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Research and Evaluation Instruments

Amazing Feats of Aging, A Summative Evaluation Report

February 1, 2005 | Exhibitions

This report summarizes a summative evaluation of Amazing Feats of Aging, an exhibition developed by staff at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) in Portland, Oregon. Patricia McNamara, an independent evaluator, designed this study to document the exhibition's impact on visitors at two locations: its permanent installation at OMSI itself and at the installation of the exhibit's traveling version at the Lafayette Museum of Natural History (LMNH) in Lafayette, Louisiana. Data collection strategies included visitor interviews, self-administered questionnaires and unobtrusive observation of visitor interactions with exhibition components. Visitors who completed interviews and questionnaires were "cued," that is, they were asked to spend time\r\nviewing the exhibition prior to answering questions concerning their experiences and memory of the exhibition. A pre-visit sample of OMSI interviewees was included to gauge visitors' initial awareness of aging-related concepts. Children and adults were included in the study samples at both sites. The appendix of this report features interview forms, questionnaire forms, and the tracking & timing form.

TEAM MEMBERS

  • Patricia McNamara
    Evaluator
  • Oregon Museum of Science and Industry
    Contributor
  • Citation

    Funders

    NIH
    Award Number: R25 RR16247
    Resource Type: Survey | Interview Protocol | Observation Protocol | Evaluation Reports | Summative
    Discipline: Education and learning science | Health and medicine | Life science
    Audience: Elementary School Children (6-10) | Middle School Children (11-13) | Youth/Teen (up to 17) | General Public | Museum/ISE Professionals | Evaluators
    Environment Type: Exhibitions | Museum and Science Center Exhibits

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