Design Factors in the Museum Visitor Experience Regan Forrest BSc (Hons) Grad Dip Sci Comm A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at The University of Queensland in 2014 Business School (Tourism Cluster) Abstract Over the past half-century, museums have evolved from being predominantly cultural repositories to playing an important social role as venues for educational leisure experiences. Accompanying this development has been an increased emphasis on optimising the visitor experience. The physical context of the museum has long been recognised as an important facet of the visitor experience (Falk & Dierking, 2000). However, the way that visitors perceive and respond to different types of exhibition environments on a holistic level has received relatively little research attention until recently. A key limitation in advancing research in this area has been a paucity of methods for quantifying and analysing visitor perceptions of the exhibition environment beyond simple measures of satisfaction. In order to address this gap, this thesis describes the development of a model for characterising how visitors perceive different exhibition environments – Perceived Atmosphere – and relates it to different facets of the visitor experience. As part of this study, a quantitative instrument known as the Perceived Atmosphere Instrument was piloted and refined. This allows the relationship between exhibition environment and visitor experience to be explored in greater depth. Development of Perceived Atmosphere was informed by environmental psychology, in particular environmental cognition, theories of spatial perception and the research field known as atmospherics (Kotler, 1974). Atmospherics is the study of the influence of retail environments and other service settings on customer attitudes and behaviour, and this study applied similar methods to a museum context. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected to explore and compare visitors’ perceptions of different exhibition environments at the South Australian Museum, a large natural and cultural history museum located in Adelaide, Australia. Qualitative data were collected through 12 pre- arranged accompanied visits to the museum, while quantitative data were collected from 602 visitors to the museum who agreed to participate in the study by completing a questionnaire that incorporated the Perceived Atmosphere Instrument. In addition, a small number of participants (n = 60) were unobtrusively tracked prior to completing the survey, allowing some preliminary analysis of the relationship between Perceived Atmosphere and visitor behaviour. Factor analysis of the 30 semantic differentials that comprise the Perceived Atmosphere Instrument produced a four factor solution interpreted as Vibrancy, Spatiality, Order and Theatricality. There were statistically significant differences between galleries on three of these four dimensions. These differences were interpretable in light of each gallery’s physical characteristics, but also indicate i that a space’s perceived affordances are as important as its measurable physical properties. Of the Perceived Atmosphere dimensions, Vibrancy is the strongest predictor of affective, cognitive and behavioural engagement. Spatiality is a predictor of a sense of relaxation in the exhibition environment. There is a negative correlation between Order and a sense of cognitive overload. These results show that quantifying Perceived Atmosphere in an exhibition setting is technically feasible, theoretically coherent and capable of providing novel and useful insights into the environment-experience relationship. As well as advancing our theoretical understanding of the environment-experience relationship in the museum context, these findings make practical and methodological contributions to the field. The Perceived Atmosphere Instrument is a novel, easy-to-administer research tool that can be applied to a wide range of museum settings. The ability to characterise exhibition environments by their Perceived Atmosphere properties, in particular Vibrancy, Spatiality and Order, will be useful for exhibition planners, designers and evaluators. ii Declaration by author This thesis is composed of my original work, and contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference has been made in the text. I have clearly stated the contribution by others to jointly-authored works that I have included in my thesis. I have clearly stated the contribution of others to my thesis as a whole, including statistical assistance, survey design, data analysis, significant technical procedures, professional editorial advice, and any other original research work used or reported in my thesis. The content of my thesis is the result of work I have carried out since the commencement of my research higher degree candidature and does not include a substantial part of work that has been submitted to qualify for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university or other tertiary institution. I have clearly stated which parts of my thesis, if any, have been submitted to qualify for another award. I acknowledge that an electronic copy of my thesis must be lodged with the University Library and, subject to the General Award Rules of The University of Queensland, immediately made available for research and study in accordance with the Copyright Act 1968. I acknowledge that copyright of all material contained in my thesis resides with the copyright holder(s) of that material. Where appropriate I have obtained copyright permission from the copyright holder to reproduce material in this thesis. iii Publications during candidature Academic publications: Forrest, R. (2013). Museum atmospherics: The role of the exhibition environment in the visitor experience. Visitor Studies, 16(2), 201-216. Peer-reviewed industry publications: Forrest, R. (2014). Exhibition narrative: The spatial parameters. Exhibitionist, 33(1), 28-32. Forrest, R. (2011). Surveillance inside the museum. Artlink, 31(3), 46-48. Conference presentations: Forrest, R. (2014). Perceived atmosphere: A novel way for characterising exhibition environments Paper presented at the Visitor Studies Association Conference, Albuquerque, USA, July 2014. Forrest, R. (2014). Perceived atmosphere: A tool for quantifying visitor perceptions of the exhibition environment. Paper presented at the Visitor Research Forum, The University of Queensland, February 2014. Forrest, R. (2013). Understanding audiences: What psychology can tell us about visitor experiences.Keynote presentation at the Interpretation Australia Masters Series, Sydney, November 2013. Forrest, R. (2012). Design factors in the museum visitor experience. Poster presented at the Visitor Studies Association Conference, Raleigh, USA, July 2012. Publications included in this thesis No publications included. Contributions by others to the thesis No contributions by others. Statement of parts of the thesis submitted to qualify for the award of another degree None. iv Acknowledgements Being able to take time out mid-career to pursue a PhD is an immense privilege. I am grateful for the financial support of an Australian Postgraduate Award, which allowed me to focus full-time on my studies. I was also incredibly fortunate to have had such an exemplary supervisory team: heartfelt thanks go to Dr Jan Packer for her steadfast day-to-day support and attention to detail; and to Prof Roy Ballantyne for never letting me lose focus on the bigger picture. I also appreciate the welcome extended to me by the rest of the staff and fellow students in the Tourism cluster, who took my status as an external student in their stride and provided me with much assistance during my candidature. In addition, I thank the numerous fellow students and researchers across the globe who frequently offered advice and links to valuable references via #phdchat on Twitter. Thanks to all the staff of the South Australian Museum and Artlab Australia for providing me with office space and treating me as one of their own during my candidature. It made my PhD journey feel much less like a solitary one, and having a home institution made piloting and data collection that bit easier. In particular I wish to thank Robert Morris for facilitating my coming to the Museum, Cameron Midson for producing the gallery plans used in the tracking sheets, David Kerr and Jenny Parsons for providing background information on the Museum’s galleries, the security team for their practical and moral support during the long days of data collection, and Alexis Tindall, Keith Maguire, Jo Wood and the digitisation volunteers for being friendly and supportive office mates. Thanks also to Carolyn Meehan from Museum Victoria for allowing me to do some additional piloting at Melbourne Museum, Chris Lang for sharing the Australian Museum’s visitor tracking protocols, and Angela Lush for proofreading this thesis. I am privileged to have a supportive network of family and friends, who have encouraged me throughout my candidature and kept me grounded in the “real world” away from my research. As always, I appreciate the unwavering support of my parents. Thanks go to the extended “Caspersmith” clan, in particular John and Kate, who cheerfully provided me with a home away from home among their growing family whenever I needed to travel to Brisbane. An extra special thank you to my husband, Rick Chalwin, for his patience throughout the three and a half years of my candidature, and for taking