Registration Fee (bring your own lunch): $40 NEMA members / $50 non-members
All staff from Institutional and Corporate members are eligible for the member rate.
Not sure if your organization is a member? Just call NEMA, 781-641-0013, to find out.
This workshop will provide participants with an overview of evaluation and visitor studies. We’ll discuss the role of evaluation in museums as well as the nuts and bolts of conducting evaluations at your own institution.
9:30 am Registration and Coffee
10:00 am Welcome and Introductions
10:10 am Why do evaluation and why is it important to museums?
We will discuss how evaluation is a critical element in creating responsive institutions, acknowledging the diversity of our audience, promoting self-directed learning in visitors, testing our assumptions about what works in our institutions, proving our worth for funders and in general improving our practice.
10:45 am What has evaluation taught us?
Here will share findings from some seminal evaluations in the museum field that have increased our understanding of who comes to museums, why they come, and how and what they learn from our institutions.
12:00 pm Lunch
1:00 pm When and why do you use evaluation?
Learn how to prioritize evaluation at your institution. Discover the different types of evaluations from front-end and formative to summative.
2:00 pm Evaluation Methodologies
We will talk about practioner inquiry and conducting evaluations on a shoe string budget. We will walk through a variety of common methods and discuss pros/cons of each, and how to decide which types of data and methods to use.
3:00 pm Collecting and Reporting on Data
We will then discuss the how, how much, and when of data collection. This includes how much data to get, how to collect it, and what to do with it when you have it.
4:00 pm Wrap Up and Tour the Museum on Your Own
Participants should leave this session with an understanding of how evaluation can be used to inform your institution’s decision making process.
About the Presenters:
Christine Reich is Manager of Research and Evaluation at the Museum of Science, Boston. Through this position she oversees the completion of 15 to 20 studies each year that cover areas such as visitor services, exhibitions, school field trips, teacher professional development, adult programs, and educational technologies.
Kerry Bronnenkant is a Research Associate at the Museum of Science. Prior to joining the museum, Ms. Bronnenkant worked for the Institute for Learning Innovation consulting with aquariums, museums and zoos nationwide around the topic of visitor studies and evaluations.
Anna Lindgren-Streicher is a Research Associate at the Museum of Science. Ms. Lindgren-Streicher specializes in exhibition evaluation as well as accessible and inclusive design within museums. In addition to her work at the museum, she is pursuing a Masters in Educational Studies.
Parking at the Museum of Science will be complimentary.
Directions will be emailed with your registration confirmation.
Questions? Call NEMA, 781-641-0013.