Outcomes
Complementing the general 'mapping' of practice throughout the UK and beyond, the project will involve the detailed study of 4 distinct performance events at one heritage site and at least two museums. The three-year study will allow more sustained and varied methods of research to be conducted than was possible in Stage 2 (2001-2).
Our primary, interrelated research methods will include:
- Longitudinal research: sites and visitor groups will be observed, interviewed and re-visited over a 12 month period, to test perception, engagement, recall, and learning outcomes. For organised school groups, research methods will extend those successfully trialled in Stage 2 (small-group interviews and other formal/informal means of testing prior knowledge, recall, etc). For independent visitor/family groups, existing methodologies will be developed, including 'snapshot' interviews immediately after the visit, focus groups, semi-structured interviews with selected visitors. Visitor-tracking will help to determine, e.g., whether visitors behave differently/have different conversations in relation to a performance event compared with other parts of their visit, and how the experience of a performance contributes to or changes the experience of the museum/site overall.
- Comparative case study research: detailed comparisons will be made between different sites and performance styles, allowing wider, more generalised conclusions to be drawn.
- Action Research and Experimental Research: will focus on the development of innovative practice. In collaboration with Manchester Museum and a specialist museum-theatre company, an experimental performance will be devised for the specific institutional context, presented and adjusted according to visitor response. Differences in visitor response and in the effectiveness of different interpretative modes will be captured, analysed and compared.
- Questionnaire surveys: will provide a set of quantitative data to aid the triangulation of the qualitative research.
- Video and stills-camera recordings will be made, as and where appropriate, of the sites, events and audience response - for archival purposes and to trigger recall/response if necessary 12 months on.
- The above studies will be complemented by a broader mapping of developments in museum theatre practice in the UK and abroad and surveys of relevant research literature and applications of museum-based learning theory.
