Understanding the Visitor Journey at the United States Capitol Visitor Center

Written By Katie Chandler

Client: U.S. Capitol Visitor Center | Location: Washington, DC

 
 

We helped the Capitol Visitor Center understand the visitor journey for onsite experiences, from planning and expectations to visit highlights and takeaways, for its general public and school group audiences.

OVERVIEW

In 2024, it had been several years since the Capitol Visitor’s Center’s (CVC) last year-long visitor study, and they were eager to better understand their current audiences and the onsite experience at the Capitol across seasons. We focused on two key audiences: general public visitors and school groups. The study centered around understanding the whole onsite visitor experience, from planning the visit through the time they left the CVC.  

APPROACH

 Our study design varied by audience:

  • General Public: We conducted entrance and exit surveys across four seasons to understand how visitor characteristics and visit experiences vary throughout the year.

  • School Groups: We conducted teacher and student surveys in the spring when school group visitation is highest.

CLIENT TAKEAWAYS

For the general public, we found that history, architecture, and art are central to visitors’ onsite experience, both in terms of their expectations for the visit and their visit highlights. On the other hand, experiences tied to Congress and democracy today, which are important to the CVC’s mission, are less of a priority from visitors’ perspectives. Nevertheless, it was promising that exit survey results showed a positive shift in visitors’ interest in experiences related to Congress and democracy today compared to entering visitors. Results also revealed important gaps in entering visitors’ awareness of the wide range of experiences available at the CVC besides the Capitol Tour, such as specialty tours and education programs, which the CVC plans to explore further with additional research.   

For school groups, we found that teachers and students were impressed with the art and architecture of the Capitol Building and had a positive experience onsite overall. Those who participated in an education program also appreciated the interactive approach to learning about the democratic process in the CVC’s Democracy Lab. We found room for improvement in helping students achieve some of the intended learning outcomes, such as understanding how Congress has changed over time and feeling inspired by the democratic process.

Katie Chandler

Katie brings a decade of experience in market research and evaluation to her position as Senior Researcher at Kera Collective.

Katie’s love of anthropology, history, and applied research gives her a unique balance of curiosity about human thought and behavior and practicality to translate insights into meaningful actions. 

Katie enjoys using mixed methods to tease out the complexity and nuance in audiences’ experiences with museums and other informal learning organizations. She particularly enjoys working on projects that explore people’s relationship with the past and with the natural world.

She has published articles in several leading museum publications and frequently attends and presents at professional conferences like the American Association for State and Local History’s annual conference.  She currently serves as a reviewer for the Journal of Museum Education.

Outside the (home) office, Katie enjoys running and exploring Richmond’s many parks with her family and her dog.

Katie’s favorite museum at the moment is the Science Museum of Virginia.

Next

Analyzing the American Association for State and Local History's Public History Workforce Survey