DEVELOPING AND

UNDERSTANDING AUDIENCES

THROUGH CONSULTATION

Royal Albert Memorial Museum

29 September 2014

USER & NON-USER CONSULTATION

AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT

The Accreditation requirement

Vicky Dawson

SW Accreditation Technical Adviser

Section 3: Users and their experiences

Accredited museums are welcoming and accessible. They exhibit collections and have a planned approach to identifying and providing a good quality service for a broad range of users

The requirement

3.1.1 The museum must understand who its users

and non-users are

3.1.2 The museum must evaluate and analyse

information to assess users’ needs

3.1.3 The museum must devise plans to broaden

its range of users

3.1.1 The museum must understand who

its users and non-users are

Collecting data through consultation processes to

determine current/ potential visitors

3.1.2 The museum must evaluate and

analyse information to assess users’

needs

• Gathering feedback

• Making sense of data

• Using it to:

1) measure how well needs are met

2) inform planning and development

3.1.3 The museum must devise plans to

broaden its range of users

• To attract and engage targeted new audiences,

• To engage with users from previously under represented

groups to the museum

Scalability

Independents 1 & 2 • Visitors book, comment cards, stakeholder meetings

• Evaluate user experience

• What are the barriers to participation?

• Analyse and respond to user and non-user comments

Independents 3 and Local Authority • Benchmarking

• Standardised processes

• Comprehensive evaluation, including baseline data

Evidencing compliance

Documentation & information needed:

• Information on the application form

• In your Forward Plan

NB requirement 1.4.4 consultation and an analysis of views

• An example of evaluation & analysis activity

Where it may also be found:

• Audience development plan

• Interpretation & learning plan

• Wider strategic aims

LOW TECH & COST EFFECTIVE

CONSULTATION TECHNIQUES

Vicky Dawson

SW Accreditation Technical Adviser

Why consult?

‘You can’t find out who’s not visiting your museum until you

know who is’

• To provide good quality, relevant services

• To justify funding

• To raise your museum’s profile

• To increase and diversify your audiences

• To target and prioritise – resilience

• To develop partnerships and dialogue

• To increase engagement

Consultation – the simple steps

• Being clear why you are consulting

• Devising the means

• Collecting information

• Collating the data gathered

• Analysing & interpreting the data

• Drawing conclusions

• Making use of the information

Who are your current users and what do

they think of your service?

• Use the information you already collect

• Quantitative or qualitative?

• Use appropriate methodologies:

• Structured/non-structured

• Facilitated

• Self completion

• Verbal

• Online

• Written

• Creative

Collation, analysis & interpretation

Several systems available • Complexity of questionnaire

• How you want to interrogate your data

Pull out key points

Summarise

Communicate

Use

Some ways to analyse

Quantitative data • list in table under headings

• use spreadsheet for accurate figure calculations

Qualitative data • separate out positive from less positive comments

• group under themes, topics that appear regularly

• categorise according to key patterns, trends emerging

• ‘code’ using GLOs especially if you are trying to find out about how visitors view specific events/ activities

• describe in a case study

Evaluation toolkit for museum practitioners Renaissance East of England p.29

Evaluation toolkit for museum practitioners Renaissance East of England p.29

Google

analytics

Tripadvisor &

similar

Voting

Some

suggestions

Exercise In groups of three, either

1. Tackle a consultation challenge that one of your group is facing

OR

2. Tackle one of the following scenarios:

A. You are a small market town museum with one member of staff and

an enthusiastic team of volunteers. How will you consult to help you

draw up your temporary exhibition programme?

B. Design a strategy to find out what schools think of your education

service.

C. How will you find out whether 16 to 21 year olds use your museum

and what will you do with your findings?

Think about

• What you want to find out – the questions you want

answered

• Who you want to find out from – who you are going to ask

• How you are going to find out

• How you are going to analyse the results

• What you are going to use the

information for

Vicky Dawson

SW Accreditation Technical Adviser

vicky.dawson79@gmail.com