Conference :: Sanford, C., Palmquist, S., & Goudy, D. (2007). Are We Hearing Each Other? How Researchers and Museum Practitioners Talk About Visitor Data. 20th Annual Visitor Studies Association Conference. Columbus, OH: Visitor Studies Association.

last updated: 2008-05-09 14:51:30

Abstract

University-museum partnerships are collaborative efforts in which researchers and museum practitioners come together around a shared set of goals and artifacts. For the researcher, these partnerships provide an opportunity to examine a set of focused research questions around informal learning concepts and practices. For museum professionals, these collaborations allow them to make informed decisions about how to better serve their visiting audience. The importance of these partnerships does not lie in their end products (i.e. summative evaluation reports and finalized exhibit designs). Instead, the real benefit of these exchanges happens around the table, as researchers and museum practitioners work together to understand the shared space of visitor experience.

Oftentimes, university-museum partnerships are part of a larger professional development model in which graduate students and Postdocs receive their training by working with museum professionals on a daily basis. Within this model, researchers are embedded at the beginning, middle, and end of the design process alongside exhibit designers, educators, and museum administrators. Successful partnerships require that both parties learn each otherâ??s language, trust each otherâ??s judgment, and respect each otherâ??s practice (Keller, 2005). As a result, students find out more about how museums function as organizations, and museum staff discover how visitor data can be used to determine something fundamental about learning.

This panel discussion presents the perspectives of researchers and museum practitioners who are deep inside such partnerships. Each panelist provides a firsthand account of what it is like to participate in group discussions that seek to change objects or experiences within a museum.

Productive exchanges, difficult conversations, and fundamental idea shifts will be discussed in the context of two different collaborations.

Representatives from the University of Pittsburgh Center for Learning in Out-of-School Environments (UPCLOSE) and the Childrenâ??s Museum of Pittsburgh as well as Dartmouth College and the Montshire Museum of Science will discuss the benefits and challenges of using research data to inform a museumâ??s design decisions. Panelists will focus on four main questions.

1) How do evaluation design models function from the perspective of various team members? What works and what doesnâ??t when it comes to exchanging ideas?

2) How have museum team members incorporated the language of researchers?

3) How have researchers incorporated the language of exhibit designers?

4) How has talk about visitor conversations in two different group collaborations changed as a result?

Embedded university-museum partnerships require involvement at all stages of the design process. Teams of university researchers, exhibit designers, and museum educators meet frequently to discuss videotaped visitor interaction, interview, and survey data. Discussions sometimes involve the whole group and other times involve team members in break-out groups brainstorming about specific issues such as signage mediation or exhibit component design. These meetings also involve informal presentations of findings from the researcherâ??s perspective followed by mediated discussions of the implications for visitor learning. This type of partnership is an iterative process where both parties continuously push each other to find new ways to capture the visitor experience.

Sometimes this means that the researcher is driving design decisions, but it also means that practitioners are making choices that dictate the type of data that is being collected.

When team members are embedded in a partnership, a great deal of translation and boundary crossing must occur in order to sustain a successful collaboration. This design model is a long-term commitment that allows trust, knowledge, mutual respect, and communication to build over time. For students, the partnership is an important professional development opportunity to learn something meaningful about museums as organizations and situate their research questions within a practical as well as theoretical framework. For the museum, the collaboration helps create leaders in the field, who use real data to inform their design decisions and are able to communicate complex theories of learning.

Keller, K.H. (2005). University-museum collaboration: The opportunity and the need. ASTC Dimensions, January/February.

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