In this article, Patricia A. McNamara answers questions about using formative evaluation to develop exhibits, based on nearly ten years of experience at the Science Museum of Virginia. McNamara discusses beginning the formative evaluation process, selecting staff, setting goals, building prototype exhibits, working with visitors, using visitor data to make exhibit design decisions, and securing support from top-level management.
In this article, researchers from Colorado State University discuss a research study at the Denver Art Museum. The study investigated how one survey of visitors to the museum was used to increase staff awareness of different levels of audience commitment, while at the same time yielding evaluation information about an Asian Art exhibit to guide planning of new interpretation materials.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Ross LoomisMarc FuscoRuth EdwardsMelora McDermott
In this article, Eileen Walker of the Royal Ontario Museum discusses the usefulness of front-end evaluation as the museum renovates all of its galleries. In particular, Walker outlines the front-end evaluation process of the museum's new European Galleries, which aimed at determining visitors' interests, prior knowledge, activities, and preferences in areas related to European Decorative Arts and to the display of such objects. The data informed and facilitated decision-making in the early stages of the gallery development project.
In this article, Minda Borun of the Franklin Institute Science Museum discusses the museum's eighteen month study to discover visitors' misconceptions about gravity and air pressure and to develop exhibits which help people restructure these concepts and achieve an understanding of the scientific explanation. The project is intended to establish a new model for the design of effective science museum exhibits.
In this article, D.D. Hilke of the Smithsonian Institution discusses strategies family visitors use in exploring exhibitions. Hilke cites evidence from studies which family groups through exhibition halls in a large natural history museum.
In this article, John H. Falk of Science Learning Inc. discusses the influence of recollection on learning in museums. Falk shares findings from a series of pilot ethnographic style interviews to better understand recollection and learning in museums.
In this article, G. Donald Adams of the Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village discusses the influence of positive word-of-mouth on motivating attendance at museums and other visitor attractions. Adams shares an example of a word-of-mouth situation and how assessments made at various stages in the process can help a museum plan public programs that create positive impressions.
In this article, Donald Patterson and Stephen Bitgood outline principles of exhibit design, which describe the relationship between visitor behavior and the characteristics of the exhibit environment. These principles include exhibit design factors (size, motion, aesthetic factors, novelty or rarity, sensory factors, interactive factors, and triangulation), visitor factors (visitor participation, object satiation, special interests, demographic factors, and other psychological factors), and architectural factors (visibility, proximity of animal/object, realism of exhibit area, and sensory
In this article, Christopher J. Reich of the Anniston Museum of Natural History discusses visitor evaluation from the perspective of a museum director. Reich identifies and explains three obstacles that get in the way of visitor studies at institutions: the lack of time, lack of money, and threatening nature of evaluation.
In this article, Stephen Bitgood and Arlene Benefield, both of the Center for Social Design at Jacksonville State University, present a critical appraisal of "The Heart Exhibition" which was set to undergo changes at the Franklin Institute of Science. This critical appraisal differs from an objective evaluation in that it is based on the opinions of the visitor experts (Bitgood and Benefield). The authors provide analysis and recommendations for each element of the exhibition.
In this article, Petra Seidensticker and Heiner Treinen, both of Universitat Bochum, discuss their evaluation work of the 1995 exhibition "Im Takt der Maschine," of the Deutsche Arbeitsschutzausstellung (German Exhibition for Safety on the Job, abbr. DASA) run by the Bundesanstalt fur Arbeitsschutz and Unfallforschung (Federal Institution for Worker Safety and Accident Research, BAU) in Dortmund. The purpose of the exhibition is to graphically familiarize visitors with important problems of worker safety in industrial production.
In this article, Hermann Schafer of the Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Museum for Contemporary History in Germany), discusses the institution's visitor studies work since its inception. Schafer outlines key moments in the museum's evaluation history, including its work after the unification of Germany.