Data Collection in the Gallery

This past Friday I embarked upon my first data collection adventure at the Corcoran. As we had decided that personal interviews would be the best way to collect data, focusing on three questions, I printed out many copies of question sheets and headed up to the American Evolution show. My question sheet consisted of the following: 1) What was the most important factor in your choice to visit the Corcoran today? 2) Were there any other factors that influenced your choice? 3) Did any of the following influence your choice: Expense? Geographical location? Reputation of the Corcoran? Content or reviews of the current exhibit (American Evolution)?

When I reached the second floor, where the A.E. show is, I did a quick walk-through to get a feel for how many people were in the galleries. There were some scattered here and there–not too busy. I quickly realized that I did not feel comfortable approaching visitors while they were immersed in the show, looking at the artwork. They all seemed preoccupied with their looking and/or discussing, and it felt rude/wrong to interrupt them with my questions. So, I assumed a post at the top of the stairs in the central atrium, more specifically just outside the exit door of the last gallery. Having never done research like this in a gallery, I felt a certain level of discomfort that I had not anticipated. It was not until I was actually in the gallery, faced with the very real situation of approaching visitors that I felt this nervousness. That said, I found myself unable to even approach the first couple that exited the galleries. I let them walk right by me, needing another minute to adjust to the setting and task.

One this first couple passed, I began my questioning. Right away, I began to notice several things about the process:

I had to think carefully about how to approach people, what to say that would make them willing to listen to me and answer my questions.

I noticed almost immediately that it was helpful to ask them to answer a few QUICK questions. Most people seemed reluctant to committ to anything that would not be quick. (Maybe this was one downside of standing at the exit, when people were done with the show.)

Asking the visitors if they had been to the Corcoran before seemed like a more natural way to open up/begin the questioning, because many of the answers to the first question related to this fact. After the first few people, I began to ask everyone this question and record their answer.

I quickly realized that in our third question, the “expense” factor seemed irrelevant. I don’t think it is the correct way to get at what we are trying to–information about how the price of Corcoran tickets affects visitors. I realized that if the visitors were at the Corcoran, they had already proven that price/expense was not a factor for them. It did not deter them from visiting obviously. I know we had discussed this at some point, but ultimately decided to include it. After doing the actual data collection, this seems irrelevant to me.

Some of the visitors, (because they saw me standing there or not, i don’t know) made such a quick turn and exit down the stairs that I could not even approach them. This cut down a little bit on the number of visitors I could question.

Another tactical issue was that a few times, a larger group of people would exit at the same time, causing me to miss out on several visitors, as I could only question one or one couple at a time. This posed a bit of a problem because there was not a steady stream of visitors exiting the show. In two hours, I was only able to interview 12 people/couples. This also brought up the issue of, how do we differentiate between individuals and couples who are clearly visiting together and have the same answers to my questions? Is this an issue at all? Should we just consider these couples as one, or are their answers marked as two responses?

After my data collection, I began to think that the questions we are asking are just not that interesting, or not going to reveal the type of information we are looking for. As I talked with the visitors, I also began to think that maybe questions regarding the show, and their expectations of it, impressions of it, would be more interesting to research. It might be more difficult to quantify the info we get, but it would definitely lead to more fruitful answers from the visitors. Should we think about changing our topic like this? or is it too late?