Observations, Interviews, and Surveys/Questionnaires at MOXI

There are both benefits and drawbacks to all three methods of collecting data presented in the readings. I think in order to have a better understanding of what form to use would depend on what information the evaluator wants to get. I feel that using observation tools at MOXI would fit best in the environment since it is the least intrusive and people would not get pulled away from their experience at MOXI however through observation tools, a lot of valuable information can be lost. I feel that as a spark, I am constantly making observations, primarily through ad lib sampling, recording whatever is visible and interesting at the moment. Interviews and Questionnaires on the other hand allow for better statistical analysis and deeper thought analysis. As a spark, I also engage in informal conversation interviews encouraging guests to think about, probe, discuss and test their ideas but this can be a biased form of interviewing and gathering data is challenging. I feel that semi-structures interviews would be a beneficial data collection tool at MOXi since there is some formality on what is going to be asked but creates more of a comfortable environment than formal interviews. A combination of these methods could provide the most amount of valuable information depending on what the evaluator wants to know for example, if the evaluator wants to compare the popularity of exhibit between first time guests and members, the evaluator could do a simple observation by counting people followed by a short questionnaire. the most interesting part of this reading was the part on Personal Meaning Mapping (PMM). I am not sure how this could be implemented on the floor however I think it could be an interesting tool to use with field trips or even at program carts.