The Melbourne Fringe Festival's Audience - Social - Research Paper Example

 Business Research Proposal On The Melbourne Fringe Festival in Australia Part A 1.0 Executive Summary The Melbourne Fringe Festival is one of the largest annual arts events in Australia and was formed under the auspices of provision of entertainment to an audience yearning for new heights and experiences and earns the organizers millions of dollars. However, the festival lacks good coordination and a driving theme and operates in a manner that individual artists are given the freedom to exhibit their own shows without control with the main aim of expanding artistry boundaries as well as challenging the visitors. Thus, they have decided to carry out a research work to get insight about the festivals audiences; who they are and why they visit, their attitudes and how they can be motivated further. Further, there is need to document basic information about the participants such as gender, age, there likes and dislikes level of education, parents’ socio-economic status among many other attributes. In the Melbourne Fringe Festival research work, both qualitative and quantitative research techniques will aid in the achievement of the research objectives. Since both quantitative and qualitative research design techniques will be used, then a detailed questionnaire with both open and closed questions will be used. To be able to collect all this information, a sample will be used. The collected data will be analysed using different techniques. Descriptive statistics will be used to show the data distribution and location. Measures of dispersion will show the amount of spread in the data and will also show the structure of the distribution. Further, cross tabulations will be used to show the relationship between the various age groups while Chi-square tests will determine whether the attributes have any significant relationships between the groups. In addition, graphs and charts of the variables will be employed as they provide a bird’s eye view of the data and are easier to understand even by non-statisticians. Table of Contents Part A 2 1.0 Executive Summary 2 Table of Contents 3 2.0 Introduction 4 3.0 Management Decision Problem and MDP and Marketing Research Problem 4 3.1 Management Decision Problem 4 3.1.1 Rationale for the Management Decision Problem 4 3.1.2 Decision Maker's Key Goal 5 3.2 Marketing Research Problem 5 3.2.1 Rationale for the Marketing Research Problem 5 4.0 Research Objectives 6 5.0 Research Design 6 5.1 Qualitative and Quantitative Methods 7 5.1.1 Quantitative Method 7 5.1.2 Qualitative Method 8 6.0 Data Collection Instruments 8 7.0 Sampling Plans, Data Collection Procedures 8 7.1 Sampling Plans 8 7.2 Data Collection and Survey Procedures 9 7.2.1 Focal Persons 10 7.2.1 Literature Research 10 8.0 Data Analysis Techniques 10 9.0 Research Limitation 10 Part B 12 1.0Introduction 12 2.0Independent Samples T-Test 12 3.0Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) 12 4.0Bivariate Correlation Coefficient Matrix 12 References 14 Appendices 1: Questionnaire 16 Appendix 2: Analysis Tables 19 2.0 Introduction The Melbourne Fringe Festival is one of the largest annual arts events in Australia and was formed under the auspices of provision of entertainment to an audience yearning for new heights and experiences and earns the organizers millions of dollars (Darvall 2004). The festival mostly relies on sponsorship from donors for revenues, marketing and support services funds. Mostly, the sponsors aim at promoting different messages during the events and increase in number each year. Due to their huge numbers, each has to briefly explain their intended purpose beforehand. However, the festival lacks good coordination and a driving theme and operates in a manner that individual artists are given the freedom to exhibit their own shows without control with the main aim of expanding artistry boundaries as well as challenging the visitors. The uncontrolled programmes during the festivals enable the coordinators to diversify their works. Thus, they have decided to carry out a research work to get insight about the festivals audiences; who they are and why they visit, their attitudes and how they can be motivated further. 3.0 Management Decision Problem and MDP and Marketing Research Problem 3.1 Management Decision Problem According to the management, there is need to carry out a research work to get insight about the festivals audiences; who they are and why they visit, their attitudes and how they can be motivated further. In addition, there is need to document basic information about the participants such as gender, age, there likes and dislikes level of education, parents’ socio-economic status among many other attributes to enable them make decisions backed by strong foundations. 3.1.1 Rationale for the Management Decision Problem Due to the large financial benefits of the festival, the management has seen it wise to coordinate it backed by tangible foundations. Thus, they have decided to carry out a research study to; Get insight about the festivals audiences; who they are and why they visit, their attitudes and how they can be motivated further. Further, there is need to document basic information about the participants such as gender, age, there likes and dislikes level of education, parents’ socio-economic status among many other attributes. To know what audience think about the Festival itself. Patrons would also like to know whether the un-predictable quality of many shows attracts people, or that many visitors go home un-satisfied and may never return gain. Further, capturing the reasons for attending the Melbourne Fringe Festival events and understanding the views of visitors on the products on offer and the likelihood returning in the future will assist the management in developing a marketing strategy for the Melbourne Fringe Festival. There is need to gain a deeper understanding of the returns the sponsors receive for their involvement in the event. 