Going Undercover: 3 Ways We Unobtrusively Observe Visitors in Museum Exhibitions
Observations have always been one of my favorite ways to collect data. Watching how people move about and behave in a space is inherently addictive—there is so much you can discover if you pay close attention to what is happening around you, and it feels a bit like going undercover as a spy.
As part of our experience design research work, we often do unobtrusive observations of visitors to museum exhibitions to better understand and improve the exhibition experience. “Unobtrusive” means visitors don’t know they’re being observed, which reduces the chance they will alter their natural behavior. Unobtrusive observations provide more reliable data about visitor behavior than asking visitors to recall what they did since visitors often forget or (unintentionally) fudge the details. However, not all unobtrusive observation methods are equal. In fact, there are many different styles, each with their own pros and cons. Here are just a few ways we unobtrusively observe how visitors behave in exhibitions.
1. Timing and Tracking Observations
Timing and tracking observations (T&T observations for short) are the most well-known and comprehensive way of understanding how people behave in an exhibition. A single T&T observation captures one visitor’s complete journey from the time they enter an exhibition to the time they exit. Each observation is recorded using a standardized form to track behaviors including what exhibits the visitor stops at, what they do when they stopped, how much time they spend, and some contextual information (e.g., How crowded is the gallery?). Depending on the museums’ interests, you might choose to track social behaviors (e.g., pointing or taking photos) or focus on tracking the types of exhibits used. Using a standardized form ensures that the data is recorded in the same way for each visitor observation. This standardization allows you to compare and identify behavioral patterns across visitors (Do children spend more time at interactive exhibits than adults? How does that vary on the weekends?). Taken as a set, T&T observations can provide a holistic picture of how visitors experience an exhibition.
I could probably write 100 posts on the many insights we’ve gained from years of doing T&T in museum exhibitions. Suffice it to say, there are numerous pros. For one, T&T observations give you that rare combination of detailed accounts of individual visitors’ experiences while simultaneously capturing robust trends in how visitors as a whole use the space (thanks, statistics!). However, because T&T observations capture so much detail and high volumes of data, they also require a high investment of time and resources.
Some of the many ways we can visualize timing and tracking observation data: histograms of how much time visitors spend in an exhibition, and heat maps that show the percentage of visitors to stop at and the median time spent in different exhibition sections (click images to expand!).
2. Scan Observations
Like T&T observations, scan observations, or scans, help paint a picture of how people use a large space, like an exhibition or even an entire museum floor. Scans are structured, unobtrusive visual “sweeps'' of a designated area at fixed intervals of time. Essentially, this means going through an exhibition regularly (e.g., once every five minutes over the course of an hour) and recording key information on a standardized form. Scan observations are repeated many times (perhaps on different days or times of day) so the data collected represents a variety of circumstances. Each scan is like a “snapshot” in time that you can piece together to give you a sense of group behaviors and dynamics in a space. There are endless variations of what you might capture on a scan form, but some things we often record are counts (How many people are there?), exhibit use (Which exhibits are being used at that moment and which are not?), and social behaviors (Are people taking photos? Conversing?).
The exciting and beautiful thing about scan observations is that they focus on group dynamics. Because the focus is on what everyone in the exhibition is doing at a moment in time (and how that changes when you piece together those moments), scans help you answer questions like “At a high level, what is working well, and where are there pain points?” You can also collect scan data relatively quickly, which is always a plus. However, scans can’t capture the nuance of an individual person’s visit or how much time visitors spend in the exhibition like T&T observations can. Another limitation is when you only scan an exhibition at predetermined times, you miss some things between scans. Still, with clear goals and good design, scan observations can be extremely useful despite their limitations. We’ve used this method numerous times to help museums make data-driven decisions when re-envisioning exhibitions.
Visualizations from scan observations can show a picture of how groups use a large space, including number of visitors in the space, observed bottlenecks, the most frequently-used exhibits or sections, and even the percentage of visitors who are actively using exhibits versus those who are not (click images to expand!).
3. Naturalistic Observations
Whereas both T&T and scan observations are standardized and thus generate quantitative data about how visitors use an exhibition, naturalistic observations provide qualitative behavioral data. This observation style is more open-ended—instead of using a form to check off or tally behaviors, observers record data by taking notes (often called “field notes”) on what they see visitors do and what they hear them say. “Open-ended” doesn’t mean the process is entirely a free-for-all though. Naturalistic observations are most productive when the observer references a list of key questions or themes to guide them on what to take notes on (e.g., a list of study objectives and/or specific behaviors to watch for); otherwise, their observations will be unfocused.
The great thing about naturalistic observations and taking notes in general is the added richness and flexibility that taking an open-ended approach allows. For example, standardized T&T forms just can't capture unique or unexpected circumstances, like if someone walks through the exhibition in an inflatable T.rex costume (trust me, it's happened!) in the same way. The disadvantage of naturalistic observations is that while they generate rich, thick data, they are time- and labor-intensive to analyze, and the relative lack of standardization makes it harder to draw conclusions at scale. For that reason, it’s usually best to stick to this observation style only if you’re planning to do a small number of observations; for instance, if you have questions about how well a particular interactive exhibit is working for visitors.
Unobtrusive observations are rich and multi-faceted. I like to think that each style has its own flair and personality, and I love them all for different reasons. No matter which style you choose, it’s sure to reveal something interesting!
