (recognised as a highly appropriate method to gather data on interactions and relationships through the recording of behaviour, conversation and experience “in situ”) in order to better understand and manage audience relations and expectations.

The special issue closes with a paper by Kim, Boo and Kim which examines the trends in event and festival research over the past 30 years. Using content analysis of 178 papers published in three major tourism journals, Boo et al. demonstrate that the field of events research has been continually evolving, and has diversified substantially over the past ten years or so. However, they identify a number of issues that remain for researchers in the areas of events and festivals, particularly in terms of recognition of event studies as a field of research.

This special issue makes a valuable contribution to knowledge in the field of event and festival management research as it highlights the various research methods and trends that are emerging in events and festival studies, ranging across the full spectrum of the smaller, local, community based events and festivals to the more high profile major and mega events. Perhaps more importantly, this special issue can be utilised as a gateway for future innovative and ground breaking studies as it identifies research trends and agendas which arguably, facilitate collegiality and collaborative opportunities and concomitantly strengthen the global network of event and festival researchers. A benefit of being part of a global network of events and festivals researchers is that there will always be an array of collaborative research opportunities. However, there will always be areas that individual scholars are passionate about, and so whatever recommendations may be provided in a suggested research agenda, there will always be interesting, innovative and diverse studies contributing to the growing body of literature pertaining to events and festivals.

Judith Mair and Michelle Whitford