Practical Evaluation Guide: Tools for Museums and Other Informal Educational Settings

by Judy Diamond

Visitor evaluations provide clues to the effectiveness of exhibits and programs, and provide insights into how people learn in informal educational settings. In Practical Evaluation Guide , Judy Diamond presents the basic principles and techniques needed to design, implement and present an evaluation project. Diamond's clearly and simply written guide gives you the tools needed for studying the behavior and learning of people in informal educational settings, including how to plan an evaluation, evaluate evaluators, perform visitor observations, conduct interviews, design questionnaires, sample audiences, analyze qualitative and quantitative data, write reports, and much more. An extremely useful tool for anyone seeking guidance on how to set up competent, reliable evaluations in informal educational settings.

Genres: Museums, Education, Museology

192 pages, Paperback

First published February 9, 1999

Reviews

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a solid, step-by-step guide to evaluating exhibits and other educational efforts at museums, historic sites, nature centers, etc. It coverswork prior to creating the exhibit, during the construction and after it is done. Many of the methods are really designed for larger institutions with larger budgets, which accounts for the middle rationg.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a solid, easy-to-understand overview of the basic components that comprise museum evaluation. I read it in conjunction with my Intro to Evaluation course and it's concise descriptions really helped me understand my 3 hours of weekly lecture information.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're looking for theory of evaluation, it's not here. "Practical Guide" is exactly what it is. A step-by-step guide to doing an evaluation in an informal educational setting. Much of what I read I already knew, through common sense and other reading. But as a researcher, I like to have my common sense put down in logical form on paper - and if someone else has already done it, great!

[Elizabeth Bostelman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was great as an introduction to the process of evaluation! I will definitely keep it on my shelf as a resource!