The British Museum

Creating a Methodology for Evaluating a Gallery

An Interactive Qualifying Project to be submitted to the faculty of Worcester

Polytechnic Institute in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of

Bachelor of Science

Submitted by:

Stephanie Carlyle

Timothy Glover

Anatoly Klebanov

Submitted to:

Project Advisors:

Prof. Constance Clark

Prof. Malcolm Ray

Project Liaisons:

Rhiannon Goddard, Interpretation Manager, the British Museum

Claire Edwards, Interpretation Officer, the British Museum

21 February 2008

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Abstract

The Interpretation Unit of the British Museum in London sponsored this project to

develop a methodology for evaluating their galleries. Future student interns will now

be able to evaluate specific galleries using the methodology guidebook created by the

WPI project team. The evaluation of galleries includes tracking visitors followed by

interviews with those visitors.

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Table of Contents

ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................ I

TABLE OF TABLES .......................................................................................................................... III

TABLE OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................................ IV

1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................. 1

2. BACKGROUND ................................................................................................................................. 2

2.1 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM ................................................................................................ 2

2.2 MISSION OF THE MUSEUM ............................................................................................................... 3

2.3 VISITOR STATISTICS ........................................................................................................................ 4

2.4 THE COLLECTIONS .......................................................................................................................... 6

2.5 MANAGEMENT AND GOVERNANCE ................................................................................................. 7

2.6 FUNDING ......................................................................................................................................... 8

2.7 THE INTERPRETATION UNIT ............................................................................................................ 9

3. LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................................................................. 9

3.1 VISITOR ENGAGEMENT ................................................................................................................. 10

3.2 EDUTAINMENT .............................................................................................................................. 11

3.3 VISITOR STUDIES .......................................................................................................................... 12

3.4 THE BRITISH MUSEUM .................................................................................................................. 15

4. METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................................... 16

4.1 OBJECTIVE 1: PRELIMINARIES ....................................................................................................... 17

4.1.1 Trials ..................................................................................................................................... 17

4.2 OBJECTIVE 2: DATA COLLECTION ................................................................................................. 18

4.2.1 Observing the Visitor ............................................................................................................ 18

4.2.2 Exit Interview ........................................................................................................................ 19

4.3 OBJECTIVE 3: DATA ANALYSIS ..................................................................................................... 19

5. RESULTS .......................................................................................................................................... 20

5.1 CREATING A METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................ 20

5.2 CREATING A QUESTIONNAIRE ....................................................................................................... 23

5.3 CREATING MAPS ........................................................................................................................... 29

5.4 TRIAL STUDIES .............................................................................................................................. 30

5.5 DATA ANALYSIS ........................................................................................................................... 30

5.5.1 Qualitative ............................................................................................................................ 30

5.5.2 Dwell Times .......................................................................................................................... 32

5.5.4 Exhibit Popularity ................................................................................................................. 35

5.5.5 Most Photographed............................................................................................................... 36

5.5.6 Most Discussed ..................................................................................................................... 36

5.5.7 Gateway Object .................................................................................................................... 41

5.5.8 Label Reading ....................................................................................................................... 41

5.5.9 Visiting Patterns ................................................................................................................... 42

5.5.10 Walkthrough and Refusal Rates .......................................................................................... 43

5.5.11 Demographics ..................................................................................................................... 45

5.5.12 Segment Breakdown ............................................................................................................ 53

5.5.13 Comparisons with British Museum Data ............................................................................ 53

6. CONCLUSIONS .......................................................................................................................... 60

WORKS CITED ................................................................................................................................... 62

APPENDIX A: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS ..................................................................................... 64

APPENDIX B: GALLERY MAPS ..................................................................................................... 67

APPENDIX C: VISITOR TRAFFIC PATTERNS ............................................................................ 72

APPENDIX D: QUANTITATIVE DATA .......................................................................................... 77

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Table of Tables Table 1: Department Descriptions.....6

Table 2: Three Year Funding Agreement ....8

Table 3: Non Cash Resources....8

Table 4: Grant-in-aid Allocation....9

Table 5: Visitor Segments ............15

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Table of Figures

Figure 1: Number of Visitors to the British Museum (created using British Museum Annual

Reports and Accounts, 2006/07) ................................................................................................... 5

Figure 2: Segment Flow Chart (Taken from Visitor Insight Monitor Year Two by MHM) .. 24

Figure 3: North America Dwell Times Frequency Distribution ....................................................... 33

Figure 4: Roman Empire Dwell Times Frequency Distribution ...................................................... 34

Figure 5: Egyptian Death and Afterlife Dwell Times Frequency Distribution ............................... 35

Figure 6: Case 14: The American West .............................................................................................. 37

Figure 7: Totem .................................................................................................................................... 37

Figure 8: Case 5: The Mowachaht of Vancouver Island ................................................................... 38

Figure 9: Case 17: Hopewell Pipes from Mound City, Ohio ............................................................. 38

Figure 10: Case 18: Crocodile Armor ................................................................................................. 39

Figure 11: Busts ...........................................................