Investigating Sustained Visitor/Museum Relationships: Employing Narrative Research in the Field of Museum Visitor Studies

ABSTRACT

Museums today are faced with a number of challenges and are currently searching for ways to attract and retain audiences and engage with the public. In order to address these issues, researchers have called for studies to help construct a more complete understanding of the visitor experience. Few studies employ methodological approaches that provide in-depth accounts of the museum experience. Narrative methodology is one means by which researchers may access rich accounts of the multi-faceted nature of audience relationships with museums. This article reports preliminary findings from a narrative research study that aimed to explore sustained visitor/museum relationships. The narrative methodology adopted for this study provides novel insights into the nature of these relationships and extends our understanding of those museum experiences that build and strengthen relationships with visitors.     

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.     

Museum Atmospherics: The Role of the Exhibition Environment in the Visitor Experience

ABSTRACT

This review presents atmospherics as a potential model for studying the interplay between visitors and the exhibition environment in informal learning settings such as museums. Atmospherics posits that the environment influences affective, cognitive, and behavioral responses, and that these responses can be shaped by design cues in the environment (Kotler, 1974). Atmospherics and the related model of the servicescape have informed research in a variety of retail, leisure, and entertainment settings (Chang & Horng, 2010; Turley & Milliman, 2000). Applying the atmospherics model to the museum environment has considerable potential for extending our understanding of the role that the exhibition environment plays in the museum visitor experience, and informing the design of informal learning settings.     

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.     

Re-conceptualizing Museum Audiences: Power,Activity, Responsibility

ABSTRACT

This article offers a theoretical overview of how diverse disciplines, such as cultural studies, sociology, philosophy of art, education, and marketing, have contributed to the evolving conceptualization of museum audiences over the past 50 years. Audience research has moved through different paradigms. Every shift in the way audiences are viewed unavoidably influences the way museum professionals view themselves, their role, and the way they interact with their audiences. The most recent audience conceptualization envisions visitors as active interpreters who selectively construct meaning based on their personal experiences, associations, biases, and sense of identity, whereas the museum is envisioned as an open work that is only completed by the visitor. However, certain challenges loom over this new audience conceptualization. It is argued that such visualization underestimates power issues while romanticizing the power of audience activity, thereby ignoring issues of responsibility.     

Visitor Self-Report Behavior Mapping as a Tool for Recording Exhibition Circulation

ABSTRACT

The evaluation of visitor flow within a museum or exhibition has been a topic of interest for decades with several research approaches taken over the years. Direct observation or visitor tracking during museum occupancy is the most popular technique, but it generally requires substantial amounts of time and financial resources. An alternative approach to direct observation—visitor self-mapping—is presented using data obtained from 2 short-term, small-budget evaluations of a world-class collection museum. Results show that self-mapping provides usable data with more than 90% of maps having tracking data for the entire museum. Maps varied in the amount of detail, but more than 60% of visitors provided details beyond what was required. In Study 1, movement patterns, sweep rate indices, and timing data suggest that the mapping data accurately reflected the visitor experience. Study 2 directly paired the self-mapping method used in Study 1 with unobtrusive behavioral observations to address the reliability and validity of the new approach. A discussion compares the relative costs and benefits of the new approach with more conventional direct observation techniques and provides directions for future research.     

Evaluation of ICT Applications in the New Lleida Museum,Spain

ABSTRACT

This article analyzes the use of different multimedia displays (3D recreations, interactives, audiovisuals) in the Museum of Lleida (in northeast Spain) which opened its new venue in November 2007. This art and archaeological museum has actively used information and computer technology (ICT) applications in its permanent collection in order to improve communication with its public. However, after a couple of years it was realized that some applications were not properly used by visitors and most of them did not fulfill all the expectations. For this reason, the group Òliba from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya conducted an evaluation in 2008 aiming to find the reasons for such behavior. A new methodological framework for evaluating ICT applications is proposed and its application at the Museum of Lleida is discussed. The framework focuses not only on visitor behavior, but also on technological aspects (i.e., usability, comfort, accessibility) and communication practices.     

