Audience Research Results:
Labels with Historical Characters
by USS Constitution Museum Team
The goals of the Family Learning Project at the USS Constitution Museum included conducting research, creating prototypes, and testing a variety of exhibit elements with family visitors. We chose to research various techniques to present narratives of historic figures in engaging ways to foster a personal connection between visitors and stories of the past.
Goal
One of the techniques we used consisted of thirteen life-size historical cut-out figures with first person texts in “bubble shapes” placed next to their heads within the prototype exhibit, “A Sailor’s Life For Me?” Our goal was to determine which type of label Promoted family conversations.
Three label techniques
300 families commented on label text accompanying the cut-out figures in a pilot study before the prototype exhibit opened. A first person context label accompanied each of three cut-out figures throughout the study.
We asked families to comment on three different types of accompanying labels, shown one at a time. The family learning team tested three different figures with 100 visitors commenting on each figure to control for different content.
-
Historic quotes
“The most disagreeable duty in the ship was that of holystoning the decks on cold, frosty mornings.” - Samuel Leech, 1810.
Forty-seven percent (47%) of the family members interviewed preferred the historic quote labels. Visitors stated they preferred historic quote labels because the content was accurate and authentic, provided a personal connection, and provided an historical perspective. -
Historical questions
“Can you imagine being a sailor starting off your day with a cold saltwater scrub rather than a hot shower?”
Thirty-four percent (34%) of visitors preferred the historical questions. Visitors expressed that these labels fulfilled their need for thought provoking content and that the questions’ open-endedness was more engaging. -
Contemporary question
“What is the chore you dread the most? How often do you have to do it?”
Only 19% of visitors preferred the contemporary question. The contemporary question was eliminated from the rest of the study after the pilot phase due to the unpopular responses.
Summary: When shown three types of labels, visitors showed strong preference for both historic quotations and historical questions.
One unexpected result of the study was a gender preference: women preferred historical questions and men preferred quotes.
| Label Type | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|
| Blanchard quote | 56% | 26% |
| Smith quote | 60% | 46% |
| Morris quote | 73% | 25% |
| Blanchard historical question | 30% | 56% |
| Smith historical question | 9% | 21% |
| Morris historical question | 19% | 65% |
What happened when visitors encountered these labels within the exhibit? Which were more effective at encouraging conversation?
After the ASLFM exhibit opened in the summer of 2005, staff observed over 550 visitors and recorded their behavior in tracking and timing behavioral studies. Observers recorded seven types of behaviors: reading silently or out loud, calling others over, commenting, asking and/or answering questions, and sharing personal experiences. These studies revealed that visitors engaged more in conversation behaviors with the historical question labels than with the quote labels. The historical question label at Boy Blanchard generated nearly four times the number of conversations as the quote label did by family visitors even though visitors stated a preference for historic quotations over historical questions when interviewed. This highlights the importance of using different research tools to understand visitor preferences and behavior. The findings are not contradictory, as a visitor may prefer to read an authentic quotation to learn about the past directly; however, if an exhibit developer’s aim is to encourage family conversations about the topic, the historic question is a more powerful technique. Because visitors have different preferences and different learning styles, we believe it is important to blend techniques. It is also important for exhibit developers to be cognizant of what sort of visitor response they seek.
Do visitors prefer 1st or 3rd person voice?
In 2006, labels were again tested outside of the exhibit area to see if visitors preferred the 1st person voice or 3rd person voice in text labels. Evaluators asked 109 family visitors if they preferred the 1st or 3rd person label examples. Sixty-four percent (64%) of the visitors preferred the 1st person label. The top reasons visitors gave for their preference of the 1st person label included: it was more personable, had more impact because it came directly from the sailor, and it fit the design.Does 1st or 3rd person voice matter?
Visitors were also asked if they could tell the difference between the two voices in the labels. Over two-thirds of the 102 visitors (72%) responded they did notice the difference. However the follow-up question, “Does it matter to you as a visitor?” resulted in 52% or 55 of the visitors stating it did not matter which type of label is used as long as the label was clear, readable, and made sense.
Summary: In the 2006 label studies, visitors were clear about their overall preference for label content, regardless of voice: accurate, authentic, relevant, and clear with story elements.
