ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
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One reason evaluation in museums is so challenging is the diversity of our audiences.  Most science center mission statements that I have seen include language such as "serving the broadest possible audience...".    I can't think off hand of any other industry that makes that claim.  Most are focused on a particular age or demographic.  Take for example Barbara Flagg's comments about formative evaluation for Sesame Street.  The audience for that show is sharply defined and very narrow, making it much easier to state and measure learning outcomes. 

Attendance at science centers, by contrast, is extremely varied —a fifth grade class studying the laws of motion, a group of parents with toddlers, adults who are interested in art, science, whatever...  professional scientists and engineers, and so on and so on.  All of them use the same set of exhibits, but they have widely varying agendas.  What learning outcomes could we propose that capture that enormous range?  The answer is that we can't, unless we segment the audience:  one set of objectives for the fifth graders, another for the toddlers, still others for adults.   Seems to me that there is no way to measure impact on an average visitor because there ARE no average visitors.  The best we can do is measure impacts on subsets of visitors. 

Or put another way, imagine an exhibit that powerfully effects 10% of the audience in measurable ways, but is of little interest to the other 90%.  Is that exhibit successful?  Or unsuccessful?  Do all exhibits need to work for a majority, or is it o.k. to have some that are targeted?  And what are the implications for evaluation?


Chuck Howarth, Vice President
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