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Museums for All Visitor Study

Project Overview

The Museums for All Visitor Study is an IMLS-funded (MG-252983-OMS-23), nation-wide research project to understand the influence of museum experiences on visitors who attend as part of a subsidized/income-qualifying admission program. We will also explore how participating in the Museums for All initiative contributes to a museum’s ability to serve a diverse community.

Thirty Museums (including children’s museums, zoos, botanical gardens, and similar cultural organizations) have been selected to participate in this research project. These host museums will recruit visitors to take a survey. Visitors who come as part of Museums for all or another income-qualifying admission program will take one survey. General admission visitors will take a second survey. The surveys are nearly identical except that the former asks a few questions about the visitor’s likelihood of coming without the admission program. Having two different surveys will allow us to compare the experience of the two different groups. Host Museums will recruit enough visitors to complete 30 of each survey. Each visitor who completes the survey will be sent a $5 Amazon gift card.

When the Host Museum has reached 30+30 surveys, the research team will share raw, anonymized responses with that Museum. Each Host Museum will also receive a $450 stipend at the conclusion of data collection. The Research Team will then analyze the aggregated data from all 30 sites and share the findings with the Host Museums, as well as the public.

Proposal Narrative

Survey as a PDF

 

TIMELINE

 

Garrett Stone

Director of Research and Evaluation at Thanksgiving Point

Project PI

Kari Ross Nelson

Research and Evaluation Associate, Thanksgiving Point

Project Manager

Rhiannon Crain

Executive Director, Santa Cruz Children’s Museum of Discovery

Project Partner

Claudia RP Gravitt

Director of Program Development and Evaluation, The Regnier Family Wonderscope

Project Partner

Samantha Tonumaipea

Research and Evaluation Assistant, Thanksgiving Point

Research Assistant

Thanksgiving Point

Santa Cruz Children’s Museum of Discovery

Regnier Family Wonderscope

Advisory Team & Cohort

Jared Barton, Ph.D., MSW
Assistant Research Professor, School of Social Welfare
University of Kansas

Jessica Luke, Ph.D.
Director, Museology Graduate Program
Teaching Professor, Information School
University of Washington

Questions about the project?

Contact Kari Ross Nelson, Project Manager

Email kanelson@thanksgivingpoint.org

 

Training Information

Cohort Training Video Training Slides Guest Services Video Front Desk Staff FAQs

Monthly communication plan

 

1st and 3rd Weeks: Email Updates

  • Host Museum survey counts
  • Overall survey counts
  • Project updates

2nd and 4th Weeks: Office Hours

  • Hosted by the Research Team
  • Ask questions
  • Share strategies with other cohort members
  • Watch the email updates for times and links

Anytime

Email Kari: kanelson@thanksgivingpoint.org

This study will benefit museums participating in the Museums for All access program and is made possible by an IMLS NLG-M award, but it is not part of the Museums for All project administered by ACM and funded by IMLS.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s libraries and museums. We advance, support, and empower America’s museums, libraries, and related organizations through grantmaking, research, and policy development. IMLS envisions a nation where individuals and communities have access to museums and libraries to learn from and be inspired by the trusted information, ideas, and stories they contain about our diverse natural and cultural heritage. To learn more, visit www.imls.gov