Marie,

Your question on how to quantify the success of an exhibit depends on what you are trying to measure. Visitor enjoyment? Have you meet the visitors' expectations? Did they "learn" anything or did you change their opinion about art?

I am a graduate student at the University of Washington currently conducting a visitor survey at the Henry Art Gallery on a contemporary art exhibition. I am trying to measure what visitors found "significant" about their visit. I have a simplified survey and am also conducting in-depth interviews, as well as doing observations. I am basing my work on the Constructivist learning theories, and will be writing my thesis based on the what I uncover.

I recommend you or your education department look online at what the University of Leicester's Museum Studies program is doing in the area of visitor studies. I also recommend the writings of Randi Korn and the book "Visitor Surveys: A User's Manual" by Susan K. Nichols, available through AAM.

I hope this is helpful to you.

Sincerely,
Jill M. Dalager
Museology Graduate Student
University of Washington





Jill M. Dalager

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