Responses to a Human Remains Collection: Findings from Interviews and Focus Groups

This report presents the findings from a study conducted by Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A), for the National Museum of Health and Medicine (NMHM), Washington, DC. The study was designed to investigate how visitors respond to the display of the Museum's human remains collection. Specifically, the research objectives were to:

determine visitors' motivation for visiting the Museum and their expectations of the Museum

identify reactions to a range of specimens, including models, illustrations, wet specimens, skeletal specimens, fetuses, and plastinated specimens

ascertain what aspects of the human specimens cause visitors to respond as they do to the specimens

identify ways to display human specimens and depictions of human specimens so that visitors' experiences include learning.