An exploration of mixed research methods in planned event studies

Abstract

The Fife Council in Scotland facilitated the development of 400 events in 2010. Six different and complementary research methodologies were utilized to evaluate these events. The research required the use of a range of quantitative and qualitative methods to establish the motives, feelings and well-being that impacted these events. Crowd counts, ethnography, semi-structured interviews, ethno-photography, focus panels, and electronic surveys were combined. The research demonstrates the potential for using mixed research methods to evaluate different planned events and depicts innovative methods for measuring the overall effectiveness of planned events from the organizational, as well as an individual, participant perspective.