Author Wendy Meluch watches while a visitor enjoys working with an exhibit prototype. Photo courtesy of Chabot Space & Science Center.
Evaluators tend to think about evaluation in three phases. Front-end evaluation happens at the beginning of a project, and explores how visitors relate to a subject. Formative evaluation keeps the project on track during development. Finally, summative evaluation assesses the completed exhibit’s impact on visitors.
I always advise clients with limited resources to focus on front-end and formative evaluation, where findings can actually impact the development of the project. With that in mind, let’s begin our primer.
Visitors: A Key Part of the Equation
Early in planning for a science center exhibit about global climate change, we interviewed visitors on a free day. I was surprised that a significant number of people we talked with took “climate change” to mean seasonal climate change. We adjusted our vocabulary to “global climate change,” which was better understood by respondents.
How do you get visitor input? Options range from open-ended chats over the docent cart to sophisticated surveys and focus groups. As exhibit development proceeds, your questions about visitors will change, and how you “talk” to visitors has to fit the need. Below are some examples of techniques I’ve used.
A Few Types of Studies
Show-and-listen
This is a simple study that works in many situations, and can inform a more targeted survey. Place objects that might be used in the exhibit on a cart and show them to visitors. Keep notes on what visitors think the objects are, what questions they have, what vocabulary they use to talk about them, etc.
Questionnaires vs. surveys
Questionnaires are completed by the respondent. They are easy to collect but you lose the ability to probe and clarify responses. Surveys, on the other hand, are interviews conducted with a questionnaire form. Interview-style surveys are more labor intensive than questionnaires, but can provide better quality data.
Sorting activities
Think beyond having visitors answer questions and check boxes. In a card-sorting activity, for example, visitors place cards with images or phrases into different categories to describe how intriguing, familiar, or surprising they are. For many respondents, this is an easier way to share thoughts than answering a stream of questions.
Creative Solutions
When you need feedback about something that is difficult to put into a question, you may need a creative solution. My personal favorite front-end study falls into this category. At the Pratt Museum in Homer, Alaska, the exhibit team wanted to know if they needed to commit space in their small gallery to orienting visitors to this Alaskan location. Do visitors to Homer understand where on Earth they are?
Rather than asking people to describe our location, we opted for a visual approach. We gave respondents a glue stick, a paper outline of the lower 48 states, and a paper outline of Alaska. Then, we asked them to glue the state where it belongs on the map. To our surprise, responses fell about equally into three categories: very accurate, roughly accurate, and wildly inaccurate. This confirmed the team’s hunch that an orientation station near the exhibit’s entrance would be helpful to people and was worth the floor space.
Equal Opportunity Feedback
Regardless of the type of study you’re conducting, use random sampling whenever possible. Random sampling removes the bias of the data collector. If you invite every nth person who passes through the doorway to participate, then you are hearing from a representative sample of the population, not just those visitors who might look friendly. You may have a target within that population; say, teens. In this case you’d approach every nth teen who passes through the doorway.
Prototypes: hands-on exhibit testing
A colleague of the author evaluates visitors interacting with an exhibit prototype. Photo courtesy of Chabot Space & Science Center.
Testing prototypes with visitors can save a lot of money on fabrication. For example, instructional labels can be printed out and taped in place so you can change them easily. When you reach the point that 10 people in a row “get it,” you can be satisfied that your label is communicating.
Go Forth and Evaluate
Even small studies can be valid and informative as long as you use a random sampling method. Remember, this is an iterative process; don’t hesitate to go back to the floor to talk to visitors as more questions arise.
Evaluation makes the exhibit development process a visitor-centered one. Evaluation also documents our successes and helps us understand our failures so we can do a better job on future projects.
Resources
Below, I’ve listed a few of the many resources that I’ve found helpful. If you’d like to share others, please include them in a comment. And don’t be afraid to reach out to institutions and practitioners with evaluation experience. One of the things I love about this field is that people are very open and generous with their time and advice.
Informal Science
Evaluators from all over the world post evaluation reports that they have done. You can see example studies and get to know other people’s work.
http://www.informalscience.org
These lead the way when it comes to informal science education!
http://www.insci.org (The Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education)
http://www.astc.org (The Association of Science-Technology Centers)
http://www.exploratorium.edu/partner/visitor_research/reports.php (Exploratorium)
These groups are leading the way with evaluation in the museum field. The have tutorials on line. Both are active when it comes to conferences and workshops.
http://www.visitorstudies.org (Visitor Studies Association)
http://www.care-aam.org (The Committee on Audience Research and Evaluation)
Annotated links, bibliographies, research summaries, commentaries, and other resources that may be useful to people who develop exhibits, programs, and Web sites for museums and similar institutions.
http://www.museumdeveloper.net
Institute for Learning Innovation’s page of resources includes links to How To tips and publications.
http://www.ilinet.org/display/Resources/Home
Author and visitor experience expert, Stephanie Weaver effectively weaves together lessons from the retail and museum worlds.
http://www.experienceology.com/forum/index.php
