Audience Research and the Museum Experience as Social Practice

Abstract Museum use is an inherently dialogic and social practice—sets of actions and cognitive processes that are enacted in response to, and within, specific socio-cultural contexts and within specific social relationships. By studying those practices, visitor research can tell us a great deal about how users operationalize the communicatory function of the museum. Studies that investigate how visitors interact with each other, use the interpretive tools of the museum, engage socially with their peers, or operate as groups within the exhibitions, are illustrative of these practices. Audience research may also afford insight into the contexts for user practice. Importantly, visitor research is an active component of the museum process, as it engages the audience directly and incorporates their views into the practices of museums. Keywords: Visitor studiesMuseum useAudience researchSocial practiceDialogic inquiry Acknowledgements The author thanks the anonymous referees for their thoughtful and challenging critiques. Notes 1. The NSB study reports "sixty-six percent of those surveyed in 2001 reported that they had visited a science or technology museum at least once during the past year, the highest level of museum attendance ever recorded by the NSF survey. Museum attendance is positively related to formal education and attentiveness to S&T." (2002, 7?55).