Sorry to post this to the whole list...but I ditzed out an dmissed the
original meaage.  Could JCA Boeyens send me a copy of this thesis?

Thanks


Betsy


On Thu, 13 Jun 1996, Hank Burchard wrote:

> On Thu, 13 Jun 1996, JCA Boeyens wrote:
>
> > I dn't know if this would help-its was a small project done for an Honours
> > thesis 6 years ago-but I timed visitors viewing two displays on hominid
> > evolution-one consisted of a couple of panels and would have taken
> > approximately 6 minutes to read:
> >
> > 42.7% walked on by
> > 31.1% glanced at the panels
> > 19.4% spent less than two minutes looking at them
> > 5.8% spent 2-4 minutes
> > 1.0% spent 5-6 minutes
> > Sample: 103
> > A bigger display that would take approximately 20min to view got the
> > following response
> > 32.2% less than 2 min
> > 35.5% 2-4min
> > 19.4% 4-7min
> > 8.6% 7-12 min
> > 2.2% 12-15min
> > 2.2% +15 min
> > Sample 93
> > Kathryn Mathers 1990 Evolution, Exhibits and Education. A survey of
> > Museum Visitors. Unpublished Honours thesis Centre for African
> > Studies, University of Cape Town
> > Perhaps not as comprehensive as you need. I am chasing down
> > someone I know who did a big evaluation for a museum in Canada,
> > which apparently used sensitive pad under the carpets to time visitors in
> > front of each display. Will post it as soon as I've got it.
> >
> > I would like to comment on the more general discussion as well.
> > Especially about the point that visistors ignore the lables because they
> > don't offer them what they want-entertainment. A lot of
> > research-espeically Marilyn Hood's, shows that people do value
> > education in museums and that is why they are ther-so perhaps it is not
> > that our lables are not entertaining but that they are not offering the
> > information that people want-as has been pointed out by others. In SA
> > the perception is that museums are for educating children, but not adults
> > so perhaps our lables should be giving parents something to use to
> > intepret the displays for the kids and hopefully in the process raise their
> > own interests.
>
>      Hot dog! We're finally getting some meat on this thread. I'd like to
> know, though, how the expected reading times were arrived at. Totally
> unfamiliar material goes a lot slower than information being added to a
> base of knowledge. Also, 20 minutes is a looong time to expect a visitor
> to spend reading a couple of panels. It's more than twice as long, for
> instance, as is necessary for a careful reading of every word of the
> lengthy speech excerpts on the walls of the Lincoln Memorial at
> Washington, even when one is being jostled by visitors and assaulted by
> the ringing echoes of the voices of chattering children.
>
>      Hank Burchard * <[log in to unmask]> * Washington DC | USA
>

Betsy Price, Project Manager            A joint project sponsored by:
The Natural History of Genes            Eccles Institute of Human Genetics
UMNH                                    Utah Museum of Natural History
University of Utah                      University of Utah Medical School
Salt Lake City, Utah 84112

801-581-6286
[log in to unmask]