Coffee: The World in Your Cup Burke Museum of Natural History & Culture Summative Evaluation

The exhibit Coffee The World in Your Cup was designed by and installed at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture running from January 24, 2009 through September 7. The exhibit presents the story of one of the world's most widely traded commodities and how it has affected cultures, economies, and environments across the globe. Coffee explores the environmental and social impacts of the coffee industry and recommends ways for consumers to make socially and environmentally responsible coffee purchases at the grocery store or in a coffee shop. The exhibit space is approximately 2,000 square feet.The New Directions project was invited to conduct a summative evaluation of the exhibit that would measure the impact of the exhibit, identify areas for adjustment before the exhibit travels and create a baseline of visitor data for future Burke exhibits. To prepare the evaluation framework, students in the New Directions project met with a number of core staff involved in the exhibit. The following report includes results from data collected during the months of April and May 2009. The project consisted of two parts: tracking and timing of visitors in the exhibit and an exit interview offered to three separate audience groups (pre-visit, immediate post-visit, and approximately 6 weeks post-visit). All aspects of this research were reviewed and approved by University of Washington's Institutional Review Board for Human Subjects Research.