This report presents the findings from a front-end evaluation for an exhibition being developed by The Tech Museum of Innovation about genetics, health, and technology. Front-end evaluation is conducted to help planners understand visitors’ thoughts and reactions to key themes, ideas, concepts, and activities being developed for an exhibition. Since front-end evaluation highlights both common ground and gaps between visitors and the exhibition’s concept, the evaluation findings may inform the team’s decisions as exhibition development progresses. The evaluation objectives were to: (1)
This evaluation of Mysteries of Çatalhöyük was commissioned by the Science Museum of Minnesota to provide objective feedback about the character of visitors’ experiences in this exhibition. The process of investigating visitors’ experiences included assessing and analyzing the extent of their use of the exhibition, awareness and perception of the interpretive messages presented, reactions to selected exhibit features, satisfaction with the experience, and characteristics of the audience who chose to see it; of these topics, the analysis of interpretive messages was considered to have primary
One method for studying visitors in museums is to audiotape their conversations while videotaping their behavior. Many researchers inform visitors of the recordings by posting signs in the areas under scrutiny. This study tests the assumptions underlying that method—that visitors notice, read, and understand such signs. Signs were posted at the entrance to an Exploratorium exhibit which was being audio- and videotaped. Researchers interviewed 213 adult visitors as they exited the exhibit. The interviews revealed that 75 percent of the visitors had read and understood the sign. Of the 52
This article transcribes remarks given by Willard L. Boyd at the Visitor Studies Association Annual Conference in Orlando on August 3, 2001. Boyd discusses the complexities and challenges of museums as centers of public learning based on his experience as the director of the Field Museum in Chicago.
This article discusses a study that investigated whether visitor or visit variables were the best predictors of satisfaction, and whether the predictive power of these variables would differ in different types of visitor institutions. Also studied was whether higher ratings of satisfaction would result in specific visitor intentions. Data were collected from adult visitors at three different institutions: Denver Art Museum, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, and Colorado's Ocean Journey, an aquarium.
This article discusses the preliminary resistance to labels and then the eventual inclusion of labeling in the "Ice Age Exhibit" at the Cincinnati Museum Center's Museum of Natural HIstory & Science. It includes findings from visitor studies that evaluated the effectiveness of the new labeling strategies incorporated into the immersive exhibit.
This article discusses findings from an evaluation conducted by researchers at the Liberty Science Center in planning for a new exhibition about skyscrapers. Members of the exhibition team examined if and how the public's perceptions of skyscrapers changed as a result of the World Trade Center collapse and the media attention towards skyscrapers. Evaluators compared the results of this study to data collected prior to 9/11 as part of the exhibit's front-end evaluation.
In this essay, researchers from King's College London, Work, Interaction and Technology Research Group, discuss a particular approach to the analysis of social interaction in museums and galleries, focusing on video-based field studies. The authors also give a few suggestions as to why it might be important to take verbal and physical interactions more seriously when designing, developing and evaluating exhibits and exhibitions.
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Dirk vom LehnChristian HeathJon Hindmarsh
In this article, exhibit developer Hallie Gilbert discusses findings from her master's project in museum studies at John F. Kennedy University. Gilbert investigated the phenomenon of the immersive exhibition, looking specifically at why and how these exhibitions are being developed in increasing numbers in American natural history and science museums. This article summarizes Gilbert's study of why museum professionals are developing immersive exhibitions, what summative evaluations have revealed about this exhibition technique and where the field might go in the future.
What do people learn from visiting museums and how do they learn it? The editors approach this question by focusing on conversations as both the process and the outcome of museum learning. People do not come to museums to talk, but they often do talk. This talk can drift from discussions of managing the visit, to remembrances of family members and friends not present, to close analyses of particular objects or displays. This volume explores how these conversations reflect and change a visitor's identity, discipline-specific knowledge, and engagement with an informal learning environment that
The Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM) contracted Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A) to conduct a summative evaluation of Playing with Time, a traveling exhibition funded by the National Science Foundation. Data collection took place at SMM, the exhibition's first venue, in the spring and summer of 2002. The evaluation documents the scope of the exhibition's impact and effectiveness through timing and tracking observations and exit interviews.
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Randi Korn & Associates, Inc.Science Museum of Minnesota
Underground Adventure opened at The Field Museum in March 1999. Covering 15,000 square feet, it continues to be a major draw in the museum. Determining the extent to which the exhibition is achieving its original goals and assessing the nature of its visitor experience will help us plan for future modifications. The Field Museum asked Selinda Research Associates (SRA) to plan, set up, and conduct such a final summative/remedial evaluation. We collected data from November 1999 through June 2000 using a naturalistic methodology and qualitative methods. A qualitative approach to visitor research