Design factors in the museum visitor experience

Abstract

Over the past half-century, museums have evolved from being predominantly cultural repositories to playing an important social role as venues for educational leisure experiences. Accompanying this development has been an increased emphasis on optimising the visitor experience. The physical context of the museum has long been recognised as an important facet of the visitor experience (Falk & Dierking, 2000). However, the way that visitors perceive and respond to different types of exhibition environments on a holistic level has received relatively little research attention until recently. A key limitation in advancing research in this area has been a paucity of methods for quantifying and analysing visitor perceptions of the exhibition environment beyond simple measures of satisfaction. In order to address this gap, this thesis describes the development of a model for characterising how visitors perceive different exhibition environments -Perceived Atmosphere -and relates it to different facets of the visitor experience.As part of this study, a quantitative instrument known as the Perceived Atmosphere Instrument was piloted and refined. This allows the relationship between exhibition environment and visitor experience to be explored in greater depth. Development of Perceived Atmosphere was informed by environmental psychology, in particular environmental cognition, theories of spatial perception and the research field known as atmospherics (Kotler, 1974). Atmospherics is the study of the influence of retail environments and other service settings on customer attitudes and behaviour, and this study applied similar methods to a museum context. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected to explore and compare visitors' perceptions of different exhibition environments at the South Australian Museum, a large natural and cultural history museum located in Adelaide, Australia. Qualitative data were collected through 12 prearranged accompanied visits to the museum, while quantitative data were collected from 602 visitors to the museum who agreed to participate in the study by completing a questionnaire that incorporated the Perceived Atmosphere Instrument. In addition, a small number of participants (n = 60) were unobtrusively tracked prior to completing the survey, allowing some preliminary analysis of the relationship between Perceived Atmosphere and visitor behaviour.Factor analysis of the 30 semantic differentials that comprise the Perceived Atmosphere Instrument produced a four factor solution interpreted as Vibrancy, Spatiality, Order and Theatricality. There were statistically significant differences between galleries on three of these four dimensions. These differences were interpretable in light of each gallery's physical characteristics, but also indicate ii that a space's perceived affordances are as important as its measurable physical properties. Of the Perceived Atmosphere dimensions, Vibrancy is the strongest predictor of affective, cognitive and behavioural engagement. Spatiality is a p...

Implication of Perceived Spaces Toward Visitors' Learning Motivation In Rumah Atsiri Indonesia

“…In terms of visitors' experience, researchers and practitioners tend to take a broad definition of the museum that encompasses traditional collection-based museums as well as science centers, interpretive centers, zoos and aquariums. These sites have been described by Packer (2004) as "educational leisure settings" (Forrest, 2014).…”

“…Rui Olds (1994) in (Forrest, 2014) mentioned four main characteristics of an ideal educational leisure setting: 1) movement (freedom to explore the environment independently), 2) comfort (a varied atmosphere and moderate stimulation from all senses; variations in scale, finishing, lighting, texture and mood), 3) competence (a sense of ownership and well-ordered space that allows visitors to find their way with confidence), 4) control (the ability to protect yourself from unexpected approaches).…”

“…Dernie (2006) in (Forrest, 2014) categorized the exhibition into three categories, namely: a) narrative space: the alignment of objects and displays in such a way that sightlines and visitor movement reveal an unfolding narrative and layered storylines; b) performative space: where the emphasis is on action rather than observation on the part of visitors; c) simulated experience: immersive multimedia experiences and scenic reconstructions which can be considered as the evolution and expansion of traditional museum diorama. As (Pallasmaa, 2012) stated that every touching architectural experience is multi-sensory; the quality of space, matter and scale is measured equally by the eyes, ears, nose, skin, tongue, skeleton and muscles.…”

“…RAI adopts "experiencing essence" concept through a comprehensive informal learning about essential oils. Experience can be seen as a process of mutual interaction or "dialogue" between a visitor and their setting (McCarthy & Ciolfi, 2008) in (Forrest, 2014). Stenglin (2004) in (Forrest, 2014), developed a theory of the experience of museum space based on binding concepts, taken from linguistic theory.…”

The effects of personal values on service climate and service delivery in the hospitality industry

“…Given that this thesis seeks to understand the impacts of personal values on employee perceptions of service climate and their service delivery through the lens of a realistic view, objective positioning and a flexible methodological approach, the post-positivist paradigm is aligned with my perspective. Furthermore post-positivism is commonly used research paradigms in service management/marketing research (e.g., De Vita & Tekaya, 2015;Forrest, 2015;Solnet, 2006a;Sreejesh, Mitra, & Sahoo, 2015), which further adds to the credibility of adopting this paradigm to my thesis. The research strategy built on this paradigm and utilised in this study will be discussed in the following section.…”