Audience research: narrowing down the questions…

Well, I posted a lot about this last week, so now I think it is time to address exactly what our overarching “big” question is, and then determine the many questions that might come out of that. It looks like Katherine is thinking, ““What factors influenced your choice to come to the Corcoran today?” I think this gets at what we have been discussing, but I only worry that it is too open-ended to produce any solid results. Or, on the other hand, maybe is works well as our bigger question and we can get at details with smaller questions that relate to it. I think Farolyn is working on another question/topic now, so maybe we don’t even want to worry about the demographics that we were initially considering. Ultimately, we have narrowed down on seeking answers to why visitors chose to come to the Corcoran over all the other (free and more well-known) options in the city.

I still believe a questionnaire is the best format for us to work with. It could contain the questions, Have you been to the Corcoran before? Are you a member? How did you first learn of the Corcoran? Are you from DC area? If not, how did you hear about the Corcoran? Did you see advertisements for the American Evolution show? Did you know there was an admission price? and, (getting at Katherine’s earlier interests), Were you satisfied with the show? I am curious if anyone thinks putting these types of questions, and about this many of them, on a questionnaire is too much to throw at visitors? Are they likely to fill it out? Also, is it best to hand it out as people enter the show, throughout the show, or as they exit? My initial feeling is at the beginning so they have time to walk around, and fill it out at their leisure (before they leave). But with the expectation question, if we include it, we should probably aim for visitors exiting the show.

I think this type of research will lead us to learning a lot about questions, what type is best to ask, yields better results/answers, and how to phrase things.