Letting children provide constructive feedback for improving museum experiences

Abstract

This thesis describes the process of the development of the MuseumMakers application: a tool for providing constructive feedback by children to museums. The tool only focuses on regular visits, because it is more difficult to collect feedback from younger visitors. This is due to the fact there is no interaction between museum employees and children during these regular visits.

When asking children what they think about their museum visit, they usually react with: ‘It was fun.’ When you continue questioning and ask what they especially liked, an answer like ‘Everything!’ is used. This was the feedback baseline for this graduation project.

The need occurred to frame how the feedback appears to be. In order to make the feedback constructive, three elements are needed. Firstly, the museum object or element should be clear. Next, a value judgment should be given to the specific object. Lastly, the feedback should consist the why behind the combination of object and value judgment.

During the conceptualisation phase, a method derived to in order to structure the process of giving constructive feedback. When children are triggered by a museum object during their visit, they can make a combination of the object and a corresponding value judgment. After this decision, asking a follow-up question can reveal the why behind their opinion.

This method is used in the tool MuseumMakers. In the application, children can choose from nine different statements. They make a picture of the object, and combine it with a value judgment of their choice. Then a virtual museum employee questions what made them feel that way specifically. For example, what they specifically found irritating or informative. The application can be used during the whole museum visit. Afterward, the application will send the photos and sound recordings to their email address. In this way, children have a digital souvenir of their feedback visit.

The design was evaluated in a user research. The research showed that children are able to give constructed feedback to museum educators with the use of the tool MuseumMakers.