Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Visitors' engagement'

Using an exploratory research design approach, this thesis aims to provide in-depth knowledge of adult visitors’ engagement in suburban neighbourhood parks. This research explored adult visitors’ behaviours and activities in park settings with integrated qualitative and quantitative analysis from the objective and subjective data. The findings revealed that adults engaged differently in the park spaces when compared by age groups, and multiple factors affecting park use could create opportunities for the social sustainability of the neighbourhood. The outcomes of this research are a contribution to park design and behavioural studies and have practical implications for leisure, urban and health studies.

Since the early 2000s, Social Media has become part of the everyday activity of billions of people. Museums and galleries are part of this major cultural change - the largest museums attract millions of Social Media 'friends' and 'followers', and museums now use Social Media channels for marketing and audience engagement activities. Social Media has also become a more heavily-used source of data with which to investigate human behaviour. Therefore, this research investigated the potential uses of Social Media information to aid activities such as exhibition planning and development, or fundraising, in museums. Potential opportunities provided by the new Social Media platforms include the ability to capture data at high volume and then analyse them computationally. For instance, the links between entities on a Social Media platform can be analysed. Who follows who? Who created the content related to a specific event, and when? How did communication flow between people and organisations? The computerised analysis techniques used to answer such questions can generate statistics for measuring concepts such as the 'reach' of a message across a network (often equated simply with the potential size of the a message's audience) or the degree of 'engagement' with content (often a simple count of the number of responses, or the number of instances of communication between correspondents). Other computational analysis opportunities related to Social Media rely upon various Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques; for example indexing content and counting term frequency, or using lexicons or online knowledge bases to relate content to concepts. Museums, galleries and other cultural organisations have known for some time, however, that simple quantifications of their audiences (the number of tickets sold for an exhibition, for example), while certainly providing indications of an event's success, do not tell the whole story. While it is important to know that thousands of people have visited an exhibition, it is also part of a museum's remit to inspire the audience, too. A budding world-class artist or ground-breaking engineer could have been one of the thousands in attendance, and the exhibition in question could have been key to the development of their artistic or technical ideas. It is potentially helpful to museums and galleries to know when they have inspired members of their audience, and to be able to tell convincing stories about instances of inspiration, if their full value to society is to be judged. This research, undertaken in participation with two museums, investigated the feasibility of using new data sources from Social Media to capture potential expressions of inspiration made by visitors. With a background in IT systems development, the researcher developed three prototype systems during three cycles of Action Research, and used them to collect and analyse data from the Twitter Social Media platform. This work had two outcomes: firstly, prototyping enabled investigation of the technical constraints of extracting data from a Social Media platform (Twitter), and the computing processes used to analyse that data. Secondly, and more importantly, the prototypes were used to assess potential changes to the work of museum staff information about events visited and experienced by visitors was synthesised, then investigated, discussed and evaluated with the collaborative partners, in order to assess the meaning and value of such information for them. Could the museums use the information in their event and exhibition planning? How might it fit in with event evaluation? Was it clear to the museum what the information meant? What were the risks of misinterpretation? The research made several contributions. Firstly, the research developed a definition of inspiration that resonated with museum staff. While this definition was similar to the definition of 'engagement' from the marketing literature, one difference was an emphasis upon creativity. The second set of contributions related to a deeper understanding of Social Media from museums' perspective, and included findings about how Social Media information could be used to segment current and potential audiences by 'special interest', and find potential expressions of creativity and innovation in the audience's responses to museum activities. These findings also considered some of the pitfalls of working with data from Social Media, in particular the tendency of museum staff to use the information to confirm positive biases, and the often hidden biases caused by the mediating effects of the platforms from which the data came. The final major contribution was a holistic analysis of the ways in which Social Media information could be integrated into the work of a museum, by helping to plan and evaluate audience development and engagement. This aspect of the research also highlighted some of the dangers of an over-dependency upon individual Social Media platforms which was previously absent from the museums literature.