3.1.2 Decision Maker's Key Goal The management would like to understand the audiences; who they are and why they visit, their attitudes and how they can be motivated further. 3.2 Marketing Research Problem The marketing problem can be coined from the management problem of getting insight about the festivals audiences; who they are and why they visit, their attitudes and how they can be motivated further and documenting basic information about the participants such as gender, age, there likes and dislikes level of education, parents’ socio-economic status among many other attributes in addition to capturing the reasons for attending the Melbourne Fringe Festival events and understanding the views of visitors on the products on offer and the likelihood returning in the future will assist the management in developing a marketing strategy for the Melbourne Fringe Festival. 3.2.1 Rationale for the Marketing Research Problem The marketing problem formulated above is important to the management and coordination of Melbourne Fringe Festival since it will ensure that the management get insight about the festivals audiences; who they are and why they visit, their attitudes and how they can be motivated further. Further, it will enable them to have a database of basic information about the participants such as gender, age, there likes and dislikes level of education, parents’ socio-economic status among many other attributes. In addition, they will have a better understanding of what audience think about the festival itself and whether the un-predictable quality of many shows attracts people, or that many visitors go home un-satisfied and may never return gain in addition to capturing the participants’ reasons for attending the Festival events. Further, they will gain a deeper understanding of the different views of visitors about the products on offer, the likelihood returning in the future and the returns the sponsors receive for their involvement in the event. 4.0 Research Objectives The following objectives will guide the research process and include; Understanding of the festivals audiences; who they are and why they visit, their attitudes and how they can be motivated further. Documenting basic information about the participants such as gender, age, there likes and dislikes level of education, parents’ socio-economic status among many other attributes and understanding their thought about the Festival itself. Gaining deeper knowledge on whether the un-predictable quality of many shows attracts people, or that many visitors go home un-satisfied and may never return gain. Capturing the reasons for attending the Melbourne Fringe Festival events and understanding the views of visitors on the products on offer and the likelihood returning in the future will assist the management in developing a marketing strategy for the Melbourne Fringe Festival. Understanding of the returns the sponsors receive for their involvement in the event. 5.0 Research Design According to Patrick and Steve (2005), the design of a research depends on the research objectives, the sampling plan, sampling frame and the research ethical considerations involved. The research methodology is an important component of the research design process and involves the determination of the sample size, design and administration of the research data collection instrument, come up with restrictions and ethical considerations (Yin 2003). 5.1 Qualitative and Quantitative Methods In the Melbourne Fringe Festival research work, both qualitative and quantitative research techniques will aid in the achievement of the research objectives. This is so because, the quantitative technique will make it possible to document basic information about the participants such as gender, age, there likes and dislikes level of education, parents’ socio-economic status and also in the capture of the reasons for attending the Melbourne Fringe Festival events and understanding the views of visitors on the products on offer and the likelihood returning in the future and also in the understanding of the returns the sponsors receive for their involvement in the event among many other attributes. The qualitative technique will enable the management to understand the festivals audiences; who they are and why they visit, their attitudes and how they can be motivated further. Further, it will enable them to gain more knowledge on whether the un-predictable quality of many shows attracts people, or that many visitors go home un-satisfied and may never return gain. 5.1.1 Quantitative Method According to Crotty (1998), quantitative research methods are mostly when the researcher would like to get more quantifiable details about the participant. Attributes which could be quantified include age, gender, level of education etc and mostly tries to answer the question of “how much”. Further, of interest is the average age, income and level of education. In this research study, the design approach will assist in documenting participants’ basic information such as gender, age, there likes and dislikes level of education and parents’ socio-economic status. Quantitative research design technique employs the use of detailed questionnaires and other survey methods which all detailed (Denzin and Lincoln 1994). 