Dear Susan,

I used computer interactive logging during my doctoral research when
I was investigating the effectiveness of a museum prototype
multimedia program. This was designed with HyperCard on an Apple Mac
and I used the Interlogger scripts to record visitors' interaction.
Interlogger was originally developped at the University of
Maryland and works with HyperCard.

The way I set it up, the program was recording visitors' navigation
and choices, as well as their answers to pre- and post-session
screens I had designed. The first asked about sex, age, computer
experience and knowledge on the subject matter of the exhibition. The
latter asked visitors their opinion of the program (did they enjoy
it, did they find the amount of information sufficient, how would
they describe it). For all of these, there were buttons with  answers
that visitors had to touch (we had a touch-sensitive screen).

There were several teething problems with this method, as I didn't
have enough time to do as much formative testing as I would have
liked (e.g. some visitors got stuck in this screen and couldn't
navigate furter; I had made answering the questions compulsory for
statistical purposes, so visitors couldn't proceed unless they had
answered all questions, which made some of them frustrated and
annoyed). However, it also gave me a valuable log, which was recorded
cheaply, large number of data (almost all users of the computer
program), which were useful in combination with the interviews and
observation I did.

In conclusion, it's worth trying, but ideally in combination with
other methods.

good luck!

Maria Economou

> I am working with a living history museum who is about to introduce pre and
> post experience visitor surveys.
>
> Has anyone had experience with using interactive computerized kiosks to
> administer such visitor surveys? Who did the design and implementation of
> the kiosks? Did you find it as effective as research done through
> individually administered surveys?
>
> Responses can be sent off list to [log in to unmask]
>
> Thank you for any insights you may have!
>

********************************************************************
Dr Maria Economou, Lecturer
Humanities Advanced Technology & Information Institute
University of Glasgow
George Service House               Tel: +44-141-330 3843
11, University Gardens             Fax: +44-141-330 3788
GLASGOW G12 8QH            [log in to unmask]
UK                         http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/HATII/