A substantial body of literature has examined supply side influences on museum visitors' consumption patterns, stressing the importance of the physical museum environment on visitors' willingness to engage and interact. Previous research in the physical context of museums is mainly focused on the labels, how many exhibits a visitor attends and for how long, but the level of actual engagement has not deservedly been studied. Also, the museum visitor experience has been argued to be influenced by not only the physical environment but also social and psychological factors and the agenda visitors bring with them . This study investigated the visitor agenda in greater detail, examining demand side influences on visitor engagement with museum exhibits, in an attempt to enhance understanding of consumer behaviour in museums from a cognitive perspective. A post-positivism perspective and a mixed-method approach were undertaken as core methodology. First, the main constructs were drawn from a review of the relevant literature on engagement, interaction with museum exhibits, consumer behaviour and further developed by means of 23 in-depth interviews, observations and photographic data with museum visitors to scrutinise how visitors behaved in practice. Second, a structural model (Partial Least Squares), including formative and reflective constructs, was subsequently tested and refined. Data was collected by means of a questionnaire survey among 535 visitors at Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery, one of the UK's most visited attractions. Engagement was found to be predicted by prior knowledge of the museum, visitors' level of cultural capital and motivation to be entertained, casting into doubt the relationship between engagement and motivation to learn in museums. The research suggests the need for museums to construct exhibits around the familiar, build connections with visitors prior to their visit through information sharing, and realise more challenging ways to engage those visitors driven by desire to learn. This study makes a contribution to heritage marketing and consumer behaviour studies with regard to exploring the concept of engagement and visitors' interaction. Future research should differentiate types of engagement with regard to museum visitors (e.g. passive/interactive).

Museums are vast resources, but much of their information is inaccessible to visitors. Typical labels for artifacts provide few details, making it difficult for non-expert visitors to learn about an artifact, and to find its relevance to other artifacts or to themselves. Although museums have developed interpretive aids such as brochures and audio guides, these are limited and do not offer visitors the possibility to explore artifacts both broadly and deeply as they go through an exhibition. Visitors often have questions that go unanswered or pass through an exhibition without being engaged. As visitors all have their own personal interests and preferences, it would be difficult to offer a usable version of any current interpretive aid that includes all of the information, stories, and related content that each visitor would like. Personal mobile devices provide a platform for interactivity and access to an unlimited amount of information, presentation of rich media, and flexibility for customized experiences both inside the museum and beyond. To bridge the gap between museum collection information and visitor engagement, I propose a framework for increasing engagement through resonant, rich, and interactive experiences mediated by a personal mobile guide, and present a case study and functional prototype mobile guide for the Hall of Architecture at the Carnegie Museum of Art.

Visitor generated content projects are becoming increasingly significant in the development and delivery of engaging visitor experiences in museums in the UK, but the rationale behind them and the impact they are having on not only visitor engagement but also museum practice are not always clear. There is a requirement to understand and articulate the impact of digital visitor co-creation in the museum environment and to discuss the challenges of implementing digital innovation projects in museums and the implications this has on institutional change. This thesis presents an investigation into the potential of digital visitor generated content applications in museum spaces to foster visitor engagement. The study emphasises that in order to develop engaging digital visitor generated content applications, museums must radically trust their visitors. As part of this research two digital visitor generated content systems were designed, tested, implemented and evaluated in three museums in the UK; the Grant Museum of Zoology, UCL, the Imperial War Museum, London and the Imperial War Museum North, Manchester. This thesis discusses the process of inception to evaluation of these applications and considers their impact on visitor engagement and goes on to investigate the challenges they bring to implementing digital innovation in a museum environment. Two key issues came out of the research into digital visitor generated content; the importance of radical trust and the fact that post moderation with digital visitor generated content does work. Additionally this thesis identified a number of challenges about the way that digital innovation projects are conducted and how they could be overcome, and finally some recommendations are offered for museums seeking to undertake digital innovation projects in the future.

The purpose of this research was to devise an assessment tool to effectively capture the nature of visitors' learning experiences with live animal exhibits in zoos and aquaria. A comprehensive learning framework was developed and field-tested with a total of 900 visitor. The resulting framework provides researchers and practitioners in zoos and aquaria with a valuable tool to assess the learning impact of exhibits through observable behavioural indicators.

