Recently, I had the opportunity to lead a training for our partners at Da Vinci Science Center in Allentown, PA. Staff members in attendance were gathered from across the museum and included educators, program coordinators, operations staff, and members of the Museum’s Executive team. After some big organizational changes, including moving into a new building and bringing in new programs and exhibits, the Da Vinci team want to re-meet their public visitors and understand if and how they are delivering on their mission “To bring science to life and lives to science.” They plan to collect data from visitors at several key time points throughout the year. After working with their staff to design a visitor intercept survey attuned to their questions and context, we gathered virtually for a training intended to prepare them to collect visitor data. “Congratulations!” I told them (and I meant it), “…you are the data collection cohort!”

I’ve worked with many museums and science centers, and I know that without fail the staff at every level of the organization are incredibly committed to their work, the learners they show up for every day, and the potential to have a positive impact on their communities. But how often do we actually get to speak to our guests about the experience they are having? That’s where data collectors undertake an awesome responsibility on behalf of their organizations.

Making it Happen

Time is precious, both for museum visitors and for staff who often feel the pull of competing demands on their time. Collaborating to collect visitor data provides staff a way to connect with each other and with visitors, in addition to providing the organizational decision-makers with specific and actionable information to learn and grow with. Building capacity across teams (including education, operations, and management), to collect data from visitors is also a powerful way to get staff interested in the feedback received and more personally committed to finding ways to act on that information.

Another powerful option available to some organizations is to work with volunteers who are interested in training as data collectors. It’s an excellent volunteer position for a person who thrives on having a lot of responsibility and finds satisfaction in contributing to a tangible goal. Volunteer data collectors often find it meaningful to speak to members of their community on behalf of the museum and enjoy making those one-on-one connections. Visitors may also feel more comfortable in providing feedback to volunteers.

Whomever we train and work with to collect the data, the goal is always the same: we are seeking to create intentional moments with visitors to understand their relationship with and experience at the museum and how we can better meet their needs and deliver on the organization’s mission.

Three Key Insights About Organizing Your Team to Collect Visitor Data

Through our work preparing museums and science centers to collect data from their visitors, we’ve come to recognize a few important “ah-ha!” moments arise as we work together to create a data collection practice.

• There is value in collecting data in a systematic way. There isn’t one way to collect visitor data but being intentional about goals, how to structure data collection, and what strategies to employ when interacting with visitors, contributes to the quality of the data collected. Collecting data well, making meaning from it, and using these insights to inform action are critical for organizations committed to their own learning and improvement.
• Gathering data can become part of your organization’s practice easier than you think. A short training workshop can get your team ready and gathering data a few weeks a year and can yield hundreds of visitor responses. We work with organizations large and small to analyze and make meaning from the data collected, providing insights for annual reports, to influence new policies, and to support program improvement.
• Involving leadership is a game-changer. Having members of your organization’s leadership team participate in the training and spend time gathering feedback from visitors conveys the importance of the activity to the rest of your team and builds culture related to gathering and using data at your organization. Speaking directly to visitors is also often a very impactful experience for the leaders and other staff who are involved.

Our Work at ILI

At the Institute for Learning Innovation, we work with learning organizations like museums and science centers to identify questions and build tools needed to collect specific and actionable information that supports improving programs and accelerating impact. We often collect data on behalf of our partners, but we also relish the opportunity to train your staff or volunteers to collect data from public visitors. Collecting data well is an important first step in using visitor feedback to identify specific actions for improvement. If this is something you would like to bring to (or revive) at your organization, please feel free to reach out to us here or to Elysa directly at elysa.corin@freechoicelearning.org.