Interviewer conducting visitor research. Photo: George Serras

We need to know who our visitors are and what they think for a variety of reasons: to make sure that the National Museum of Australia is attracting a broad range of people, to discover the things that visitors like and don't like, and to use that information in order to improve our programs and facilities.

Visitor surveys

Every year we contract professional interviewers to carry out interviews with visitors as they leave the Museum. Questions range from basic demographics (age, sex, occupation, place of residence) to more detailed questions: where they found out about the National Museum, what they thought of a particular exhibition, or whether they would recommend the Museum to their friends.

> Who visits the National Museum?

> What do visitors like (and dislike) about the National Museum?

> Visitor quotes

Program evaluation and audience research

As required we also commission professional studies such as program evaluation (for example, testing a proposed new exhibition on its target audience) or audience research (for example, studying a particular age group or other market segment to find out how they relate to museums in general and the National Museum in particular).

Are you interested in evaluation and visitor research?

Two useful Australian web sites are the Australian Museum's Australian Museum's Audience Research Unit and the Evaluation and Visitor Research Special Interest Group page hosted by Museum 3.0.

For further information

Email evaluation@nma.gov.au