This thesis presents an investigation into the potential of digitally enhanced exhibition spaces to foster the engagement of children within family groups with museum objects on display, i.e. where physical contact is prohibited. The main focus is on the influence of digital enhancement on visitors’ engagement with artefacts and not on the digital elements themselves. This study has taken the mixed methods approach. It combines ethnographicallyinformed field studies with a design intervention within an overarching methodology of action research. In the review of literature, research from multiple fields including museum studies, interaction design and play research was brought together and examined from the perspective of exhibition design. This led to the development of the Social Dream Spaces Model. This model, which describes how visitors engage with museum objects, was used as the basis for a design intervention aimed at enhancing children’s engagement with exhibited artefacts. In-gallery participant observations were carried out in Bantock House Museum, Wolverhampton. Insights, based on data analysed from the perspective of the Social Dream Spaces Model, were used to develop a prototype of a digitally enhanced space, which was implemented into the existing exhibition. Data gathered in observations before and after the design intervention were compared in order to determine any changes in visitors’ responses to the exhibition. This study demonstrates the benefit of using the Social Dream Spaces Model for designing digitally enhanced exhibition spaces that promote children’s engagement with artefacts and social contact around them. The findings also confirm that designing subtle and nonintrusive digital enhancement can facilitate intergenerational interaction in exhibition spaces.

There are persistent gender inequalities in science participation, further stratified by social class and ethnicity. This study takes a sociological approach to examine how interacting social axes shape girls’ engagement with science within lessons, class visits and family visits to science museums. The data were collected through interviews, focus groups and observations with the girls (n=15), their parents (n=10) and their science teachers (n=4) and analysed by drawing on Bourdieu’s theory of social reproduction and Butler’s theory of gender performativity. The main contribution of this study is an in-depth understanding of the vital role that social contexts play in shaping girls’ engagement with science. This study found that ethnicity complicated the influence of working class backgrounds, in that high parental aspirations and support for science positively shaped their identification with the subject and their aspirations. Yet, there was a gendered and ethnic aspect of science capital, which challenged how they recognised and deployed their limited resources. Engagement with science was produced when their resources and dispositions aligned with expectations of a particular social context. A change in a physical setting was not enough to open up opportunities for engagement, without also a shift in norms, values and recognition. Performances of heterofemininity were mostly in tension with engagement with science in the context of the science class. The girls who behaved well and worked quietly, performing restrained heterofemininity, risked invisibility. The celebrated ways of engaging with science required confident displays of knowledge, enacted through ‘muscular intellect’. The family context provided different opportunities for the girls’ engagement with science to the science class, but these were constrained by the challenges they encountered during their science museum visits.

Museums are not only public repositories of culture, but also educational institutions striving to emotionally stimulate visitors with an explorative educational experience. However, it is stated knowledge that museums can be considered boring, especially by the younger visitors.  The purpose of this study was to investigate how a museum exhibition can become more engaging by combining gamification with the museum's course of action to enhance visitor engagement in children.  The goal was to identify distinct principles in the dimensions of gamification, the museum context, the target group of 10-13 year olds and Augmented Reality. With a Research Through Design approach, a concept study and design study was conducted, and a prototype was developed as a representation of the principal findings. The prototype was evaluated in a user study conducted with participants within the target group.  The result of the user study indicated that the gamification concept was engaging but due to few participants as well as lack of usability data, the concept could not be fully validated to enhance visitor engagement in a museum.  However, evaluation of the findings and the defined distinct principles of the dimensions can serve as guidelines for other research conducted within the same dimensions or with similar conditions.
Ett museum är inte bara en offentlig förvaring av kultur utan även en utbildningsinstitution som strävar efter att emotionellt stimulera sina besökare genom att erbjuda en stimulerande utbildningsupplevelse. Dock finns det en allmän uppfattning att museer ibland anses vara tråkiga, särskilt hos de yngre besökarna.  Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur en utställning i ett museum kan bli mer engagerande genom att kombinera spelifiering med museets handlingssätt för att förbättra besökarnas engagemang hos barn.  Målet var att identifiera distinkta principer i de fyra dimensionerna spelifiering, museum som kontext, målgruppen 10-13-åringar och teknologin Augmented Reality. Genom att använda Research Through Design metodologin genomfördes en konceptstudie och designstudie. En prototyp utvecklades som en representation av de definierade principerna som utvärderades i en användarstudie med deltagare inom målgruppen.  Användarstudiens resultat visade att spelifieringskonceptet var engagerande, men med anledning av få deltagare såväl som brist på användardata kunde konceptet inte validera att besökarnas museumrelaterade engagemang förbättrades.  Däremot kan resultatens utvärdering och de principer som definierats i denna studie fungera som riktlinjer för annan forskning som utförs inom samma dimensioner eller med liknande förhållanden.

