This paper discusses ways exhibit labels can be used to encourage social interaction. It summarizes research related to effective labeling for family visitors at zoos as well as strategies to reach this audience more effectively with educational and/or interpretive messages.
This paper describes ways that computers currently are used (and misused) in museums as interpretive support devices and the potential role computers can play in museums to improve the quality of visitor attention, involvement, and learning. Where and when computers can productively serve interpretive functions are discussed. However, it is pointed out that computers are not always cost-effective. Printed text with imbedded questions, interactive labels, and other nonelectronic methods often serve these functions as well or better than computers. References for follow-up study are included.
This paper discusses exhibit labels and how to design them effectively. Author Stephen Bitgood organizes the literature on exhibit labeling into three general components: (a) know your audience; (b) capture their attention; and (c) hold their attention. Bitgood's "ABCs of label design" are guidelines to produce more effective labels.
This paper introduces a nonparametric statistical method for the analysis of time data in visitor research and evaluation studies. Measures of duration are often used to analyze visitor behavior and determine exhibit effectiveness in museum settings. Examples of duration measures include the length of a museum visit, the interval between a first visit and a repeat visit, or the period of time a visitor devotes to an activity, such as the span of attention to an exhibit, or the time spent reading a label.
This paper discusses a study aimed to answer some preliminary questions about the kinds of information remembered 20-30 years after a visit and the role that visitation frequency might play in influencing these recollections. In this study, twelve museum professionals were asked to recall their earliest, or a very early, museum experience and to relate it in as much detail as possible.
This paper discusses one research method used in front-end evaluation studies: focus groups. It provides an assessment of the fit of focus groups and front-end evaluation as well as suggests issues and considerations for maximizing the fit between focus groups and front-end evaluation
This paper discusses the history of museums as cultural institutions and presents the Model of the Dynamic Museum Environment as a useful method to help provide an understanding of what is happening in a given museum as well as a planning tool for designers. This model links the characteristics of the visitor, the museum environment, and the specific visitor-related goals of the institution.
This paper discusses how numerous methods and theories from sociological and anthropological research are applicable and useful in museum settings. These concepts can provide clues to new approaches to audience development and exhibit design. This paper relates to papers written by Dr. Adrian Aveni and Dr. Jeffrey Bonner featured earlier in this issue of "Visitor Studies."
This paper begins with a discussion of what is meant by the "anthropological perspective" and then demonstrates how the unique viewpoint of anthropology can cause evaluators to rethink what is interpreted in the museum context and on how it is interpreted. Secondly, this paper presents an example of how the subject matter of anthropology can inform museology. Finally, this paper briefly examines how anthropological research methods can expand the repertoire of msuuem researchers.
This paper focuses on the group context of visitor behavior. It includes an introduction of a simple model of behavior that describes how human behavior is influenced by group memberships, which is central to thinking in sociology and compatible to thinking in psychology and anthropology. Suggestions on how this model can be applied to visitor studies are also described.
In this paper, Harris H. Shettel, Chair of the AAM Visitor Research & Evaluation Standing Professional Committee, discusses the meaning and importance of research and evaluation as two distinct terms that often share some of the same elements. Shettel elucidates this position by examining some of the ways these terms have been used by others and noting the implications this has for the kinds of work evaluators do in various projects.
This paper is discusses the role of the evaluator during the exhibit planning process. Using an exhibit planned by the Memphis Museum System, "Mr. Crump's Memphis," this paper will elucidate the evaluator's role in exhibit planning, particularly in helping the planning team determine, articulate, and maintain clear exhibit goals, which translate into specific exhibit objectives.