This is a summary of A.W. Melton's 1935 paper, "Problems of Installation in Museums of Art." Melton described a series of studies that demonstrated two important factors that influence visitor behavior: (1) the tendency to turn right when entering a museum gallery and (2) the strong attraction of exits.
This is a brief summary of Edward S. Robinson's 1928 AAM Monograph "The Behavior of the Museum Visitor." Robinson highlights the importance of object size, positioning, and density for determining visitor attention in art museums.
This is a summary of studies from "The Behavior of the Museum Visitor" (1928) by Edward S. Robinson, who studied the problem of museum "fatigue." Robinson suggested that this "fatigue" is caused by multiple factors like physical fatigue and object satiation.
This article features eight abstracts from the First Annual Visitor Studies Conference. Institutions represented in these abstracts include the Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village, Science Learning, Inc., Hood Associates, Jacksonville State University, Smithsonian Institution, and University of Florida.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
G. Donald AdamsJohn H FalkMarilyn G. HoodDonald PattersonStephen BitgoodD.D. HilkeJohn Scott FosterJohn J. Koran, Jr.Mary Lou KoranSteven StartAnn BlackwoodHarriet Landers
In this article, Jacksonville State University's Stephen Bitgood presents a summary of issues related to evaluation discussed in visitor studies literature. These issues include research vs. evaluation, formative vs. summative evaluation, goal-free vs. goal-referenced evaluation, and developmental vs. post-design evaluation.
In this article, Jacksonville State University's Stephen Bitgood Ph.D. presents an overview of the methodology used in visitor studies research. Bitgood identifies reliability and validity as the two most important standards, defines several types of visitor research (experimental, correlational, descriptive/observational), and describes two methods of measuring visitor behavior (direct observation and self-reporting).
In this article, Donna M. McElroy, education curator at the Sangre de Cristo Arts Center (Pueblo, Colorado), discusses evaluation strategies and key findings used to create and improve a self-guide "birds-eye view" map to the Asian Collection at the Denver Art Museum.
In this article, Colorado State University researcher Jerome Dagostino presents a review of three noteworthy museum studies to highlight the variety of different survey techniques used to evaluate art museums.
In this brief article, Jacksonville State University researcher Stephen Bitgood discusses the value of front-end and formative evaluation as part of the exhibit label development process.
In this article, Jacksonville State University researcher Stephen Bitgood presents a review of exhibit label literature and techniques. Bitgood refers to Beverly Serrell's 1983 list of "eight deadly sins" from her manual, "Making Exhibit Labels: A Step by Step Guide," and cites visitor studies that support Serrell's list. Bitgood also explains visitors' reactions to labels in terms of empirical factors.
In this article, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee researcher Don Thompson shares methods and findings from a front-end evaluation of the Plains Indian Exhibit Area at the Milwaukee Public Museum, which was used to inform exhibit renovation plans. Thompson assessed visitor knowledge of key concepts, the role of existing exhibits in fostering knowledge of these concepts, and unforeseen successes or shortcomings of the exhibits.