Curator The Museum Journal · 1997 · 198 citations · 0 references
EngineeringCultural HeritageEducationVirtual MuseumMuseum StudiesTime VisitorsVisual ArtsNumerical IndexesMuseologyStatisticsAttention VisitorsArt HistoryUser ExperiencePublic DisplayVisual CultureMarketingMuseum ConservationDestination MarketingTourismMuseum ExhibitionsTourist Experience
The amount of time visitors spend and the number of stops they make in exhibitions are systematic measures that can indicate learning, yet prior studies have relied on limited observations to infer attention. This study provides a large comparative database of visitor time in 108 exhibitions and introduces numerical indexes reflecting visitor use patterns. The indexes, sweep rate (SRI) and percentage of diligent visitors (%DV), enable comparisons across exhibitions or conditions. Visitors typically spend less than 20 minutes per exhibition, rarely stop at more than half of elements, use exhibitions at 200–400 square feet per minute, and spend less time per unit area in larger exhibitions; the SRI and %DV indexes may diagnose and improve exhibition effectiveness.
ABSTRACT The amount of time visitors spend and the number of stops they make in exhibitions are systematic measures that can be indicators of learning. Previous authors have made assumptions about the amount of attention visitors pay to exhibitions based on observations of behavior at single exhibits or other small data samples. This study offers a large database from a comparative investigation of the duration and allocation of visitors' time in 108 exhibitions, and it establishes numerical indexes that reflect patterns of visitor use of the exhibition. These indexes—sweep rate (SRI) and percentage of diligent visitors (%DV)—can be used to compare one exhibition to another, or to compare the same exhibition under two (or more) different circumstances. Patterns of visitor behavior found in many of the study sites included: (1) visitors typically spend less than 20 minutes in exhibitions, regardless of the topic or size; (2) the majority of visitors are not “diligent visitors”—those who stop at more than half of the available elements; (3) on average, visitors use exhibitions at a rate of 200 to 400 square feet per minute; and (4) visitors typically spend less time per unit area in larger exhibitions and diorama halls than in smaller or nondiorama exhibitions. The two indexes (SRI and %DV) may be useful measures for diagnosing and improving the effectiveness of exhibitions, and further study could help identify characteristics of “thoroughly‐used” (i.e., successful) exhibitions.