The Visitor Studies Group: Championing excellent visitor experiences
The latest news and upcoming events from The Visitor Studies Group (VSG)
To find out more or make a booking please see the events posted below.
An experienced audience research and evaluation professional. Delivers tailor-made training in specialist areas. Works with a range of heritage organisations from volunteer-run local museums to world-renowned cultural institutions. Skilled in data collection (using both traditional and innovative methods), analysis, and objective reporting.… More
Are you interested in helping other audience researchers and evaluators as a mentor?We are recruiting new mentors for the 2022-2023 VSG Mentorship Programme. This initiative enables experienced professionals to support, guide and be a friendly ear for others in the sector. Volunteer mentors will be part of a small collective of mentors and the role is… More
www.psresearch.co.uk Services Adam is one half of PS Research, bringing together a blend of quantitative and qualitative research skills to ask the questions that matter and find the answers that make a difference for their clients. Services include: Quantitative research methods and analysisData visualisation and storytellingResearch strategy and project developmentAudience and visitor researchFormative and summative… More
• Evaluation • Visitor studies • Community consultation • Audience development • Learning programmes • All ages, Early Years to adults • Training and capacity building • or arts, cultural heritage and natural heritage • Across the UK and in Europe… More
• visitor research • evaluation • marketing and audience development • copywriting, copy editing and proofreading • audio transcription services • training
… More
• Visitor and non-visitor research (qualitative and quantitative) • Interpretation testing • Exhibition and project evaluation • Marketing planning and evaluation… More
VSG Events this September! There’s a lot going on with the VSG this September, from a Masterclass in London, to a webinar from the US and an informal meet and chat with drinks in Birmingham. Deadlines for bookings are approaching fast so book now – we look forward to seeing you at one of these… More
• Survey design, fieldwork and analysis (face to face, online, phone) • Focus groups and individual in-depth interviews • Self collected data using video cameras • Observation and ethnography • Questionnaire design • Recruitment • In-house evaluation training… More
2014 Conference of the Visitor Studies Group, March 2014… More
Welcome to the July newsletter. You will see the committee have been very busy on your behalf and you can look forward to a new website, action plan and events announcements in the next few months. Also below you will find many calls for you to contribute, please consider if you can as the VSG… More
A reflective blog post about a workshop on why so many arts organisations are failing to engage effectively with data (and knowledge) collection. Includes links to further resources and tools. www.anewdirection.org.uk
VSG News Finances The financial report for April 2013 to March 2014 was discussed at the recent committee meeting. A very brief summary is that our organisational memberships are up on target while individual and concessionary memberships are lower than we hoped. Both the event in Scotland, and the conference were a financial success. Conference success was due… More
VSG News Conference – 6/7 March 2014 The VSG Conference this year was held in St Martin-in-the Fields and focused on the theme Visitor Studies: It’s all about Relationships. We would like to thank everybody who came along and made it such a rewarding couple of days, and in particular the speakers and those who… More
Evaluating Evaluation ‐ Increasing the Impact of Summative Evaluation in Museums and Galleries ‐ Maurice Davies and Christian Heath, November 2013 Evaluating Evaluation November 2013
Skill-Sharing Event, Scotland, May 2013… More
2013 Visitor Studies Group Conference, February 2013… More
Skill Sharing Event, Thinktank, Birmingham, September 2012… More
This report follows on from VSG contributing to the Museums Akademie in January 2011. The report has been written for the MA, and will be available to VSG members from November 2011. Evaluation as a Strategic Management Tool
The Books Connect Project aimed to support the development of new creative partnerships between libraries, museums and the arts using books and reading as a launch pad to develop new audiences and new venues for reading inspired creativity. This report details the Books Connect Project Evaluation and includes a copy of the toolkit developed for the evaluation. Books Connect Project Evaluation Report
An International bibliography on visitor experience studies and exhibition evaluation in zoos and aquariums. Compiled by Harry Schram for the EAZA Education Committee, 2011. 2011-02-10 Visitor Studies Bibliography
This report summarises the results from research into school audiences’ views on, and use of, videoconferencing. It particularly focuses on teachers’ and pupils’ reactions to video-conferencing sessions offered by museums. MoL Video Conferencing Final Report April 2008
The Museum of London and Museum in Docklands offer a programme of national curriculum linked sessions for school groups with special educational needs (SEN). This report presents the findings from the evaluation of the SEN programme and includes information about its effectiveness. The report includes findings from students as well as teachers. Museum of London SEN Programme Evaluation Report
Attachment: MoL Video Conferencing Final Report April 2008.pdf This report summarises the results from research into school audiences’ views on, and use of, videoconferencing. It particularly focuses on teachers’ and pupils’ reactions to video-conferencing sessions offered by museums.
Exploring case text labels and presenting the findings from research carried out at the Museum of London. Both adult and family visitors took part in this study which focused on a range of issues: the position and height of case captions, the amount and type of information included, and reactions to the style of writing. Case Captions Evaluation Report
This report was produced by the Science Museum’s Audience Research & Advocacy Group. It presents the findings from evaluation of the redeveloped Launchpad, an interactive gallery at the Science Museum. It focuses specifically on SEN groups and teachers. SEN Summative Report – Launchpad – Science Museum
This document, produced by the Science Museum’s Audience Research & Advocacy Group, summarises lessons learned from the interactive exhibit prototype testing during the redevelopment of Launchpad – an interactive gallery at the Science Museum. Exhibit Prototype Testing – Launchpad Project – Science Museum
The Science Museum was involved in an audience-led process where members of London’s African-Caribbean community were consulted in order to inform a series of events on Scientific Racism at the Dana Centre. This report summarises findings from the consultation and offers a review of the overall process of consulting and using their opinions to inform events. Audience Led Project with Londons African Caribbean Community
The paper ‘Bringing User Testing into the Classroom: The Moving Here In-Class Evaluation Programme, examines user testing of online resources in a classroom setting, using as a case study the schools’ e-learning resources developed for the Moving Here site. View Paper
