Using visitor research to plan quality public programs

Slide 1: Using visitor research to plan quality public programs Lynda Kelly, Head of Audience Research

Slide 2: Coverage • What is audience research? • How is it done? • What has it told us? • How do we use it?

Slide 3: Exercise 1 • Purpose of audience research: – Who uses audience research – What have they done – What have they used it for – Feedback/questions

Slide 4: Why do audience research? • It gives us data about: – leisure patterns: who, where, why – what people want from a visit – what they do when they visit – prior interests and knowledge – satisfaction – what they learn and take away

Slide 5: • Find out visitor mix: – locals, tourists (Austn, O/s), age, social grouping • Visiting patterns: – weekdays, weekends, seasonal – helps to plan programs, opening hours • Track advertising and marketing

Slide 6: • For use in: – promotion and marketing – grant applications – grant acquittals – decision making – programming – improvements and change – seeking funding (e.g. Councils, Ministry, Federal agencies, others)

Slide 7: Doing audience research • Before embarking on anything there are a number of questions we need to ask…

Slide 8: • What information do we already have? • What are the gaps in our information? • Who will use the information? • What will the information be used for? • What will be the consequences if we don’t get the information?

Slide 9: Then ask … • Who do we need to get the information from? • How can we get the information? • What methods will we use? • How much will we invest: cost vs. benefit

Slide 10: Implications 1 • What does this mean for your institutions??

Slide 11: Exercise 2 • Methods: – What types of audience research are you aware of/used? – Feedback/questions

Slide 12: Quantitative research • Structured surveys, questionnaires • Usually closed questions (e.g. yes/no, rating scales, agree/disagree) • Results often presented as percentages, frequency counts • Gives statistical measures: – extrapolate to general population – trend data: over time and across programs and/or venues

Slide 13: Visitor surveys • demographics • where else they visit • how they find out • satisfaction • what stood out • things they’d tell others • messages retained, meanings made

Slide 14: Qualitative research • Focuses on people’s own recounts and meanings made • Through: – in-depth interviews – case studies – observation/tracking – focus groups – community consultation • Results are interpretations

Slide 15: Implications 2 • What research methods might be suitable? • How can it be done effectively and efficiently?

Slide 16: Exercise 3 • Visitor Motivation: – Why do people visit museums? – Who visits your institutions - profiles

Slide 17: Museum visitors … • more highly educated • education quals in arts, humanities • aged between 30 and 50 OR primary school aged children • visit with families, other social groups • higher socio-economic class • visited museums as children

Slide 18: “museum kinds of people” • most open to new ideas • value social experiences • value learning • extroverted

Slide 19: Why visit museums? • they visit them to learn …

Slide 20: Motivations also include • a worthwhile leisure activity • do something with family, group • being challenged • actively participate in new experiences • personal satisfaction and self esteem • fun and entertainment

Slide 21: AM research found • 77% visit to experience something new • 71% visit for entertainment • 71% for learning • 70% for interests of children/family • 64% worthwhile leisure • 57% special events I must see or do • 56% recommended by others

Slide 22: Implications 3 • How will you factor visitor motivation into programs and services?

Slide 23: Exercise 4 • Visitor needs: – What do visitors want when they visit a museum?

Slide 24: Wants • People have strong views about what they want from a museum visit …

Slide 25: They want • Experiences that are: – hands-on, active – sensory – memorable, with something to take away • Learning that: – goes from familiar to unfamiliar concepts – is controlled by them – caters for all levels and styles – is new

Slide 26: • Exhibits: – to touch and explore – not overloaded with words & information – that can get up close to – with staff there to answer questions – that are realistic – relaxing spaces to ‘take it all in’ – that encourage talking/sharing amongst groups

Slide 27: Collections • AM research has found that visitors have specific interests and information needs about collection items

Slide 28: Anthropology collections • What is it made of? • How is it used? • What is it used for? • How often is it used? • What is the symbolism of it? • How old is it? • Is it still used today? If not, what is? • Who were/are the people and what are their stories?

Slide 29: Natural history collections • What is it? – scientific name – everyday name/description • Where did it come from: – and when was it found – distribution • The ‘museum’ things: – how is it preserved – why is it in a museum? what is it used for? • What is it related to that’s familiar to me?

Slide 30: Implications 4 • How will you factor these needs into programming?

Slide 31: Exercise 5 • Visitor behaviour: – What have you noticed about how visitors behave in your institutions? – What data do you have to support this?

Slide 32: Visitor behaviour • What do people do when they visit a museum? – unfortunately, the news is not good…

Slide 33: Visitors typically • spend little time at exhibition components • seldom read labels • stop at less than half of exhibits • use trial and error for interactives • children use interactives • attention decreases sharply after half hour

Slide 34: Timing/tracking data shows… • visitors do what they want to do • they skip many elements: visit about one-third… and • spend usually less than twenty minutes in exhibitions

Slide 35: AM research shows … • showcases and dioramas attractive • live material most attractive • visual strategies key in retaining information • items other than text panels stopped at • use many different examples for small number of messages

Slide 36: Implications 5 • How will you factor visitor behaviour findings into programming?

Slide 37: Exercise 6 • Visitor learning: – What is learning? – What theories are currently in use in museum learning? – How do you think people learn? – What data do you have?

