Audience Research: Study of Visitors to the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

The Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery (F|S) contracted Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A) to study its visitors with two goals in mind: first, to collect current data about F|S visitors, including demographics and visit characteristics and second, to explore visitors’ experiences at F|S, in particular, what visitors value about their F|S experiences and how visitors rate their experiences in the context of the mission statement and newly articulated impact statement. Two data collection instruments were used for the visitor study: a standardized questionnaire and an in-depth interview guide. Statistical analyses were used to study the questionnaire data, qualitative analyses were used to study some of the interview data, and rubrics were used to “score” the remaining interview data according to the visitor experience outcomes. The visitor outcomes and rubrics were co-developed by F|S staff and RK&A using the impact statement as the platform.