The Relationship between Viewing Area Size and Visitor Behavior in an Immersive Asian Elephant Exhibit

ABSTRACT

Immersive exhibits are increasingly popular in zoos, being seen as benefiting both animals and visitors. Multiple, discreet viewing areas are one of the key features of immersive zoo exhibits. Small, discreet viewing areas afford the visitor a very personal and intimate experience and may promote an affiliative response between the visitor and the animals on display, thus enhancing the immersive experience. This investigation sought to determine the effect of these viewing areas on visitor behavior, particularly in exhibits where the same animals could be viewed from different-sized viewing areas. This study in the Elephants of the Asian Forest exhibit at Chester Zoo, used unobtrusive visitor tracking to investigate how visitors behave at the exhibit's different-sized viewing areas. The results show that visitors are much more likely to stop, and stay for longer, at the largest viewing areas. Furthermore, there appears to be a proportional increase in visitor interest with increasing viewing area size. These findings have implications for zoo exhibit designers, particularly on the order in which viewing areas should be positioned.     

The Value of Zoo Experiences for Connecting People with Nature

ABSTRACT

Zoos aspire to bring people closer to nature through visitor education and by creating environments that immerse visitors into naturalistic surroundings. Yet to date, the psychological and behavioral consequences of these attempts have not been well-documented through empirical study. The present study was designed to determine if visiting a zoo had a measurable impact on visitors' relationships with nature and to test whether this effect was moderated by the zoo setting and/or type of zoo experience. Data were collected from three different types of zoos in New York City. A total of 242 zoo visitors participated in this study by completing a set of scales measuring explicit and implicit self-nature associations. Findings suggest that zoo experiences do promote an increased implicit connectedness with nature, but no changes were found for self-reported explicit connectedness with nature. The authors found no evidence that this effect was moderated by a specific design strategy or scale of institution.     

The Impact of Environmental,Social, and Animal Factors on Visitor Stay Times at Big Cat Exhibits

ABSTRACT

An accurate understanding of visitor interest is critical to the education and conservation missions of zoos. However, studies that consider multiple influences are rare, and measures such as stay time that have been used to measure visitor interest vary widely, making broader inferences challenging. The authors sought to (a) compare the relative influences of social interactions, animal behavior, environmental factors, and animal species on visitor stay time and (b) evaluate how conclusions vary depending on the metric of stay time used. They conducted 701 direct observations of zoo visitors at a big cat exhibit. The data suggest that animal visibility was a critical factor driving stay time. Animal species played a minor role. The relative importance of the number of other visitors present and animal activity level differed depending on the stay time metric used. Nine other factors examined were relatively unimportant in predicting stay time. These results have important implications for exhibit design, crowd flow management, animal husbandry, collection management, and educational programs in zoos.     

Zoo Visitors' Affective Responses to Observing Animal Behaviors

ABSTRACT

The opportunity to observe or interact with animals in a zoo is often vital in influencing visitors' positive feelings towards animals and ultimately their conservation behavior. This study explores the relationship between observed animal behavior and zoo visitors' responses. A self-administered questionnaire was completed by 717 visitors across four exhibits (giraffe, lion, cheetah, and red panda) at three zoos (Brookfield Zoo, San Diego Zoo Safari Park, and Central Park Zoo). The questionnaire measured observed animal behaviors and visitors' predispositions, affective responses, and meaning-making at animal exhibits. Multivariate path analyses indicated that up-close encounters with zoo animals, along with observable active animal behaviors, predicted visitors' reported positive affective responses which, in turn, predicted their meaning-making. These findings lend support to the role of positive affect as a mediator between observable animal behaviors and visitor meaning-making. Implications are discussed in relation to achieving both conservation education and animal welfare outcomes.     

Visitor Usage of Digital and Physical Artifacts in Two Museum Programs

ABSTRACT

This article reports on a study designed to explore how digital and physical reproductions of original artifacts could be incorporated into museum programs that teach visitors about mechanical motion. Museum visitors were introduced to 3 different types of models through 2 different programs: an engineering design challenge and an exhibit interpretation exploring mechanical motion in every-day objects. Research, based on visitor observation and interviews (n = 79), explored how user interaction with the digital and physical models compared with interactions with the original artifacts, assessed what effect the integration of digital and physical models had on learning, and examined what the learning experience looked like for learners using the mechanisms in the museum activities. Analysis of the learning conversations in additional in-depth case studies (n = 8) for both programs provides a detailed look at how visitors integrated the 3 different model types into their group's experience. Results showed that visitors' usage of, attitudes toward, and learning from the three different types of mechanical models varied based on the visitor or educators' perceived value of the particular model, which was impacted by the context in which the objects were presented.     