The Use of Audio Guides to Collect Individualized Timing and Tracking Data in a Science Center Exhibition

ABSTRACT

Timing and tracking is a common method used to collect data about visitor behavior in exhibitions. Typically, it involves the unobtrusive observation of visitors. The purpose of this article is to present an alternative method for automated timing and tracking using an audio guide system. In the first part of the article, existing timing and tracking methods are reviewed to reveal their advantages and limitations. Against this background, the requirements of an alternative method for tracking large numbers of visitors in an interactive science center are discussed. Audio guides, which are commonly used in museum exhibitions, are used to track the movement of single visitors. In the second part of the article, the use of this method is illustrated in the context of a study on the orientation and choice behavior of visitor groups in an exhibition on biotechnology, molecular biology, and genetics. In conclusion, the benefits and limitations of our approach are discussed.     

Environmental Behavior of Visitors to a Science Museum

ABSTRACT

Increasingly, informal science and environmental education institutions are addressing conservation messaging and environmental behavior in programming, exhibits, and interpretation. Yet, little is known about what pro-environmental behaviors visitors are currently undertaking, what characteristics those environmental behaviors may have in common, and what differences might exist among visitor populations. This study investigated environmental behaviors and attitudes of visitors (N = 689) to an informal science museum, including separate foci on members and nonmembers based on previous work suggesting differences between the two groups. To improve research, policy, and educational interventions that address environmental behavior, researchers have long sought to uncover relationships among unique environmental behaviors. To this end, the authors explored whether five commonly recommended pro-environmental behaviors shared underlying characteristics that could be used to group those behaviors. They uncovered some dissimilarity in self-reported environmental behaviors among members and nonmembers. Although no single shared construct underlying the behaviors was evident, the authors did find, for nonmember visitors, a suite of three traditional environmental behaviors and, for members, a suite of four contemporary environmental behaviors. They discuss implications for practice and future research.     

Uncovering Visitor Conceptions of Fossils and the Fossil Record

ABSTRACT

One of the common features of any natural history museum is its fossil collection. A visitor's prior knowledge of and experience with these prehistoric objects is expected to greatly influence how visitors make sense of these iconic displays. For this study, over 150 visitors to two natural history museums in Southern California were interviewed to find out what they knew about fossils and the fossil record. Findings showed that visitors referenced a wide range or breadth of salient characteristics when defining fossils and that almost two-thirds mentioned some sort of process for the formation of fossils. When asked to interpret a diagram of geological strata and fossil placement within the strata, most visitors recognized that older fossils were found in lower layers (suggesting an understanding of the principle of superposition), although this was age-dependent. Also, many visitors explained fossil distribution in terms of some sort of change process—either related to the organism or the environment. In addition, several potential misconceptions related to fossils and superposition also emerged from the analysis. Implications for supporting visitor understanding are discussed.     

Creation and Validation of an Observational Tool to Assess Children's Domain-General Skills at Museum Exhibits

Abstract

Understanding visitor experiences is an important focus for visitor research in attractions such as museums, zoos, and heritage sites because the visitor experience is the core product of the interaction between the visitor and the activities, events, and environments they encounter. This article describes the development of an instrument designed to capture multiple facets of the visitor experience using a simple and unobtrusive adjective checklist. The checklist has been tested and used at a range of attractions, including museums, art galleries, science centers, zoos, and aquariums. The instrument allows visitors’ responses to the experiential offerings of each site to be captured and graphically displayed, as well as providing individual measures on 15 dimensions. The instrument can be used to support further research and theory development as well as exhibit design and evaluation. Examples of such applications are discussed.     

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.     

Conceptualizing the Visitor Experience: A Review of Literature and Development of a Multifaceted Model

ABSTRACT

Although commonly considered the core product offered by visitor attractions such as museums, zoos, and heritage sites, the visitor experience has proved a difficult construct to both define and measure. This article reviews the concept of visitor experience, drawing from literature in tourism and leisure research as well as museum and visitor studies, and identifies a number of issues on which the literature presents multiple perspectives. By clarifying these issues, this article takes a first step toward building a shared vocabulary to describe and measure visitor experiences. The article presents a conceptual scheme that describes relationships among key factors, and a multifaceted model of the visitor experience that offers a way of characterizing both its content and intensity. The article thus provides a basis for future research designed to capture this elusive phenomenon.     

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.     

