Experiencing Exhibitions: A Review of Studies on Visitor Experiences in Museums

Abstract

This article reviews empirically oriented studies from the United States and Europe concerning visitor experiences in museum exhibitions in order to pinpoint similarities and differences among them. In the last 20 years, only a few scholars have tackled this research question in multifaceted empirical ways, although some of them have done so extensively. By comparing theoretical and methodical issues, as well as important results, we are able to outline several analytical building blocks that compose a complex framework of visitor expectations, experiences, and outcomes. Gathering credible data on experiences of visitors in exhibitions or museums, a method dating back to the tracking records of Robinson (1928), is an ongoing challenge for the empirically inclined science of museum studies. Social scientists at universities and museums have been asking for 20 years: What are the findings regarding factors, structures, and consequences of exhibition experiences? Where are the blind spots? Which questions should be researched?

Encountering the ‘Other’: Interpreting Student Experiences of a Multi-Sensory Museum Exhibition

“…At the time, however, Hooper-Greenhill (2006: 373) inferred that measuring, counting and mapping still dominated the field. As more recent reviews and critiques of the museum visitor studies literature demonstrate, the situation has not changed much because of the oftentimes limited application of available methods (Barrett 2011), and the often limiting focus on learning, marketing or leisure, which forecloses a more complex understanding of the experience of exhibitions (Kirchberg and Troendle 2012).…”

Use of digital guides in museum galleries: Determinants of information selection

“…Hence, visitor behavior has been characterized as "free-choice" (Falk & Dierking, 2002;Kirchberg & Tr€ ondle, 2012), and accordingly, most visitors do not "work through" an exhibition in a comprehensive manner but instead focus on a small subset of exhibits. By observing visitors in a British Science and Industry Museum, Morris Hargreaves McIntyre (2004) identified different types of visitor behaviors which differed both in completeness and elaborateness of the visit.…”

Experiência turística em museus: percepções de gestores e visitantes

“…A literatura de experiências em museus tem abordado aspectos prévios, durante e após a visita dos indivíduos (Kirchberg & Tröndle, 2012). Porém, no Brasil, poucos estudos têm enfatizado a experiência do visitante de maneira holística (Gosling et al, 2014b).…”