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An Analysis of Differences Between Visitors at Natural History Museums and Science Centers
Author(s) -
Korn Randi
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
curator: the museum journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.312
H-Index - 8
eISSN - 2151-6952
pISSN - 0011-3069
DOI - 10.1111/j.2151-6952.1995.tb01051.x
Subject(s) - exhibition , context (archaeology) , demographics , natural (archaeology) , front (military) , natural history , public relations , visual arts , sociology , political science , history , geography , art , archaeology , medicine , demography , meteorology
As museum staff search for ways to broaden their audience, creative collaborations are emerging among various institutions with the hope that visitors who typically visit science centers, for example, will venture over to their local natural history museum. Typically, front‐end evaluation is used for understanding details about visitors in the context of a proposed exhibition. Front‐end evaluation can also help collaborating museums understand the nuances among their visitors regarding demographics , attitudes, and preferences for interpretive strategies. Carefully articulating the characteristics of the actual audience, potential audience, and target audience will help exhibit developers fine‐tune their exhibitions to meet the needs and expectations of a more diverse public. This article presents partial findings from a front‐end evaluation that analyzed the differences between visitors to natural history museums and science centers.