A Review of: “Learning in Places: The Informal Education Reader”

ABSTRACT

Fluctuations in visitor numbers over the past 50 years at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) Museum of Natural History and Archaeology in Trondheim, Norway, indicate an overall decline in visitation since the 1990s but with some positive figures in the last years. Separate data available from 1977 to 2006 show a strong correlation between the numbers of school students and the general public. The general public paid relatively few visits in December, but visitation peaked in summer and autumn. Sundays and midweek were the busiest days. This article discusses factors that may influence the short-term, monthly, and daily distribution of visitors as well as the more long-term variations. These include the development of museums in Norway and how the historical, cultural, and nationalistic background may influence the topics and information in exhibitions, and hence the public interest in what the museum has to offer.     

Photographing in the Art Museum: Visitor Attitudes and Motivations

There is an animated debate in popular media about whether or not photography should be allowed in art museums. However, there is limited research that examines how visitors themselves feel about visitor photography and the reasons why they choose to take (or not take) photographs in museums. This research, conducted at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, uses semistructured, in-depth interviews and photo elicitation with 40 adults to examine visitors' attitudes to using photography inside art museums and their motivations for doing so. The research results suggest that visitors with positive attitudes towards visitor photography see photographic devices as tools that enhance certain aspects of the museum experience, promote further education, and provide entry points to exhibitions and a more interactive, personal experience. Those with negative attitudes see photographic devices as mediating and distracting lenses that have a detrimental effect on intimate experiences with artworks. Many of the participants with negative attitudes still use photographic devices because they believe that the risk of diminishing art experiences in the museum is worth taking, considering the potential uses of photography. The six main motivations for taking photographs in museums are (a) to aid memory, (b) to share, (c) for further research, (d) to inspire, (e) as building material for self-identity, and (f) as an art form in its own right.     

Contextualizing Falk's Identity-Related Visitor Motivation Model

ABSTRACT

This article represents a companion to an article critiquing Falk's identity-related visitor motivations model. Provided here are a summary of the theory and assumptions that underlie the identity-related visitor motivations model and the empirical approaches that were used to develop the model. Particular attention is directed to clarifying the ways in which the identity-related visitor motivations model has and can be used as a segmentation tool, and the growing body of data from a wide range of institutions that support the basic validity and reliability of using the model for this purpose. The paradigmatic foundation of the model, pragmatism, is described. Pragmatism is an approach that emphasizes that knowledge is best gained through, and directed toward action; an approach that gives preference to practicality over theoretical discourses. Finally, thoughts on both the strengths and limitations of the identity-related visitor motivations model as a mechanism for better understanding museum visitors are presented.     

Defining the Chaperone's Role as Escort,Educator or Parent

ABSTRACT

What is the cognitive and emotional nature of fascination? Drawing on theories of cognitive and emotional interest, we explored the nature of visitor fascination (i.e., intense interest) at two High North museums in Norway. In Study 1, we found interesting and informative patterns related to which museum displays 20 teenage visitors experienced as particularly fascinating and why, along with the cognitive and affective qualities associated with those fascinations. We pursued these findings in more detail with 60 new visitors in Study 2. Through path modeling we were then able to capture the dynamics of when each of the following variables mattered to museum display experiences and in what ways: (1) display-relevant prior knowledge and interest, (2) the cognitive accessibility and emotional pleasure of museum display experiences, and (3) cognitive and affective interest outcomes. Implications for theories of interest and future research for exhibit design are discussed.     

A Review of: “Creating Great Visitor Experiences: A Guide for Museums,Parks, Zoos,Gardens, & Libraries”

ABSTRACT

Protected area managers are often interested in visitor satisfaction, a complex, multi-dimensional concept. This study of visitors to Kakadu National Park in Australia compares 2 approaches to predicting overall satisfaction and the intention to recommend the park. The first approach involves analyzing importance-performance measures on a range of visitor service quality items. The second approach involves measuring the desire and attainment of perceived benefits associated with a recreation experience. Results show that benefits attained by visitors are stronger predictors of an overall positive response to a park visit than visitor service quality ratings. Two types of benefits emerge from factor analysis—benefits derived from nature and benefits derived from relaxation—and these factors show varying degrees of correlation with overall response to the park depending on proximity of the respondents’ home to the park. The results suggest greater attention should be paid to the benefits people desire from their visits and increases our understanding of what benefits are dependent on the environment (biophysical, social, and managerial), the activity visitors participate in, or a combination of both. Such information can help park staff to create experiences likely to facilitate attainment of benefits that are important to visitors.