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Re: Collecting visitor data Tony,

I would not disagree with a word of what you say.  The reality, however - as I am sure you very well know, is that very few funders will pay for proper, scientific, audience research and project evaluation.  So the established practice is that most museums do what they can with limited resources, and funders deem themselves to be satisfied with this because they either don't know any better - or know that if they asked for more.better they could only get that by paying for it.

Would I like to see the social scientists get together and apply pressure for a proper scientific approach and the funding to go with it?  Yes, of course.  Do I think that is going to happen any time soon?  No.


Bob Clark
Director
The Auchindrain Trust
mailto:[log in to unmask]

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Friday, September 7, 2018, 5:08:47 PM, you wrote:

On 7 Sep 2018, at 16:58, Bob Clark <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Eric,

I would also argue that we should care, but so long as funders are content to accept the flawed data that results from the survey work it is actually possible for us to undertake, few if any of us are going to take a stand on the question of scientific accuracy.


Bob

My heart sinks.

As a provider to the 'industry' the reliance on meeting funders' needs, feels way out of line with what the visitor wants.

Perhaps that's the real issue?

Shouldn't the funders be funding the visitor surveys to establish what's good for the 'industry' rather than perpetuating the circle of funding innovative digital solutions (just because they're innovative and digital).

What if all the visitors want is a good day out, with an easily digestible story?  And the other 'visitors' want a quick way to find out about their personal history in relation to yours, and the other 'visitors' need to fulfil a classroom assignment and the other 'visitors' are just interested in brass nameplates and you have some they haven't seen yet, etc......

**an unqualified, from the sidelines view.**

(It's Friday so i'm stirring the pot while procrastinating - feel free to ignore me!)

:o)
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