Talking to Visitors about Conservation: Exploring Message Communication through Docent–Visitor Interactions at Zoos

ABSTRACT

Education personnel, both paid staff and volunteers, are often used at zoos and other museums as a channel to disseminate educational messages. This exploratory study examined the use of zoo docents to communicate key conservation messages from the zoo to visitors. The study was conducted in 2 phases using an emergent design with mixed methods. The findings suggest that visitors perceive docents to be an important source for conservation messages even though observed message communication through docent–visitor interactions was very limited. Docents view themselves as “facilitators for learning”, but their limited awareness of the institution's messages inhibits their ability to communicate these messages to visitors. Other factors that influence incidence of message communication are duration of the interaction, nature of the exhibit/region, and group composition. In this study, signage was found to be an effective channel for building cognitive awareness of messages among visitors.     

Testing the Impact of a Computer Guide on Visitor Learning Behaviors at an Interactive Exhibit

ABSTRACT

There is a recognized need to rigorously examine the efficacy of approaches to supporting informal learning. In this study, we used a 2 × 2 factorial experimental design to test the impact of a computer guide on 3 proximal measures of visitor learning at an interactive math exhibit. In total, 128 families were systematically assigned to engage with the exhibit either with or without access to a supplementary computer kiosk. Visitor groups with access to the computer spent longer, on average, at the exhibit and engaged in more mathematical behaviors compared to other groups. However, based on interviews, visitors with access to the computer were less likely to fully articulate the mathematical relations in the exhibit. These results suggest that although computer guides are a promising approach to supporting visitor engagement, they may, unless carefully designed, undermine other learning outcomes.     

“We Always Spend Time Together on Sundays”: How Grandparents and Their Grandchildren Think About and Use Informal Learning Spaces

ABSTRACT

Self-reflection is critical for visitors to make sense of an exhibit collection in which they are the subject of investigation and may play an important role in any informal learning context. This study examines this construct by listening for self-reflective talk at Mind, an exhibit collection focused on helping visitors explore aspects of themselves rather than external objects or phenomena. It addresses 3 questions: (a) What does self-reflective talk sound like in such a collection? (b) What categories of self-reflective talk are prevalent? (c) What types of exhibits engender what categories of self-reflective talk? Findings indicate that self-reflective talk comes in various forms. Self-monitoring talk, including self-assessments about how visitors are feeling and doing and what they know, is more prevalent than self-connecting talk, comments about visitors’ own lives, values, and their sense of self. Comparisons among different types of exhibits suggest that exhibits designed for multiple users prompt high frequencies of self-connecting talk and self-monitoring talk, whereas interactive exhibits and exhibits that pose a challenge elicit high frequencies of self-monitoring but not self-connecting talk. Additional work is needed to better understand self-reflection, its role in informal learning, and effective means of fostering self-reflection in science museums.     

Visitors' Perceptions of the Conservation Education Role of Zoos and Aquariums: Implications for the Provision of Learning Experiences

ABSTRACT

Many zoos and aquariums consider themselves to be conservation organizations with a mission to educate and promote visitors' adoption of environmentally sustainable behavior. This article investigates the extent to which visitors share this view and discusses the implications of the findings for the provision of on-site and post-visit conservation education. A survey of 1,546 visitors to 13 zoos and aquariums found that although visitors gave highest priority to entertainment aspects of the experience, they also considered the provision of conservation education to be an important aspect of a zoo or aquarium visit. The findings suggest that zoos and aquariums need to develop new ways of engaging visitors for whom conservation learning is not the major purpose for visiting and provide post-visit experiences that reinforce and extend on-site conservation messages and action. Suggestions for accomplishing these are discussed.     

Issues in Museum Management Policies: Evidence from Xi’an,China

ABSTRACT

This article is based on a survey of 493 visitors to Shaanxi History Museum, Xi’an, China. The purpose of the research was to assess attitudes toward the exhibitions and the sources of visitor satisfaction, and the consequences of a free entry policy adopted by the Museum in response to the directive of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and State Administration of Cultural Heritage of January 23, 2008. Three dimensions for visitor satisfaction were found—an affective reaction to the modes of presentation, a cognitive reaction to learning about Chinese history, and an affective reaction of a sense of awe and pride in that history. As part of the pricing policy, additional charges are made for special exhibitions, and evidence exists of a consumer surplus for significant groups of visitors at current entry prices that are normally 20 RMB. In this article the authors discussed issues related to a need to adopt merchandising, the provision of better ancillary services, and the role that such services can play in enhancing visitor satisfaction.     

