Front-end Research for Current Science Exhibits

Concept planning studies ("front-end" studies) are useful in finding out "where the audience is starting from" in their perceptions of particular subjects, themes or messages to be communicated in upcoming exhibitions. In this case, the exhibition team needed some clarifications about visitors' awareness, interests, and other perceptions of 'current science.' The priorities for this research were focused on:

Pursuing these priorities, the questions driving this research included: are people interested in current science? if so, why are they interested? is 'current science' a good name - one that appeals to people and one that they understand? considering that the Museum has assembled a set of prototype exhibits about low-carb diets (the Current Science Central zone), is there a way to put that set of exhibits in context by investigating people's perceptions of that topic in relation to other possible topics? and what do people think of science-in-progress, as most current science is, such as examples of results that scientists may disagree about, or results that may be interpreted in more than one way.