Evaluation (Audience/visitor)

Image from the Western Australian Museum 'Meet the scientists' event

Evaluation systems are a very powerful tool for shaping and improving the way a museum achieves its objectives.  Evaluation can provide invaluable audience information, deliver positive feedback to staff and help shape planning, running and revision of many museum activities, particularly interpretation.

Types of evaluation

There are 4 stages or types of evaluation that are used throughout the exhibition or program development process:

Front-end evaluation

• Undertaken at the beginning or concept stage.
• It evaluates an idea before time, effort and money are spent on it. For example, draft concepts, themes, stories and a narrative structure for an exhibition can be ‘tested’.
• A focus group is an ideal method. Select 8-10 people and have a facilitator direct discussion.
• Analyse the findings to inform decision-making about the next stage of the project.

Formative evaluation

• Undertaken during the development and design stage of the project.
• Provides prototype feedback from an audience to further refine the project.
• Use mock-ups of images, text and displays, or models of sections of an exhibition.
• Use methods such as observation and questionnaires to gauge feedback.

Remedial evaluation

• Used once the exhibition is open or program running.
• An opportunity to look critically at the program, and to think about whether there need to be any adjustments made to any parts of it to make it more effective.
• Use a survey or questionnaire. Ask questions such as:

1. What did you expect to see when you came to this exhibition?
2. Did this exhibition meet your expectations?
3. What did you think the main message of this exhibition was?
4. Was this message easy to understand?
5. Did you learn anything new from this exhibition?  What sorts of things?
6. What do you think would improve this exhibition

• Observe how visitors move through an exhibition or interact with a program. For an exhibition, answer the following questions:

1. Do people use the visitor path as intended?
2. Do visitors miss sections of the exhibition?
3. Which displays attract visitors?
4. Are there ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ spots in the exhibition?
5. Which sections hold attention?
6. How long do visitors stay in the exhibition?

Summative evaluation

An assessment of the whole project using feedback (from visitors, staff, volunteers) and document analysis (press clippings, budgets, internal memos) should address the following questions:

• Visitor information:
  • Did visitors receive the main messages?
  • Did the program or exhibition meet visitor expectations?
  • How many people came or participated?
• Corporate development:
  • Did the exhibition display a significant aspect of the collection?
  • Did the exhibition meet a key objective or goal of the museum’s strategic plan?

• Cost/benefit:
  • Did the exhibition or program attract sponsorship?
  • What was the total resource that went into the exhibition?
  • Did the development of the exhibition or program mean that others were not undertaken?

Benefits of evaluation

Not only does evaluation provide information essential for the development of specific exhibitions or programs, there are also longer-term benefits.

• It is useful for reporting purposes: stakeholders will be interested in numbers of visitors and levels of visitor satisfaction.
• Builds up an audience profile
• Helps in developing new programs

References and further reading:

Museums Australia Inc (NSW). Museum Methods: A practical guide for managing small museums. Section 7 Evaluation and audience research

EVRSIG: Evaluation and Visitor Research Special Interest Group (Museums Australia)

Museum & Gallery Services Queensland link to Beverley Serrell: Excellent Judging