The Visitor Studies Group

What Is Visitor Studies? 

Visitor studies is a rapidly evolving, dynamic discipline "concerned with the study of visitors in leisure and informal educational settings"[1]. Its aim is to aid museums, galleries, libraries, archives, zoos, botanic gardens, and other cultural and natural heritage organizations to:

• gather real evidence about how to meet their core aims and objectives
• explore the impact they have on their visitors
• develop ongoing relationships with their visitors
• encourage ongoing improvements within themselves.

To achieve the above aims visitor studies actively engage audience research[2], used by a wide range of institutions and organisations in planning and decision making, in their attempt to develop optimal provision for their users and remain relevant in contemporary heterogeneous societies.

The most prevalent types of audience research, often employed in informal learning settings, have been market research, participation studies, evaluation and meta-evaluation.

Market research aims to elicit information on "reactions to products and services"[3]. It is widely used by several organisations in order to determine existing and/or new audiences, to highlight possible barriers to participation and to identify different perceptions and feelings about an organisation by a variety of audiences. Participation studies are used when seeking demographic and accrued information about those who use an organization, while evaluation is deployed with the specific aim to determine the "degree to which an exhibit or program matches some criteria for success"[4].

Evaluation, which is the earliest form of visitor studies, is distinguished in three types, depending on the different developmental stages of a project:

• Front-end evaluation takes place at the early stage of a project's conceptualisation. It is a rather speculative and preventive kind of evaluation which aims to understand audience perceptions, preconceived notions and expectations around the main issues surrounding a project.
• Formative evaluation is carried out as an integral part of the design stage. Its aim is to point out aspects that do not work or communicate poorly so offering directional guidance and an opportunity for change and improvement while the project is still in operation.
• Summative evaluation intends to provide information on the final impact of the project upon its visitors/users. Summative evaluation explores the extent to which the objectives of the project have been met, evaluates cost-effectiveness, identifies unplanned aspects of visitor behaviour and understanding, and decides whether there is anything that should be replaced or changed in the future.

Lastly, meta-evaluation, is the evaluation of the evaluation process. Meta-evaluation is necessary in order to reflect on whether the evaluation used was adequate and effective and provides recommendations and thought on future evaluation projects.

In choosing methods and techniques for the collection and analysis of data, visitor studies draw on expertise from a diverse set of social sciences. Naturalistic and scientific paradigms are seen by most visitor researchers as inherently more complementary rather than competitive alternatives. Thus, a wide range of qualitative and quantitative methods (i.e. questionnaires, surveys, observations, tracking, focus groups, interviews, concept maps, video, journals, drawings, and many others) are used in conjunction, when tailoring a specific investigation to the needs of a particular situation, in an effort to reveal both general trends and individual differences.

Visitor studies is a challenging field that allows heritage organisations to further their understanding of their visitors so informing strategic thinking and feeding into key-decision making at timely moments.

Olga Fakatseli
Research Associate
Audience Focus Ltd. London 

[1] "A glossary for visitor studies terms" Visitor Behaviour, 1993, vol. VIII, no 4, p.8, VSA

[2] In the glossary for visitor studies terms audience research is defined as the "study of actual and potential audiences of an institution through the use of a variety of methods", see "A glossary for visitor studies terms" Visitor Behaviour, 1993, vol. VIII, no 4, p.8, VSA

[3] "A glossary for visitor studies terms" Visitor Behaviour, 1993, vol. VIII, no 4, p.9, VSA

[4] "A glossary for visitor studies terms" Visitor Behaviour, 1993, vol. VIII, no 4, p.8, VSA