5.1.2 Qualitative Method According to Silverman (2001) and Greenfield (2002, qualitative research methods are mostly when the researcher would like to get more qualitative information about the participants. For example, the researcher may be interested in getting a deeper understanding of participants attributes like why they visit the Melbourne Fringe Festival. In this research study, the design technique will aid in understanding the festivals audiences; who they are and why they visit, their attitudes and how they can be motivated further. In addition, it will aid in gaining more knowledge on whether the un-predictable quality of many shows attracts people, or that many visitors go home un-satisfied and may never return gain. 6.0 Data Collection Instruments Since both quantitative and qualitative research design techniques will be used, then a detailed questionnaire with both open and closed questions will be used. The open questions will collect qualitative data such as who the audiences are and why they visit, their attitudes and how they can be motivated further. Closed questions will be aimed to collect information like such as gender, age, there likes and dislikes level of education and parents’ socio-economic status and will make it possible for the management to have this basic information for an effective marketing strategy. To be able to collect all this information, a sample will be used. 7.0 Sampling Plans, Data Collection Procedures 7.1 Sampling Plans In a research study, it is often not possible to study the whole population since; It is expensive; and It is not possible to get all the population elements. In such a case, sample is used since it is cheap; the researcher uses a short duration to make inferences about the whole population since a sample has the same scope as a complete count (Kaplan 2004). In this case stratified sampling technique is proposed since the target population will be made up of participants and the artists and each group has different traits making the target population heterogeneous. According to Kaplan (2004), a sampling frame is a list of all elements in a certain population from which a sample can be drawn from. In this case, all artists and all the participants will form the sampling frame. In this regard, a simple random sample which affords the participants equal chances of being selected will be drawn from each group. This will be meant to ensure un-biased representation which will ensure generalizability of the results. In this case, a response rate of 30% will be targeted for both the participants and the artists (30% of all artists and 30% of all participants will form the research study sample). 7.2 Data Collection and Survey Procedures Data collection in this research study will employ the use of questionnaire with both open and closed-ended questions. In the development of the research instrument, the following considerations will be key; The questions will be clear and precise; The questions will be un-ambiguous; In addition, the researcher will be interested in determining, the validity and reliability of the research instrument: validity is all about whether the instrument is really measuring what it is supposed to me measuring while reliability is all about whether the research tool questions are reliable. Generally, Cronbach Alpha coefficient will be used in this case. If all the questions have a coefficient greater than 0.7, then they will be admitted as being reliable. Further, to maintain reliability and validity, the research will pilot the questionnaire and gauge whether the responses are as expected. The following research ethical considerations will be key to ensure valid data; Protection of the participants-the researcher will recognize that human being are autonomous being; Beneficence- the researcher will try to maximize the research benefits and minimize the risks; and Justice- the researcher will ensure that the research benefits are distributed well to all the participants. The researcher will further ensure that data collected is handled confidentially and this will be ensured by giving the participants a free consent form in order to ensure free participation. 7.2.1 Focal Persons The researcher will recruit 10 focal persons who will administer the questionnaire to the visitors. The administration will be personal since it is cheaper than mail and internet administration (Kumar 1996). 7.2.1 Literature Research According to McHoul and Grace (1993); McHoul and Grace (1993) and Freed et al. (1991), a good literature review forms a critical foundation of a research proposal as it shows that the researcher has knowledge on what he/she is doing and has identified the gap that needs to be filed by the research study findings. To make this possible, the research will review important journals and books for information and supporting materials. 8.0 Data Analysis Techniques The collected data will be analysed using different techniques. Descriptive statistics will be used to show the data distribution and location. Measures of dispersion will show the amount of spread in the data and will also show the structure of the distribution. Further, cross tabulations will be used to show the relationship between the various age groups while Chi-square tests will determine whether the attributes have any significant relationships between the groups. In addition, graphs and charts of the variables will be employed as they provide a bird’s eye view of the data and are easier to understand even by non-statisticians (Norris 2002; Malhotra & Shaw 2006). 9.0 Research Limitation The research work is likely to have the following limitations; Little time to complete the questionnaire thus no conclusive data as many come and go quickly. Administration of both qualitative and quantitative research techniques can be dear. The data collected may not be valid and reliable due to the research tool design and the small sample size. Many visitors may not want to participate if the consent form/more information is not provided The findings may not be generalizable to the whole population. Cohort and representation bias mat arise during data collection. Part B 1.0 Introduction This survey was meant to determine the expectations of 166 students on the course. Of the 166 students, 44(26.5%) were males while 122(73.5%) were females. 