In this bibliography, Jacksonville State University's Teresa Ford and Stephen Bitgood present a list of theses and dissertations from the field of visitor studies.
This is a brief abstract of Pete Conroy's Master's Thesis at the University of Georgia. Through his research, Conroy identified and described two components of museum education: the audiences who use museums and key activities necessary for effective museum education.
In this brief article, Jacksonville State University's Stephen Bitgood offers informal professionals six suggestions for preventing student misbehavior during school field trips to museums or zoos. Bitgood, a former child psychologist, suggests that good planning is the key to any successful field trip.
This is an abstract of Barbara J. Soren's 1990 Ph.D. Dissertation at Toronto University. Soren used an interpretive approach to understand the educational function of museums in curriculum-making terms. Soren conducted research at three informal sites in Ontario and found that planning for public education has features typical of a formal. curriculum-making process.
In this brief article, Ruth Freeman summarizes a report of ongoing evaluation efforts of the effectiveness of the Discovery Gallery at the Royal Ontario Museum.
In this article, Jacksonville State University's Stephen Bitgood discusses findings from a study that examined two aspects of the public image of visitor facilities: the expectations of what is likely to be found at different types of facilities; and, some general perceptions of these different types of visitor facilities. Facility types included science museums, history museums, historic sites, state parks, natural history museums, and art museums.
In this article, Jacksonville State University's Stephen Bitgood and William Ford presents findings from a study that assessed the impact of various names on how a specific type of facility is perceived. Researchers investigated respondents' expectations associated with new names for a facility under the administration of the North Carolina Historic Site.
In this Ph.D. dissertation abstract, James D. Bigley discusses findings from his study of the motivations for museum membership and donation of the members of the San Antonio Museum Association. Bigley developed the theoretical Model of the Museum Donation Decision process, which contributed to the study.
In this article, Marilyn Hood of Hood Associates debunks seventeen common misconceptions held by museum professionals. Topics include visitor behavior, visitation trends, and evaluation methods.
In this article, Marilyn Hood, Ph.D. of Hood Associates investigates the public's perception of museums. Hood examines about 200 clippings that mention the word "museum" and sorts these clippings under four main topics: (1) something is deficient/unworthy/to be avoided because it is a museum; (2) something is positive/worthwhile/beneficial because it is not a museum; (3) generally uncomplimentary references; and (4) generally complimentary invocations.
In this article, VSA President Harris Shettel examines some of the issues that are relevant to the continued growth and development of the field of visitor studies. Shettel presents these issues in the form of questions and shares his answers about the status of exhibit evaluation, the flaws of traditional visitor evaluation, etc.
In this article, Marilyn G. Hood, of Hood Associates, discusses major issues in the field of museum audience research. Hood explains how much of her work has focused on two specific aspects: (1) probing the psychographic dimensions of current and potential audiences and (2) determining why people are not at the museum.