Comparing visitor motivation and demographics between an insect festival and science festivals

IF 3 3区农林科学 Q1 ENTOMOLOGY

Annals of The Entomological Society of America Pub Date : 2023-08-31 DOI:10.1093/aesa/saad024

Gwen Pearson, Emily Justus

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Abstract Both science festivals and insect festivals have increased in frequency in the last few decades. In order to compare insect festivals with science festivals, we modified a validated science festival visitor survey (EvalFest) for Purdue’s Bug Bowl, a long-running insect festival. Benchmarking against EvalFest and Collaboration for Ongoing Visitor Experience Studies (COVES) results, we found that Bug Bowl audiences were similar in having high levels of education, a high interest in science, and frequently visiting science venues. In fact, 23% of Bug Bowl survey takers indicated that they were actual scientists themselves. In contrast to EvalFest results, Bug Bowl had a higher rate of returning visitors than new visitors. Bug Bowl visitor motivations were primarily to have fun and bring their children for a learning experience, and they rated their experiences very positively. Ninety-one percent of Bug Bowl attendees surveyed lived in the state of Indiana. We discuss gaps in expected visitor demographics and possible applications for a shared common evaluation within a working group of insect festivals.

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比较昆虫节和科技节的游客动机和人口统计特征

在过去的几十年里，科技节和昆虫节的频率都有所增加。为了比较昆虫节和科学节，我们为普渡大学的昆虫碗(一个长期存在的昆虫节)修改了一个经过验证的科学节游客调查(EvalFest)。对比EvalFest和COVES结果，我们发现Bug Bowl的观众在教育水平高、对科学有高度兴趣、经常访问科学场所方面是相似的。事实上，23%的虫子碗调查参与者表示他们自己就是真正的科学家。与EvalFest的结果相反，Bug Bowl的回访率高于新访客。游客的主要动机是玩得开心，带孩子去学习，他们对自己的体验评价很高。在接受调查的虫碗参与者中，有91%住在印第安纳州。我们讨论了预期游客人口统计的差距以及在昆虫节工作组内共享共同评估的可能应用。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Annals of The Entomological Society of America 生物-昆虫学

CiteScore

4.90

自引率

0.00%

发文量

审稿时长

6-12 weeks

期刊介绍： The Annals of the Entomological Society of America exists to stimulate interdisciplinary dialogue across the entomological disciplines and to advance cooperative interaction among diverse groups of entomologists. It seeks to attract and publish cutting-edge research, reviews, collections of articles on a common topic of broad interest, and discussion of topics with national or international importance. We especially welcome articles covering developing areas of research, controversial issues or debate, and topics of importance to society. Manuscripts that are primarily reports of new species, methodology, pest management, or the biology of single species generally will be referred to other journals of the ESA. The most important criteria for acceptance are quality of work and breadth of interest to the readership.