Fresh ideas from museums around the globe in your inbox each week
Mathilde Lester is an Evaluation Officer at Museums Victoria. She has worked in museums in both Australia and the UK and holds a Master’s in Museum Studies from University College London where her first-class dissertation explored visitor meaning making at co-created displays.
Her role at MV involves working closely with Exhibition and Experience teams to listen to, analyse and understand audiences.
Online Qualitative Methods for Audience Research
Knowing and understanding your audiences is an integral part of exhibition and experience development. In the past, audience research methods relied on speaking with visitors face-to-face, particularly onsite. But the pandemic has shifted this online. Over the past two years, the Museum Victoria Audience Insights Team has explored different methods for collecting qualitative data including online focus groups, telephone interviews and an online discussion board. This paper will present our methods, materials and outcomes, including broader implications for future research.