Tese apresentada à Universidade Fernando Pessoa como parte dos requisitos para obtenção do grau de Doutor em Ciências Empresariais
This study aims to contribute to the conceptual development of consumer behaviour in wine tourism area by bringing new discussion and empirical evidences. For this, a literature review of the main concepts was conducted in order to develop and support a conceptual model. This model was subsequently validated and empirically tested, and a hypothetical relationship between constructs was established: involvement (personal involvement and wine product involvement), destination emotions and place attachment (place identity and place dependence). This is, so far, the first study that analyses the combined interaction of all these constructs. This research was undertaken in the framework of wine tourism, namely the measurement of the wine tourist behavior after visiting the Porto wine cellars. Methodologically, the first chapter is a qualitative exploratory study that performed a content analysis on the key constructs (involvement and emotions), allowing a better understanding of how they can be defined, and the main dimensions underlying each one of them. The second chapter consisted of a conceptual approach, which focused on the clarification of the definition of wine tourism, and the wine tourist behaviour in particular. It also explored the possible relations between constructs (involvement, destination emotions, place attachment and behavioural intentions), postulating the key preposition that stems from their interaction. In the third chapter, a quantitative research was used, using a personal intercept survey in the Porto wine cellars to validate and to give empirical evidences about the behaviour of the Porto wine cellar visitor. The multilevel analysis of the proposed structural model was made using the SmartPLS software, allowing the confirmation of all the proposed hypotheses. In the first chapter, the findings provided a theoretical support of the relevance of involvement and emotions constructs in the field of tourism. The content analysis produced insights based on concepts and definitions of these two constructs on a more holistic perspective. In the second chapter, the findings sustain the special interest in consumer behaviour in wine tourism, and it stated a set of five prepositions, where the main constructs are interlinked. In the third chapter, the empirical results indicated that wine tourists’ personal involvement and their wine product involvement have a significant influence (and a direct effect) on destination emotions and place attachment, driving their behavioural intentions. The study had direct implications (analysis and evaluation of the wine tourist travel behaviour and wine tourist profile) for the Porto wine cellars. The results led to practical implications and suggestions for wine tourism managers. Este estudo tem como propósito contribuir para o desenvolvimento conceptual do comportamento do consumidor na área do enoturismo, contribuindo com uma nova discussão e evidências empíricas. Foi realizada uma revisão da literatura sobre os principais construtos, a fim de desenvolver e apoiar um modelo conceptual. Este modelo foi posteriormente validado e testado empiricamente, e foi estabelecida uma relação hipotética entre os construtos: envolvimento (envolvimento pessoal e envolvimento com o produto vinho), as emoções do destino e apego ao lugar (identidade do lugar e dependência do lugar). Até agora, este é o primeiro estudo que analisa a interação combinada de todos estes construtos. Esta pesquisa foi realizada no âmbito do enoturismo, ou seja, a medição do comportamento do enoturista após visitar as caves do vinho do Porto. Relativamente à metodologia aplicada, o primeiro capítulo é um estudo qualitativo exploratório que resultou numa análise de conteúdo sobre os construtos chave (envolvimento e emoções), permitindo uma melhor compreensão de como eles podem ser definidos, e as principais dimensões subjacentes a cada um deles. O segundo capítulo consistiu numa abordagem conceptual que incidiu sobre a clarificação da definição de enoturismo, e o comportamento do enoturista em particular. Este capítulo também explorou as possíveis relações entre os construtos (envolvimento, emoções do destino, apego ao lugar e intenções comportamentais), que determinam a preposição chave que decorre de sua interação. No terceiro