Amazing Feats of Aging, A Summative Evaluation Report

This report summarizes a summative evaluation of Amazing Feats of Aging, an exhibition developed by staff at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) in Portland, Oregon. Patricia McNamara, an independent evaluator, designed this study to document the exhibition's impact on visitors at two locations: its permanent installation at OMSI itself and at the installation of the exhibit's traveling version at the Lafayette Museum of Natural History (LMNH) in Lafayette, Louisiana. Data collection strategies included visitor interviews, self-administered questionnaires and unobtrusive observation of visitor interactions with exhibition components. Visitors who completed interviews and questionnaires were "cued," that is, they were asked to spend time\r\nviewing the exhibition prior to answering questions concerning their experiences and memory of the exhibition. A pre-visit sample of OMSI interviewees was included to gauge visitors' initial awareness of aging-related concepts. Children and adults were included in the study samples at both sites. The appendix of this report features interview forms, questionnaire forms, and the tracking & timing form.