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Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
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Ok, so the thread is still going. I have another opinion (natch) about the
studies initiated on this list. I question the methodology. If you ask for
experiences or data from voluntary respondents from the list, you aren't
randomly sampling museum professionals or even members of the list-serv. You
are sampling responses of people who feel inclined to take the time to
respond to your request. Maybe your conclusions will be skewed by that. If
you offer monetary incentives to respond, you are getting responses from
people who want to get the money, which is not a random sampling of museum
professionals either. (God knows, we can't be in this because we love money
that much). I don't know how you would do true random selection and double
blind studies of museum professionals but that is how the best data is
collected in many scientific trials. So I question what good is all the time
and effort anyway? I think at heart, the best museum exhibits have a large
component of intuition in their formation. How you gonna put THAT into a
study or evaluation?

Phil Edgerton, Asheville, NC

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