August 28 through November 3, 2018

Courtesy of the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology,

University of New Mexico

“Archeology on
Ice”
Visitor Survey
Pick Museum of Anthropology at NIU
Report
Reported by: Cori Elsesser
Completed: December 2018
 2

TABLE OF CONTENTS
What is this report?________________________________________________3
General Overview__________________________________________________________3
Methodology______________________________________________________________3
Analysis and Write Up_______________________________________________________3

Demographics____________________________________________________4
Reactions & Impacts_______________________________________________5
Overall Reaction to Exhibit’s Content___________________________________________5
“I have gained a better understanding of archeological research.”_____________________5
“I have gained a better understanding of climate change.”___________________________6

Reactions to Museum Services______________________________________7

Hours of Operation________________________________________________________7
Front Desk Staff__________________________________________________________7

Visitor Behavior___________________________________________________8
How many times has a visitor visited the pick museum?____________________________8
In what capacity have repeat visitors visited the Pick Museum?_______________________8
How did visitors find out about the Pick Museum?_________________________________9

Appendix A: Visitor Survey_________________________________________10

 3

WHAT IS THIS REPORT?

General Overview
This report is a summary of findings based on the “Archeology on Ice” visitor survey
collected during the 2018 fall semester within the Pick Museum exhibit space (Appendix
A). A total of 40 surveys were collected. This report is meant to give a snapshot of a
convenience sampling of Pick Museum visitors who visited the “Archeology on Ice”
exhibit and does not necessarily represent ALL Pick Museum visitors.

Methodology
Visitor surveys were collected at various times during open hours in the museum space
and administered by museum docents and staff. After surveys were collected, they were
tagged and entered into Microsoft Access to be analyzed. Answers to fill-in-the-blank
questions were coded and thematically categorized.

Analysis and Write Up

The survey questions and answers were categorized into four themes:
 Demographics
 Reactions and impacts to the “Archeology on Ice” exhibit
 Reactions to museum services
 Visitor behavior and motivations

Answers to each survey question has been analyzed below. If applicable, an

explanation of findings and/or recommendations for how to apply these insights is
written in narrative form.
 4

DEMOGRAPHICS: WHO ARE OUR

VISITORS
The majority of visitors were NIU students. Some community
members visited, possibly bringing out of town visitors with them.
Few NIU faculty or staff
visited.
OUT OF TOWN VISITORS CAME FROM:
OTTAWA, IL
NIU Student 80.0%
CALIFORNIA
DeKalb County Resident 7.5%
UTAH
Out of Town Visitor 7.5%
NIU Faculty or Staff 5.0%


Of the students who visited, the
majority were upper classmen
STUDENTS’ MAJORS INCLUDED:
or graduate students. Students
 EDUCTION
with diverse majors visited
 PRE-PHYSICAL THERAPY
 COMMUNICAITONS
“Archeology on Ice.”

 PHILOSOPHY
 PSYCHOLOGY Seniors 30.0%
Graduate Students 20.0%
 BUSINESS Juniors 12.5%
 COMPUTER SCIENCE Freshmen 10.0%
Sophomores 7.5%
 ENVIRONEMNTAL STUDIES
 ANTHROPOLOGY
 MEIDA STUDIES
 MUSIC
 HISTORY
 GEOGRAPHY
 NONPROFTIS AND NGOS
 5

REACTIONS & IMPACTS

Overall Reaction to Exhibit’s Content

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neither Agree nor Disagree Agree

1 (Poor) 2 3 4 5 (Excellent)
0 0 1 17 22
The exhibit’s content received overwhelmingly positive responses with an average
response of 4.53. 55.0% of respondents rated the content as excellent and 42.5% of
respondents rated the content as one point below excellent.

“I have gained a better understanding of archeological

research.”

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neither Agree nor Disagree Agree

Strongly Neither Agree

Disagree Agree Strongly Agree
Disagree nor Disagree
1 0 5 24 10
The learning objective that visitors would gain a better understanding of archeological
research was mostly met with 85% agreeing or strongly agreeing with an average of 4.1
being in the agreeing range. 12.5% were neutral on the learning objective stating they
 6

neither agreed nor disagreed with the statement. There was one outlier who strongly
disagreed with the statement.

“I have gained a better understanding of climate

change.”

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neither Agree nor Disagree Agree

Strongly Neither Agree

Disagree Agree Strongly Agree
Disagree or Disagree
1 0 9 20 10
The learning objective that visitors would gain a better understanding of climate change
was moderately met with 75% agreeing or strongly agreeing. However, the average was
3.95 and was therefore between the neither agree nor disagree option and the agree
option. 22.5% were neutral on the learning objective stating they neither agreed nor
disagreed with the statement. Once again, there was one outlier who strongly disagreed
with the statement.
 7

REACTIONS TO MUSEUM SERVICES

Museum services were rated on a scale of 1 meaning poor to 5 meaning
excellent.

FRONT DESK STAFF HOURS OF OPERATION

87.5% gave a 5/5. 85% gave 4 or 5/5.

The lowest score was a 4/5. The lowest score was a 3/5.
 8

VISITOR BEHAVIOR
How many times has a visitor visited the pick museum?

6+ Times
5%
4 - 5 Times
13%

2 - 3 Times 1 Time
63%
20%

In what capacity have repeat visitors visited the Pick

Museum before?
“For class purposes.”
“Just visiting”
“Walking around town, I wander in here.”
“I’ve visited a few exhibits. The last on was ‘Quilts and Human Rights.’”
“Recreational viewing.”
“NIU Tours and events.”
“I went to an archeology talk once.”

These examples demonstrate four themes from the 15 repeat visitors:

1. Repeat visitors specifically mentioned previous exhibitions.
2. Repeat visitors come for reasons associated with their classes and course work.
3. Repeat visitors come as a habit and enjoyment.
 9

4. Repeat visitors come for special events like tours and lectures.

How did you find out about us? (Select all that apply)

Passing through Cole Hall 25

Word of Mouth 10 TOP WAYS VISITORS ARE FINDING
Professor’s Assignment 6 OUT ABOUT US:
PASSING THROUGH COLE HALL
Signage on Campus 6 WORD OF MOUTH
Museum Website 3 PROFESSOR’S ASSIGNMENT
SIGNAGE ON CAMPUS
Other (Newspapers) 3
Social Media 2
DeKalb County Calendar 1
NIU Event Calendar 1
Campus Email Announcement 1
NIU Today 1
Museum Email Announcement 0

The four highest ranked ways of finding out about the Pick Museum – passing through
Cole Hall, word of mouth, professor’s assignment, and signage on campus – contained
79.7% of responses.

Visitors’ are finding out about the Pick Museum through professor’s assignments
supports theme two about repeat visitors. Students find out about the Pick Museum first
through professor’s assignments and return again.
 10

APPENDIX A: VISITOR SURVEY

11