In this article, Marilyn G. Hood of Hood Associates, discusses the importance of high response rates to museum audience research. Hood argues that museums can produce more reliable, accurate measurements of their work by becoming knowledgeable about about questionnaire design, sampling, and appropriate response rates.
In the title of this very brief article, Marilyn Hood, of Hood Associates, poses the question "Can aquariums, zoos and museums use TV to educate?" and then goes on to cite a Ohio State University study. The study found that high school students may retain information from watching TV as well as they do from listening to a classroom lecture.
In this brief article, Pete Conroy, Curator of Natural History at the Anniston Museum of Natural History, discusses his tactics for successfully grabbing the attention of kids during his wildlife lectures. He uses distasteful potty humor to make his presentations more effective.
In this article, Alan J. Friedman, Director of the New York Hall of Science, analyzes why museums don't participate in formal evaluation and looks to science and technology centers for answers. Friedman calls for better educating museum scientists and leadership about the values of evaluation, acknowledgment of the consequences of the lack of evaluation, and how to achieve better discipline in the exhibit development process.
In this article, Stephen Bitgood of Jacksonville State University provides a review and overview of how institutions accept and implement visitor evaluation findings. Bitgood presents a brief review of literature that illustrate the problem of institutional acceptance, outlines the levels of institutional acceptance, and suggests ways for improving institutional acceptance.
In this article, staff at the University of Florida's Florida Museum of Natural History discuss the efforts of the Learning in Informal Settings Program, including three international evaluation studies.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
John J. Koran, Jr.Mary Lou KoranBetty Dunckel CampAnne E. Donnelly
This is the conclusion of an article that was omitted from the previous issue of "Visitor Behavior." In this article, Kathleen F. Wagner discusses their efforts to institutionalize evaluation at the Philadelphia Zoo.
In this article, Marilyn G. Hood of Hood Associates discusses situations that affect and inhibit the institutional acceptance of audience research, including both the concept and findings from research projects. Hood argues that if institutions allow adequate time and resources, solicit input and develop support for use of the results and prepare staff to carry out implementation, than institutions are more likely to accept research results.
In this article, Stephen Bitgood, of Jacksonville State University, and Carey Tisdal, of the St. Louis Science Center, discusses the challenges of assessing visitor orientation. The authors provide an overview of a visitor orientation study at the St. Louis Science Center, including methods and key findings.
In this article, Stephen Bitgood, of Jacksonville State University, discusses evaluation efforts to assess people's understanding of evolution and to determine what type of messages might be most effective in communicating evolutionary theory. This article focuses on one aspect of their findings--the relationship between attitudes toward evolution/creation theories and the perception that evolution conflicts with Christian religions.
This article summarizes the various factors that can impede or compete with learning from exhibit labels. These impediments include novelty of surroundings, object satiation, competing sights and sounds, lack of orientation, and too much time and effort to get the message.
This article discusses the challenge of assessing the readability of labels. Two solutions to this problem are offered and briefly summarized: apply readability formulas to the text or obtain visitor input.