Collective participation and social identification: A study of the individual, interpersonal and collective dimensions of attendance at the Magh Mela.

Surveys. We conducted two surveys.
A. Pilot survey. During the 2010 Mela we administered a questionnaire to pilgrims (Kalpwasis) (sample = 508). This provided insight into how to survey a rural sample. It also allowed the piloting of the measures needed for the longitudinal survey conducted around the 2011 Mela. An explanation of the 2010 Survey (including variable names) can be found in ‘2010 – Pilot Survey Explanation’. The questionnaire is in ‘2010 - Pilot Survey Questionnaire’ and the SPSS file is ‘2010 - Pilot Survey Questionnaire Data’.
B. Longitudinal survey. For the 2011 Mela we surveyed a sample of pilgrims (Kalpwasis) and a sample of comparable others (who did not attend the 2011 Mela). The survey was administered one month before (Time 1: T1) and one month after (Time 3: T3) the event (in respondents’ home villages). Key measures concerned respondents’ social identification as a Hindu, well-being, social standing in their community, etc. The Kalpwasis sample also completed a questionnaire whilst camped on the Ganges’ floodplain at the festival (Time 2: T2). This contained measures of the process variables hypothesised as relevant to their experience of the event. Measures included the degree to which participants judged those attending the Mela to share a common social identification; perceptions of the quality of social relationships amongst Kalpwasis; the degree to which they felt able to realise their Kalpwasi identity etc. An explanation of the 2011 Survey (including variable names) can be found in ‘2011 – Survey Explanation’. The T1, T2 and T 3 questionnaires are in the following files: ‘2011 Survey – T1 Questionnaire – Pre-Mela’, ‘2011 Survey – T2 Questionnaire – During-Mela’, and ‘2011 Survey – T3 Questionnaire – Post-Mela’. All data are contained in the SPSS labeled ‘2011 Survey Final Dataset T1 T2 T3’.
Interviews. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 37 Kalpwasis attending the 2010 Magh Mela (male = 24, female = 13). These focused on interviewees’ daily routines, social relations with other pilgrims, how these relations compared to those in other settings, their experience of the Mela’s crowds and noise, etc.
An explanation of the interviews is contained in a file named ‘Interview introduction’. This contains information on the interview schedule etc. Each interview (translated into English) has a file name such as ‘Interview P1 SS 2010’ in which the number of the participant, the initials of the interviewer, and the year of the Mela in which the interview was recorded is described. There are 37 such files.
Ethnography. Two Indian researchers conducted ethnographic observations of two Kalpwasis attending the 2011 Mela. The researchers lived with the participants (one male in his sixties, one woman in her seventies) for periods before, during and after the 2011 Mela. Before the Mela, the researchers observed the daily routines of village life and the pre-Mela preparations. During the Mela, they observed Kalpwasis’ daily routines and experiences. After the Mela, they observed the experience of returning to the village. Daily field-notes were kept by the ethnographers (54 days for the male participant and 61 for the female participant).
An overview of the ethnography (and an explanation of the file-naming convention) is available in a file named ‘E-2011-Ethnography 2011 overview’. An introduction to the female participant is available in ‘E-2011-K-0-introduction’ and the daily field notes on this woman’s life are available in 61 files beginning with ‘E-2011-K-1-PR-21 November’ and finishing with ‘E-2011-K-61-PO-19 March’. An introduction to the male participant is available in ‘E-2011-S-0-introduction’ and the daily field notes on this woman’s life are available in 54 files beginning with ‘E-2011-S-1-PR-25 November’ and finishing with ‘E-2011-S-54-PO-18 March’.
Experiments. In 2011, we conducted two experiments (in a tent) on the experience of the Mela’s noisy environment. An explanation of these two studies, their design and the variables (including their names in the data file) is available in ‘Experiments – Explanation’. The data are available in SPSS files named ‘Experiment ‘1 and Experiment 2’.

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