Evaluation & Research: MDPCC

**MDPCC = Mixed Doubles Provincial Curling Championship

I have learnt that evaluation of an event can help to better understand the event impacts and outcomes, which can help to better apply observational research.

Research is "diligent and systematic inquiry or investigation into a subject in order to discover or revise facts, theories, applications, etc."(Dictionary.com 2019)

Challenges of Evaluation at Curling Events

There are many challenges that may be faced when evaluating an event, partly because there are so many options within the Evaluation Process (Figure 1).

Figure 1. A Model of Evaluation Process (BROWN et al. 2015))

The top 2 challenges, and potential solutions, that may be presented with this process:

• CHALLENGE 1: considering why the event should be evaluated and to what extent: this is important due to limited creativity and engagement in the Club. We need to build our social and cultural capital within the Curling Club.

What can be done? As a committee, we can discuss event operations, management practices, and impact and effects of behaviours and attitudes towards participating in Curling Club events. This information can then be used to assess further strategies that can be used to increase engagement in the curling community.

• CHALLENGE 2: assessing which measures, methods and uses are best suited to gather useful information that can help us bring in people to help at future curling events.

What can be done? Discussing how observations have been done in the past and research if other Curling Clubs have done similar research. We want to obtain the most value out of obtaining research, to help gain involvement in the

Lethbridge Curling Club.

Application of Observation

Even though we may face obstacles and push back, it is worth while to think about the types of questions and observations we would want to collect. Chapter 8, section on 'Observation and participant observation' in the e-book Doing Events Research was interesting to me (Fox et al. 2014:111-113). At the Mixed Doubles event it may be worthwhile to establish some research questions and observe participants in a descriptive, flexible, natural way. In order to understand behaviours better at curling events, descriptive non-participant observation could be used to establish the complexity of behaviour being observed, and what further observations and research can be done in order to obtain meaningful data, statistics and information.

Gathering information

Curling Canada has competed 4 surveys in the past 16 years. This would be a great start to compare our current place within Curling Clubs across Canada, especially the results pertaining to membership and volunteer engagement. This will help us to establish questions and guiding topics to gather research specific to the Lethbridge Curling Club.

As a starting point, I would suggest we use primary, qualitative research (ie. surveys and observation) to help answer questions such as:

• Why do you attend these events?

• Why do you think people do not attend these events?

• Do you participate in curling leagues or programs?

I would suggest we use non-participant observation taxonomy to record behaviours and attitudes, paying attention to:

• guest food and beverage services,

• attention to signage,

• social interactions,

• cultural aspects, and

• questions asked by spectators and volunteers.

Barriers to applying observation

• public participation

• management practices and perception

• attitudes, values and behaviour

What are the Benefits and Potential Outcomes?

This research can help better understand the current culture, behaviour, and attitudes at the Lethbridge Curling Club. This collected data can help narrow in on a research study that can help us potentially increase engagement and creativity, as mentioned in a previous blog.

I am fairly new to research activities, and this would help me to develop my research skills.

I predict these suggestions and conversations will not be received well, but it is worth bringing up to the Mixed Doubles Committee.

SV

Up Next: Audience & Marketing at MDPCC

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BIBLIOGRAPHY:

BROWN, Steve, Donald GETZ, Robert PATTERSON, and Marin WALLSTAM. (2015). 'Figure 2. Event evaluation: definitions, concepts and a state of the art review'. International Journal of Event and Festival Management 6(2), 141. Available at: https://www-emerald-com.ezproxy.falmouth.ac.uk/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJEFM-03-2015-0014/full/pdf?title=event-evaluation-definitions-concepts-and-a-state-of-the-art-review [accessed 17 November 2019].

Curling Canada. 2019. 'Surveys & Reports'. Available online at: https://www.curling.ca/about-curling/business-of-curling/surveys-and-reports/ [accessed 23 November 2019].

FOX, Dorothy, Mary Beth GOUTHRO and Yeganeh MORAKABATI. 2014. 'Obtaining Research Material' in Doing Events Research: From Theory to Practice [e-book] Oxfordshire: Routledge Ltd, pp 111-113. Available through Falmouth University Library.

FOX, Dorothy, Mary Beth GOUTHRO and Yeganeh MORAKABATI. 2014. 'The initial planning of a research project' in Doing Events Research: From Theory to Practice [e-book] Oxfordshire: Routledge Ltd, pp 17-31. Available through Falmouth University Library.

BetterEvaluation. 2017. 'Non-Participant Observation'. BetterEvaluation December 2017. Available at: https://www.betterevaluation.org/en/evaluation-options/nonparticipantobservation [accessed 16 November 2019]

Dictionary.com, LTD. 2019. 'Definition: Research' Available online at: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/research [accessed 16 November 2019].