Chapter 1: The Countenance of Visitor Studies in the 1980's

There is an evolving field of visitor research based both on evaluation and basic kinds of research studies. The occasion of a First Annual Conference in Visitor Studies along with a developing literature are two indicators of interest. Some specific approaches to studying how visitors use museums, parks, zoos and other visit settings can be identified. These approaches, while not yet reaching the status of formal theories, are yielding a continual output of investigations. The approaches include survey research, marketing analysis, visitor learning research and studies that emphasize applications of environmental psychology and sociology. Many studies entail a strong evaluation approach which emphasizes finding out how well exhibits and programs for visitors work. While these approaches can be identified in the countenance or appearance of visitor research, it is not yet clear what the dominant paradigm or approach to the field will be if indeed there is to be one dominant paradigm or approach. ...