Slide 38: Learning defined – unique to an individual & shared – dependant on context – lifelong & lifewide – immediate & happens over time – active process of reflection – chosen based on interests & preferences – shaped by prior knowledge & experience – making meaning & new connections – creative & innovative – enjoyable

Slide 39: • Learning is an essential part of being human; linked to our identity & sense of self: – we all have an intrinsic desire to learn • Learning is about change: – surface learning (new facts, skills) – deep learning (changing as a person)

Slide 40: PERSON PURPOSE PROCESS •prior knowledge, experience •motivation •“doing something” •role •interests •hands-on •gender •enjoyment •objects & tools •cultural background •change •cognitive & physical •lived history •choice •surface & deep •personal interest •personal change •meaning making MUSEUM LEARNING: •seeing in different way PARTICIPATION PEOPLE PLACE PRODUCT •family •school •facts & ideas •friends, colleagues, work •museums, galleries, •short & long-term •accompanying adults cultural institutions •linking •community •libraries •outcomes •professionals: •internet •meaning making •museum staff •environment/nature •change •teachers •life

Slide 41: PERSON xpanding your knowledge, a new aspect on life (Interview #11) inding your place in the world. Engaging with the world in a way to discover more about it and make sense of things. That’s the big picture (Interview #40) eing able to put pieces of information together [to] draw conclusions (Interview #71)

Slide 42: THREE ROLES PLAYED • Visit manager • Museum expert • Learning-facilitator

Slide 43: Visit manager iz. Let’s look down the back; check if there’s anything down there we need to see. iz. Shall we go and have a look back there? We might find something that you like Paul.

Slide 44: Museum expert ox. How do they catch them, Mum? I wonder what they put them in a bottle for? ary. So you can see them, ‘cos the backs are white, so you can see them better. ara. Eoww, disgusting! Look at the little bugs … with a needle through them. iz. Well that’s just to hold them in place. rt. That’s from India again. ot. I know, I wonder where they find them. Just walking

Slide 45: Learner-facilitator ay. Come and look at this. What is that? Where’s that from Zeke? eke. Bali. ay. Yes, good boy. eke. I knew that. ay. How did you know that? eke. Because it has all these on it “Javanese and Balinese” [reading from text]

Slide 46: PURPOSE Obviously [learning is] something that’s not boring, something that’s not passive, so it’s more of an active thing … Something where you choose to be involved, that you’re interested in doing. (Interview Transcript 3.1, 22/11/00)

Slide 47: PEOPLE … sometimes we’d bounce off something of interest to ourselves, then we’d look at it a bit more, wander off. Then we’d come together a few times to have a look at things. … I also learned a bit more about my friends. I didn’t know they had an interest in [tattoos] either, and you sort of learn more of what they’re about as well. (Interview Transcript 3.4, 24/02/01)

Slide 48: SHARING LEARNING Rick. Hey Kate look at these ones, how’s that for a shell? Kate. That’s an unusual one. Toni. That’s beautiful. Kate. Were shells alive, are shells alive? Rick. They’ve got things inside them. Toni. Molluscs in them. Kate. But are the actual shells alive? Toni. No. Rick. They’re a shell. Toni. I think the shell is the shell of the mollusc that originally lived in them, like a snail. Kate. So they’re part of something? Toni. They’re part of something that was, yes.

Slide 49: PLACE • Libraries • Museums, galleries, other cultural institutions • University, school, formal education • Internet • Holiday destinations, the environment

Slide 50: PLACE Ed. Look at the seahorses. Cath. Like the one in the salt water. Bree. They’re just so cute and they swim along… Ed. I’d hate to be bitten by these fish, look at the teeth! Cath. But they don’t normally attack. … When we go to Port Stephens next week we should go and find the white seahorses. Wouldn’t that be mad if we see one and we go, that’s a white seahorse. The guy’s going to just look at us [and go] how do you know that!

Slide 51: PROCESS pening the mind to new experience (Interview #4) cquiring new knowledge and applying that (Interview #5) xpanding your knowledge about an area by a variety of means (Interview #11) hands-on experience where [a person] can be involved with something, must be experiential (F3)

Slide 52: PRODUCT new way of looking at something – new facts, an interaction (Interview #28) he application of knowledge to new circumstances (Interview #55) nhancing my understanding of the world and acting on that understanding (C5) aking in what you see around you and using that in your everyday life (C4)

Slide 53: Deep change …You have this stereotype about people who’ve got tattoos and it really gives you a different perspective on it … I probably just thought it was an abuse to your body, sort of, beforehand ... And since then, like, when people have piercings I just look at it, not stare at it, and think about where they got it, what sort of thing they had done. (Interview Transcript 3.4, 24/02/01)

Slide 54: Linking to past, present & future life experiences Kate. Are they stick insects? Toni. Some of them are. That’s at the end of Lord Howe Island, Ball’s Pyramid. Kate. Did we sail past that? Toni. We didn’t sail past that but we flew nearby. You could see it from the top of the mountain Daddy climbed. Look at the frogs. Look at the size of those. Not like our piddly little ones. Kate. Like that small one? [points] Toni. Ours would be like that.

Slide 55: Implications 6 • What aspects of museum learning will be useful / used by you in programming?

Slide 56: Exercise 7 • Planning quality public programs: – Five takeaways – Feedback/questions

Slide 57: • All audiences want … – Respect for them as individuals – Choice – Welcoming atmosphere from trained, aware, friendly, knowledgeable staff: • both front & back of house – See themselves reflected in programs, exhibitions, collections & staffing: • the “work” of the museum – Active & varied learning experiences: • group-based & individual – Involvement – A contemporary experience: • in communication & interpretation modes • content/issues that are relevant & current

Slide 58: http.//www.australianmuseum.net.au/amarc/