Why goals come first
Evaluation measures something against something. If an exhibit has no stated goals, a later evaluation can only describe what happened, not whether it was good. Worse, it invites each person to apply their own private standard: one expects crowds, another expects deep learning, a third expects a particular story to be heard.
Clear goals do three jobs. They guide design, because a team that knows what the exhibit is meant to achieve can make decisions with that in mind. They set expectations among staff, funders and partners. And they tell evaluators what to look for. This is why goals are worth settling before design begins, ideally alongside early audience research and the exhibit brief.
The problem with hopeful goals
Many exhibit aims are worded in ways that sound good but cannot be checked:
- “Visitors will be inspired.”
- “The exhibit will bring the past to life.”
- “People will engage with the collection.”
- “Visitors will have a memorable experience.”
None of these is wrong as an aspiration. The difficulty is that it is unclear what evidence would show success or failure. What does “inspired” look like? How many people? How would you tell the difference between a person who was inspired and one who was merely polite?
Hopes are not a problem on their own, and some of the best things an exhibit does are hard to measure. The point is to avoid treating a hope as though it were a plan.
Features of a checkable goal
A goal is easier to evaluate when it has these features:
It names a specific audience. “Visitors” covers everyone. “Families with children aged roughly 6 to 10” or “school groups on a guided visit” is something you can recruit and observe.
It describes a change or behavior that could be seen or reported. Examples include being able to explain an idea in their own words, choosing to explore a second section, talking with a companion about the topic, or saying they would do something differently.
It sets a reasonable standard. Wording such as “most of the visitors we observe” or “at least some visitors from each audience group” gives something to compare to. If you set numerical targets, make them realistic, and explain how you chose them. Avoid inventing precision, as in “at least 73 percent”.
It is limited in number. Three to five goals are easier to manage than fifteen. If everything is a priority, nothing is.
It is within the exhibit’s power. An exhibit can reasonably aim to help visitors understand how a process works. It cannot promise to change society.
From hope to goal: an example
Imagine an exhibit about local water systems. The first draft reads: “Visitors will appreciate the importance of clean water.”
To make it checkable, the team asks a series of questions:
- Who? Mainly family groups and school visits.
- What would appreciation look like? Perhaps being able to describe where their tap water comes from, or naming two steps in its treatment.
- How would we know? Through brief exit conversations, or watching whether visitors can complete a sequencing activity.
- What counts as enough? The team decides that most of the family groups interviewed should be able to name at least one step, as a reasonable expectation for a short interactive.
The revised goal might read: “After using the water exhibit, most of the family visitors we speak to will be able to name at least one step in how tap water is treated.” It is modest, but it can be checked, and the team knows what to build toward.
Notice that the revised goal does not capture everything the exhibit may do. It does not capture emotional response or curiosity. That is acceptable: you can keep a broader aspiration in the project statement while choosing a small number of goals to evaluate.
Kinds of goals
It is useful to think in a few categories and choose from each as relevant:
- Behavior goals. What visitors do: stop, explore, return, share.
- Knowledge goals. What they understand or can explain. The wider topic of learning outcomes explores how fraught this can be.
- Attitude or feeling goals. How they feel about a topic. These are harder to measure and easy to overclaim.
- Access goals. Who can use the exhibit. For example, “a visitor using a wheelchair can reach and operate all controls unaided”, which can be checked with the people concerned. Using an accessibility checklist helps frame these.
- Operational goals. Reliability and upkeep, such as the exhibit running through opening hours with minimal restarts.
- Institutional goals. What the museum wants, such as drawing a new audience. Be careful to separate what an exhibit influences from what many factors influence, such as total attendance.
Link goals to methods
For each goal, write down how you plan to gather evidence. If you cannot imagine a method, rework the goal. For example:
- A goal about movement points toward visitor observation.
- A goal about satisfaction points toward visitor surveys.
- A goal about understanding may require short interviews or a quiz-like activity.
- A goal about usage points toward logs, with the cautions about exhibit analytics.
Also consider how much effort the evidence will take. A goal you can only check with a major study may be unrealistic for a small team.
Common traps
- Measuring what is easy instead of what matters. Dwell time and click counts are easy; they do not necessarily match your goal.
- Goals that are really features. “Include a touchscreen” is a design decision, not a goal.
- Moving the goalposts. Changing goals after seeing results defeats the purpose. If they must change, record why.
- Too many numbers. Precise targets without a basis make false promises.
- Overlooking unintended outcomes. Allow room in evaluation for surprises, positive and negative.
- Ignoring stakeholder differences. Curators, educators and funders may hold different expectations. Reach agreement before design starts.
Writing and agreeing the goals
Draft them with the whole team, and with the audience in mind. Keep each to a sentence or two. Read them aloud and ask: could two people, watching the same visitors, agree on whether this happened? If not, tighten the wording.
Record the goals in the brief, and revisit them at design reviews. When the exhibit opens, they become the benchmark for the summative stage, and the closing question of any evaluation: did the exhibit do what we said it would, and what did we learn?