136(81.9%) were attending the units of the course on fulltime while 28 (16.9%) were attending the units of the course on part time. 8(4.8%) enrolled for the course in 2003, 78(47%) enrolled for the course in 2004, 47(28.3%) enrolled for the course in 2005 while 33(19.9% enrolled for the course in 2007. Further, the survey had 20 questions on the importance of some learning and teaching attributes by rating them of a likert scale of 1-7 scores. 2.0 Independent Samples T-Test According to Gore & Altman (1992), independent samples t-tests are used to determine any significance of the mean differences between two independent outcomes, in this case, male students and female students for questions 1 to 20. Only two question means were found to be statistically significant; requirement of overall assessment program (p = 0.019, p 40 K 4. Are you working? ( ) Yes ( ) No ( ) Other [Tick the appropriate] 5. How many times have you visited Melbourne Fringe Festival? ( ) ≤ 2 ( ) 3 – 5 ( ) 6 – 10 ( ) ≥11 6. It takes you how many minutes to get to the Melbourne Fringe Festival? ( ) ≤ 5 min ( ) 6 – 10 min ( ) 11 – 20 min ( ) ≥21 min 7. What has been your primary artistry of interest? [Please specify] _______________________ 8. What do you like most about Melbourne Fringe Festival? [Name as many as possible] ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 9. Ever visited any other festival event ( ) No ( ) Yes 10. How is it compared to Melbourne Fringe Festival? ( ) Better ( ) Average ( ) Worse 11. Why? _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 12. Would you recommend Melbourne Fringe Festival to others? ( ) No ( ) Yes 13. Are you aware of the important messages aired during this Festival? ( ) No ( ) Yes 14. How are they? ( ) Positive ( ) Negative ( ) don’t know 15. Please indicate the amount (in Dollars) which you get for sponsoring the Festival ________________________[Enter the figure here] 16. Suggest on ways to improve Melbourne Fringe Festival Overall _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Thank you for participating Appendix 2: Analysis Tables Table 1: ANOVA . Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig. Unit materials - learning Between Groups 617.219 3 205.740 78.569 .000 Within Groups 424.209 162 2.619 Total 1041.428 165 Unit materials - knowledge and skills Between Groups 557.220 3 185.740 91.212 .000 Within Groups 329.888 162 2.036 Total 887.108 165 Teaching methods - help to learn Between Groups 668.796 3 222.932 136.018 .000 Within Groups 265.517 162 1.639 Total 934.313 165 Topics and content Between Groups 846.624 3 282.208 195.897 .000 Within Groups 233.376 162 1.441 Total 1080.000 165 Assessment tasks Between Groups 790.519 3 263.506 139.005 .000 Within Groups 307.096 162 1.896 Total 1097.614 165 Guidelines and criteria Between Groups 113.031 3 37.677 21.738 .000 Within Groups 280.782 162 1.733 Total 393.813 165 Requirement of overall assessment program Between Groups 4.118 3 1.373 1.067 .365 Within Groups 207.058 161 1.286 Total 211.176 164 Resources - help to learn Between Groups 2.247 3 .749 .934 .426 Within Groups 129.942 162 .802 Total 132.188 165 Feedback from students used Between Groups 2.223 3 .741 .286 .835 Within Groups 419.253 162 2.588 Total 421.476 165 Overall importance of unit Between Groups 11.050 3 3.683 2.083 .105 Within Groups 286.444 162 1.768 Total 297.494 165 Teaching staff - understanding expectations Between Groups 32.000 3 10.667 4.904 .003 Within Groups 352.361 162 2.175 Total 384.361 165 Teaching staff - class atmosphere Between Groups 5.718 3 1.906 .848 .470 Within Groups 364.113 162 2.248 Total 369.831 165 Teaching staff - friendly, enthusiastic, helpful Between Groups .172 3 .057 .095 .963 Within Groups 97.563 162 .602 Total 97.735 165 Teaching staff - genuine interest Between Groups .314 3 .105 .090 .965 Within Groups 187.668 162 1.158 Total 187.982 165 Teaching staff - feedback Between Groups 2.578 3 .859 1.075 .362 Within Groups 129.542 162 .800 Total 132.120 165 Teaching staff - developing knowledge, understanding and skills Between Groups 1.388 3 .463 .420 .739 Within Groups 178.257 162 1.100 Total 179.645 165 Use of T&L resources and aids Between Groups 4.153 3 1.384 1.359 .257 Within Groups 164.980 162 1.018 Total 169.133 165 Use of student feedback to improve teaching Between Groups 1.944 3 .648 .588 .624 Within Groups 178.634 162 1.103 Total 180.578 165 Teaching, learning and assessment tasks used to help students learn Between Groups .748 3 .249 .256 .857 Within Groups 158.053 162 .976 Total 158.801 165 Overall importance of teaching Between Groups 1.051 3 .350 .383 .766 Within Groups 148.208 162 .915 Total 149.259 165 Table 2: Bivariate Correlation Coefficient Matrix Q1 to Q19 Overall importance of teaching Q20) Unit materials - learning .236(**) Unit materials - knowledge and skills .204(**) Teaching methods - help to learn .177(*) Topics and content .139 Assessment tasks .092 Guidelines and criteria .089 Requirement of overall assessment program .401(**) Resources - help to learn .232(**) Feedback from students used .488(**) Overall importance of unit .443(**) Teaching staff - understanding expectations .046 Teaching staff - class atmosphere .329(**) Teaching staff - friendly, enthusiastic, helpful .630(**) Teaching staff - genuine interest .521(**) Teaching staff - feedback .535(**) Teaching staff - developing knowledge, understanding and skills .583(**) Use of T&L resources and aids .445(**) Use of student feedback to improve teaching .201(**) Teaching, learning and assessment tasks used to help students learn .679(**) Note: ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). * Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). 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