Introducing Walk-Alongs in Visitor Studies: A Mobile Method Approach to Studying User Experience

Abstract

This article introduces the walk-along method as a potential approach to study visitor interactions and experiences in situ. Prompted by the methodological challenges involved in gaining insight into the individual, subjective visitor experience, this article explores the potentials and pros and cons of the mobile, walk-along method. The mobile walk-along method is an open-ended qualitative approach to capturing visitors’ immediate experiences, interpretations, and emotions in the instant of experiencing. This article points to the method’s relevance in visitor studies by drawing on empirical and methodological insights from a visitor study at a science center exhibition about movement and health at the Experimentarium near Copenhagen, Denmark. Based on 34 group walk-alongs (108 visitors), the findings show that the walk-along method can provide an understanding of visitor experience related to visitors’ spatial practice, personal biographies and the social architecture between visitors.     

A Review of “Museum Origins: Readings in Early Museum History & Philosophy”

ABSTRACT

This article reports an investigation into the use of 12 Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Interactive Science Exhibits, borrowed by two community venues—a regional Hall of Fame and a metropolitan Library—as part of a science center's outreach program. Data were generated through interviews with venue staff, interviews with adults and surveys of children who visited the exhibits, and observations of visitor behavior around the exhibits. All children and most adults enjoyed using the exhibits, and adults thought the exhibits would raise people's (particularly children's) awareness of science and teach scientific ideas. Venue staff were pleased with the outcomes of the exhibit loan; however, the potential educational effectiveness of the exhibits was limited by issues relating to location and the visitors’ agendas. There were problems in attracting people to the exhibits and encouraging visitors, particularly adults, to engage with them. Suggestions are made to increase the effectiveness of using interactive exhibits in community settings.     

Implications of the Social Model of Disability for Visitor Research

ABSTRACT

Museum professionals have long held the view that their institutions can play a central role in supporting learning and inclusion but evidence seems to be in sort supply in the case of visitors with disabilities. Until recently, most of the work conducted in museums relating to learning and access for this particular visitor group has been about developing products and services rather than assessing their impact. The lack of research in this area reflects the slow development of disability studies as a distinct field and the fact that anti-discrimination and human rights legislation only extended to those with disabilities in the mid to late 1990s. The author introduces one approach to negotiating a balanced design of visitor research and the principles of the emancipatory research framework. She argues that this framework has the capacity to delve into the experiences of people with disabilities and provide a deeper analysis that would not otherwise be possible. The Heritage Education For All project will be used as an example to demonstrate how this approach can be developed in practice, and to show that informal learning programs designed using an emancipatory insight have the capacity to enable people with disabilities to gain new insights into their lives and identities.     

Action Research As Professional Development for Zoo Educators

ABSTRACT

Zoo education department staff members engaged in a professional development program on action research that resulted in increased self-efficacy in their ability to formally or informally assess their own instructional and other job-related practices. Resolution of contradictions between professional development goals and participant perceptions, between discordant research ideologies of the participants and of action research paradigms, and between the professional development objectives and the existing tools held by participants were important in facilitating participants' ability to engage in action research. The role of mentors was of particular significance in the resolution of contradictions. This program of reflective practice simultaneously provided development for zoo professionals and yielded visitor studies data that the staff members could directly apply to their practices, thus bridging the gap between research and practice.     

Tourist Assessment of Archaeological Sites: The Case of The Archaeological Complex of Itálica (Seville,Spain)

ABSTRACT

Few studies have examined visitors’ assessments of their stay at archaeological complexes. This study analyzed this issue, focusing on Itálica (Seville, Spain). The results show that three factors are important in assessing a visit: quality of service, perceived sacrifice and satisfaction. With regard to these three factors, significant differences were found depending on whether the visitor had previously been to Itálica and where he or she came from. From these results, the authors have identified possible ways of improving the services provided, and, consequently, visitor satisfaction.     

