by Mandy Barnett – Happy Museum Research Associate The Happy Museum project is especially targeted at museums that want to encourage participation and activism.  We particularly focus on work with communities and the wider environment, sometimes called ‘place-making’.  On 13th June we are holding our annual training day for museums who share our desire to ‘measure […]

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This case study looks at how deliberately seeking to engage emotions can help to promote wellbeing in audiences and staff, and also build resilience in organisations.

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Observational evaluation An in-gallery approach to predefined indicators of outcomes. Observational evaluation involves researchers observing participants in projects to record their activities, behaviours, emotions, interactions, themes and so on, to get a sense of how people experience your project. It can also be an opportunity to engage the front of house teams. Download: (pdf) Observational_evaluation For information about the […]

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Narrative evaluation A desk work approach to identifying themes including how frequently they recur, by analysing written material. You may gather qualitative written feedback through forms, interviews, visitor comments, embedded evaluations and so on. There are ways to collate this data and include it as evidence in your evaluation and learning processes. Downloads: (pdf) Narrative_evaluation (xls)  NarrativeEvaluationTemplate For information […]

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Embedded evaluation A variety of in-gallery, open approaches which might be fun, embedded in the exhibition or activity to gain a variety of feedback. This is the idea of making evaluation part of the project itself rather than something that takes places outside of the project or at another time. Download:  (pdf) Embedded_evaluation For information about the rest […]

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Where do you stand?  Simple, workshop approach before, after and regularly through an activity to identify individual outcomes Where do you stand? is a simple tool that can gauge participants’ opinions by asking them to stand a line of masking tape to show whether they agree with a statement on a scale of 1-7. It is used […]

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Happy Tracker Very simple, workshop approach before, after, and regularly through a period to identify individual wellbeing outcomes. Happy Tracker is a very simple and easy tool developed by the Story Museum working with the New Economics Foundation (nef) to assess individual wellbeing. Participants simply use their body to indicate their level of wellbeing at points in […]

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Time capsule Simple, fun, workshop approach; before and after activity to identify personal or social outcomes. Time Capsule is a relaxed but engaging and fun tool that captures changes in opinion or sentiment connected to an issue or place. This tool was developed by Happy Museum commission Reading Museum and adapted for more general use. Time Capsule could […]

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LIFE survey (Learning, Interaction, Feelings, Environment) Sophisticated, individual survey before and after activity to identify Learning, Interaction, Feelings and Environmental awareness outcomes. Download (docx): LIFEGuidanceHappyMuseum See also our ‘Are you a Happy Museum?’ Survey

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Transformation Cycle Sophisticated, workshop approach to planning and reviewing organisational change. This approach is for organisations that are used to thinking about how they improve. It is a more sophisticated framework for planning and reviewing change, to the point of transforming the organisation by really embedding new practice. It also recognises the importance in Happy Museum work of the […]

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