Hi Adrienne, One reason why "strangers" ("secret visitors") should be trusted is because most visitors to museums - like shoppers in retail stores - ARE strangers. Shouldn't the evaluation of front-line staff include - but not depend entirely upon - the "visitor experience"? Supervisors cannot evaluate how visitors process their experience with front-line staff. Just because the front-line staff follow set procedures - and appear to be friendly, efficient, helpful, etc. to their supervisors - does not mean the front-line staff are performing their jobs well. As well, there may be a potential benefit from such a "secret visitor" process to change aspects of a museum's set procedure. (For example: What if multiple "secret visitors" consistently point to the same flaw amongst a variety of front-line staff? Perhaps it's not the staff, but the set procedure that needs improvement . . .) Best wishes, sincerely, Jay Heuman Visitor & Volunteer Services Coordinator Joslyn Art Museum 2200 Dodge Street, Omaha, NE, 68102 342-3300 (telephone) 342-2376 (fax) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Fine art is that in which the hand, the head and the heart go together." John Ruskin, 1819-1900 The Two Paths. Lecture ii. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > -----Original Message----- > From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] > On Behalf Of Adrienne DeAngelis > Sent: Tuesday, December 10, 2002 1:31 pm > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: "secret shoppers" to evaluate tours > > Hello-- > The problem with "secret shoppers" is that they are frequently > tempted to exaggerate their experiences. I don't see why a > supervisor cannot simply pay better attention to what happens > in the shop or in other parts of the museum in order to judge > how the workers are working. Why are strangers to be trusted > with providing information that could affect someone's job? > > Adrienne DeAngelis > Resources in Art History for Graduate Students > (http://www.efn.org/~acd/resources.html) > [log in to unmask] ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).