The Museum Exhibition Audience Assessment Study

With the development of public archeology and public communication in the west, museums exhibition developers have faced a new challenge: how to understand their target audiences. In the late period of the twentieth century, the audience study in the western countries had reached a new level which adopted the methods form psychology, behavioral science, communication science and sociology and the statistics was used in the building of audience evaluation index system. The audience evaluation in China had started in the 1980's, but the early studies could not make changes in the long-term relationship between museum and their audiences. This thesis examines the museum exhibition evaluation theories in the west and demonstrates the basic methods, principles and mechanics of audience evaluation. Based on the analysis of the evaluation methods of questionnaires, interviews, behavior studies and data analysis, the thesis creates the evaluation index system for the exhibition planning, fabricating and assessing. With a further study on the evaluation mechanics in China museum administrations, the thesis concludes with a discussion on the public mechanism in the museum exhibition development.