Visitor Motivations Across Three Informal Education Institutions: An Application of the Identity-Related Visitor Motivation Model

ABSTRACT

Recent studies suggest that visitors’ situated museum identities may be examined through the motivations expressed during visits to zoos, aquariums, botanical gardens, and other museums. This article examines a tool published by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and J. Falk, Heimlich, and Bronnenkant (2008) for documenting visitors’ motivations at zoos, aquariums, and other informal education settings and compares motivations for visiting across three informal education sites. Surveys were administered to 370 adult visitors to an aquarium, science center, and boat-based eco-tour operator. Findings revealed both different motivations of visitors to these informal education institutions and seasonal changes to those motivations. Moreover, the motivations tool, which was created specifically to document visitor motivations in zoos and aquariums, was able to successfully document visitor motivations in such places as a science center and boat excursion company. It is not clear, however, that it sheds direct light on visitor identity. Modifications to the instrument and underlying taxonomy are suggested and theoretical issues are discussed and used to suggest further areas of research. Findings from the empirical work contribute to discussions of how informal education institutions may use visitor motivations data along with a theory of identity to better understand current audiences and reach new audiences.     

Exploring the Factors That Influence Zoo Visitors’ Perceptions of the Well-Being of Gorillas: Implications for Zoo Exhibit Interpretation

Modern zoos face increasing pressures to maintain and demonstrate both the physical and psychological well-being of animals in their care. However, the informal judgments that zoo visitors make about animal well-being may be based on criteria that are inappropriate or misleading. In this research, two self-administered questionnaires were used to explore the indicators that zoo visitors use, consciously or unconsciously, to judge the well-being of gorillas in a naturalistic zoo exhibit. One questionnaire was completed by 105 adult visitors as they exited a gorilla exhibit; another questionnaire was completed by a separate sample of 166 adult visitors while they were observing the gorillas in the exhibit. The results demonstrate that visitors are willing to make judgments of animal welfare, are able to articulate the reasons underlying their judgments, use different indicators when judging health and happiness, and are influenced by environmental aspects of the exhibit. Visitors’ assessments of animal well-being were positively related to their emotional connections with the gorillas and their satisfaction with the visit. Suggestions are provided regarding interpretive information that zoos might provide to better inform visitors’ perceptions of animal well-being.     

Non-Compliance with On-Site Data Collection in Outdoor Recreation Monitoring

ABSTRACT

A wide range of methods exists for on-site visitor monitoring in parks and recreation areas. Self-registration methods have proven to be popular because of their low cost and relative ease of administration, but little is known about the extent to which the data collected from self-registration boxes are representative of the population of visitors, and the degree that bias exists as a result of non-compliance. This article examines these concerns based on research at Fulufjället National Park in Sweden. On-site registration card and follow-up mail survey data from a sample of visitors who did not voluntarily register were compared with the same kind of data for visitors who did register voluntarily. In total, 10 registration card items and 284 mail survey items were tested for variations between compliant and non-compliant visitors. Of these, one third of the card items, 12% and 3% of the survey items for Swedish and German visitors, respectively, yielded statistically significant differences. Implications for management and suggestions for further research are discussed.     

Directing Wayfinders With Maps: The Effects of Gender,Age, Route Complexity,and Familiarity With the Environment

Abstract

The participants were 360 Canadian undergraduates. After receiving written scenarios involving a campus visitor seeking direction to a nearby destination (simple route) or a distant destination (complex route), they drew maps to that destination. The authors varied the visitor's gender, age, and familiarity with campus. They analyzed the content of the students' maps in terms of cardinal indicators (compass grid, correct north-south orientation), landmarks, labeled buildings, directional arrows, and supplemental written directions. The men tended to provide more cartographically complete maps than the women, though there were no gender differences in use of landmarks or labeled buildings. The men were significantly more inclined than the women to take visitor characteristics into account, providing more complete maps to visitors navigating complex routes, to newcomers, and to older visitors who were unfamiliar with the campus. The men had more confidence that their maps would successfully lead visitors to their destinations. Route complexity led to greater use of landmarks, labeled buildings, and cardinal indicators. The participants' self-reported familiarity with campus had little effect on their direction giving, except for a greater use of labeled buildings in maps.     

Comparing Chinese and Western Visitors’ Responses to Interpretive Signs at Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding,China

ABSTRACT

Visitor experiences and interpretation at wildlife tourism sites are often designed to encourage visitors to adopt conservation actions. Typically, conservation messages are delivered via one-size-fits-all interpretive signage, with little consideration given to whether the same information attracts and engages different cultural groups. This study explores Chinese and international visitors’ perceptions of signage at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in China. Four sign prototypes were designed and a combination of visitor observations, interviews, and exit surveys were used to test their attracting and holding power. Comparisons of Chinese and Western visitors revealed no significant difference in the proportion who stopped to read signs. Preferences for signage elements were also similar across the two cultural groups; however, there were differences in terms of what visitors thought should be included in wildlife interpretation. Implications for the design and delivery of interpretation in Chinese wildlife tourism settings are discussed.