Open Forum

Hello all! My name is Regan and I am a junior anthropology/archaeology student at the University of Oklahoma. I am currently partnering with a small museum in my town to create a project for one of my classes. The project we are doing is aiming for ways to get demographic information from museum guests. Currently, volunteers simply tally mark every time a guest comes into the museum, which is obviously very limited information. I wanted to see if anybody had any information on what other museums use to gather this type of data, whether it is a short survey guests complete upon entering or something else. Any sort of insight or information would be helpful!

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Regan Crider
Student
Edmond OK
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Hi Regan, 

The front desk clerks at my museum ask each guest for their zip code upon entry. This information gives us insight into the county, state, and country in which our guests reside, and gives us the opportunity to engage with guests - particularly with those who are visiting from out of town and may be unfamiliar with our museum and city.

We analyze the zip code data and create infographics which are presented to our board members and community. These infographics are used to advocate for a host of museum resources - tax payer funding, grants, new positions, additional programming, etc. 

In my experience, asking guests for their zip code is a very non-intrusive method of gathering data. I've also never heard of or experienced any guests refusing to give this information. 

I would also recommend looking into the work of Colleen Dilenschneider. She is THE resource on museum data. 

Hope this helps! Best of luck in your endeavors!





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Cherish Thomas
Florence County Museum
Florence, South Carolina
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-29-2022 03:28 PM
From: Regan Crider
Subject: Demographic Information

Hello all! My name is Regan and I am a junior anthropology/archaeology student at the University of Oklahoma. I am currently partnering with a small museum in my town to create a project for one of my classes. The project we are doing is aiming for ways to get demographic information from museum guests. Currently, volunteers simply tally mark every time a guest comes into the museum, which is obviously very limited information. I wanted to see if anybody had any information on what other museums use to gather this type of data, whether it is a short survey guests complete upon entering or something else. Any sort of insight or information would be helpful!

------------------------------
Regan Crider
Student
Edmond OK
------------------------------

Greetings Regan,

Our guest services team also asks for zip codes upon entry, but we also have a post-visit survey that we sent out to all folks who purchased presale tickets or provided us their email address on-site.  Among other information, the survey asks more specific questions about age, race, gender, etc. if folks feel comfortable sharing.  It's got its issues - namely the sample size compared to our total attendance - but it's a way for us to begin gathering some of that information from guests themselves.  

Cheers,
Beth

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Beth Kelly
Associate Director of Guest Services
Holden Forest & Gardens
Kirtland OH
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-29-2022 03:28 PM
From: Regan Crider
Subject: Demographic Information

Hello all! My name is Regan and I am a junior anthropology/archaeology student at the University of Oklahoma. I am currently partnering with a small museum in my town to create a project for one of my classes. The project we are doing is aiming for ways to get demographic information from museum guests. Currently, volunteers simply tally mark every time a guest comes into the museum, which is obviously very limited information. I wanted to see if anybody had any information on what other museums use to gather this type of data, whether it is a short survey guests complete upon entering or something else. Any sort of insight or information would be helpful!

------------------------------
Regan Crider
Student
Edmond OK
------------------------------

Hi Regan,

At the Museum of Science, we collect demographic and visitor experience data via an exit survey administered on a tablet (an iPad). We train data collectors on how to do random sampling of general public groups as they exit. We also lead and participate in the Collaboration for Ongoing Visitor Experience Studies, which enables multiple museums to share the same survey and method and thus compare data. While it's certainly more work than sending email surveys, we feel much more confident that our sample is (more) representative of our audience. In the past, we found our email surveys tended to over-represent our member audience.

These data have been incredibly useful for us and other participating partners. In particular, collecting demographics along with experience data, motivation to visit, etc., means that we can cross-reference those things to learn about demographics of visitors to particular exhibitions, different motivations of different groups, and so on.

You can learn more about COVES at http://www.understandingvisitors.org/.

-Alex

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Alexander Lussenhop
Research and Evaluation Associate
Museum of Science
Boston MA
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-31-2022 09:23 AM
From: Beth Kelly
Subject: Demographic Information

Greetings Regan,

Our guest services team also asks for zip codes upon entry, but we also have a post-visit survey that we sent out to all folks who purchased presale tickets or provided us their email address on-site.  Among other information, the survey asks more specific questions about age, race, gender, etc. if folks feel comfortable sharing.  It's got its issues - namely the sample size compared to our total attendance - but it's a way for us to begin gathering some of that information from guests themselves.  

Cheers,
Beth

------------------------------
Beth Kelly
Associate Director of Guest Services
Holden Forest & Gardens
Kirtland OH

Original Message:
Sent: 03-29-2022 03:28 PM
From: Regan Crider
Subject: Demographic Information

Hello all! My name is Regan and I am a junior anthropology/archaeology student at the University of Oklahoma. I am currently partnering with a small museum in my town to create a project for one of my classes. The project we are doing is aiming for ways to get demographic information from museum guests. Currently, volunteers simply tally mark every time a guest comes into the museum, which is obviously very limited information. I wanted to see if anybody had any information on what other museums use to gather this type of data, whether it is a short survey guests complete upon entering or something else. Any sort of insight or information would be helpful!

------------------------------
Regan Crider
Student
Edmond OK
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