A virtuous circle: the positive evaluation phenomenon in arts audience research Johanson, Katya and Glow, Hilary 2015, A virtuous circle: the positive evaluation phenomenon in arts audience research, Participations, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 254-270. Attached Files Name Description MIMEType Size Downloads glow-virtuouscircle-2015.pdf Published version application/pdf 367.18KB 408 Title A virtuous circle: the positive evaluation phenomenon in arts audience research Author(s) Johanson, Katya orcid.org/0000-0001-7332-4645 Glow, Hilary orcid.org/0000-0001-9388-8317 Journal name Participations Volume number 12 Issue number 1 Start page 254 End page 270 Total pages 17 Publisher University of Aberystwyth Place of publication Aberystwyth, Scotland Publication date 2015-05 ISSN 1749-8716 Keyword(s) audience evaluation arts impact arts advocacy theatre Summary Arts impact evaluation is the subject of widespread criticism, ranging from a detailed critique of methodology to a wholesale rejection of the very purpose of the endeavour. In particular, it is often identified that audience evaluations are almost always positive. Yet whatever the critique, arts impact evaluation is becoming more and not less prevalent as a condition of public and philanthropic funding. This article explores both the methodologicaland conceptual problems that contribute to the perceived positive characterof social impact research, in two parts: (1) an investigation of the critical literature on audience evaluation, particularly in relation to the argument that evaluation is inevitably positive and as such leads to a confusion between the goals of evaluation and arts advocacy; (2) a reflection on our practices as audience researchers in the performing arts and the practical factors that contribute to the dominance of the positive in audience evaluation. Language eng Field of Research 200203 Consumption and Everyday Life Socio Economic Objective 950105 The Performing Arts (incl. Theatre and Dance) HERDC Research category C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal ERA Research output type C Journal article Copyright notice ©2015, University of Aberystwyth Free to Read? Yes Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30073774 Document type: Journal Article Collections: Faculty of Arts and Education School of Communication and Creative Arts Faculty of Business and Law School of Management and Marketing Open Access Collection Related Links Link Description Connect to Elements publication management system Go to link with your DU access privileges   Connect to published version Go to link with your DU access privileges     Unless expressly stated otherwise, the copyright for items in DRO is owned by the author, with all rights reserved. Every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that permission has been obtained for items included in DRO. If you believe that your rights have been infringed by this repository, please contact drosupport@deakin.edu.au. Versions Version Filter Type Wed, 10 Jun 2015, 15:34:34 EST Wed, 10 Jun 2015, 15:40:47 EST Tue, 18 Aug 2015, 14:43:21 EST Wed, 19 Aug 2015, 05:00:36 EST Wed, 19 Aug 2015, 06:09:20 EST Thu, 27 Aug 2015, 11:33:43 EST Thu, 27 Aug 2015, 11:38:11 EST Fri, 28 Aug 2015, 09:01:30 EST Wed, 07 Sep 2016, 09:29:45 EST Wed, 06 Dec 2017, 06:15:16 EST Fri, 07 Sep 2018, 17:33:32 EST Filtered Full Citation counts:   Cited 0 times in TR Web of Science Cited 0 times in Scopus Search Google Scholar Access Statistics: 1174 Abstract Views, 411 File Downloads  -  Detailed Statistics Created: Tue, 18 Aug 2015, 14:43:21 EST