capítulo, uma pesquisa quantitativa, foi utilizado um questionário estruturado nas caves do vinho do Porto, para validar e dar evidências empíricas sobre o comportamento do visitante nas caves do vinho do Porto. Foi realizada a análise multivariada do modelo estrutural proposto, utilizando o software SmartPLS, que permitiu a confirmação de todas as hipóteses propostas. No primeiro capítulo, os resultados forneceram um suporte teórico da relevância dos construtos do envolvimento e das emoções na área do turismo. A análise de conteúdo produziu perceções com base em conceitos e definições destes dois construtos, numa perspetiva mais holística. No segundo capítulo, os resultados sustentam o especial interesse no comportamento do consumidor no enoturismo, e foi apresentado um conjunto de 5 preposições, onde os principais construtos são interligados. No terceiro capítulo, os resultados empíricos indicam que o envolvimento pessoal dos enoturistas e o seu envolvimento com o produto vinho têm uma influência significativa (e um efeito direto) sobre as emoções do destino e o apego ao lugar, impulsionando as suas intenções comportamentais. O estudo teve implicações diretas (análise e avaliação do comportamento de viagem do enoturista e perfil do enoturista) para as caves do vinho do Porto. Os resultados levaram a implicações práticas e sugestões para os gestores de enoturismo. Cette étude a pour but contribuer pour le développement conceptuel du comportement du consommateur en oenotourisme, apportant une nouvelle discussion et des évidences empiriques. Il a été faite une révision de la littérature à propos des principaux concepts, a fin de développer et soutenir un modèle conceptuel. Ce modèle a été ensuite validé et testé empiriquement, et il a été établi un rapport hypothétique entre les concepts : engagement (engagement personnel et engagement avec le produit vin), émotions du destin, attachement à l’endroit (identité et dépendance de l’endroit). Celle-ci c’est, jusqu`à présent, la première étude qui analyse l’interaction combinée des tous ces concepts. Cette recherche a été réalisée dans le cadre de l’oenotourisme, ça veut dire le mesurage du comportement de l’oenotouriste après visiter les caves du vin Porto. Méthodologiquement le premier chapitre c’est une étude qualitative exploratoire qui a réalisé une analyse du contenu sur les concepts clé (engagement et émotions), en permettant une meilleure compréhension de la façon dont ils peuvent être définis, ainsi que les dimensions principales inhérentes à chacun d’eux. Le second chapitre a consisté dans une approche conceptuelle qui portait sur la précision de la définition de l’oenotourisme, et le comportement de l’oenotouriste en particulier. Ce chapitre a aussi exploité les éventuels rapports entre les concepts (engagement, émotions du destin, attachement à l’endroit et intentions comportementales) qui postulent la préposition clé qui découle de son interaction. Dans le troisième chapitre, une recherche quantitative, il a été utilisé un questionnaire structuré dans les caves du vin Porto, a fin de valider et de donner des évidences empiriques sur le comportement du visiteur dans les caves du vin Porto. Il a été réalisé l’analyse multifactorielle du modèle structurel proposé, en utilisant le software SmartPLS qui a permis la confirmation de toutes les hypothèses proposées. Dans le premier article, les résultats ont fourni un soutien théorique de la pertinence des concepts de l’engagement et des émotions dans le domaine du tourisme. L’analyse du contenu a produit des perceptions ayant comme base des conceptions et définitions de ces deux concepts, dans un point de vue plus holistique. Dans le second article, les résultats soutiennent le spécial intérêt dans le comportement du consommateur dans l’oenotourisme, et il a été présenté un ensemble de 5 prépositions, où les principales constructions sont interconnectées. Dans le troisième article, les résultats empiriques indiquent que l’engagement avec le produit vin ont une influence significative (et un effet direct) sur les émotions du destin et l’attachement à l’endroit, en poussant ses intentions comportementales. L’étude a eu des implications directes (analyse et évaluation du comportement de voyage de l’oenotouriste et profil de l’oenotouriste) pour les caves du vin Porto. Les résultats ont amené à des implications pratiques et suggestions pour les gestionnaires de l’oenotourisme.