An Introductory Guide to Qualitative Research in Art Museums

An Introductory Guide to Qualitative Research in Art Museums is a practice-based guide that is designed to introduce qualitative research to established and upcoming museum professionals and increase their confidence to conduct this type of research.

Highlighting the work of researchers who are studying museums around the world, the book begins by explaining why there is a need for qualitative research in museums. Rowson Love and Randolph then go on to provide guidance, including theories and frameworks, on how to envision a qualitative research project that facilitates meaningful interpretation of visitor experiences. Chapters in the methodology section begin with descriptions of featured qualitative methodologies and will assist readers as they determine which are most appropriate for their projects and as they advocate for their research. The final section will prepare readers still further by demonstrating data analysis and reporting using the examples in the book.

An Introductory Guide to Qualitative Research in Art Museums will help museum professionals and students engaged in the study of museums expand their repertoire to include qualitative methodologies and explain the methods needed to conduct, analyze, and report their qualitative research. It will be particularly useful to those with an interest in museum education, visitor studies and audience research, exhibition development, leadership, and management.

Ann Rowson Love, PhD, is the Director of the MA/PhD program, Museum Education and Visitor-Centered Curation, in the Department of Art Education at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida, USA. Her research interests include interpretive planning and strategies, collaborative curation, feminist systems thinking, and visitor studies in art museums. She co-edited three previous books including Dimensions of Curation: Considering Competing Values for Intentional Exhibition Practices and Visitor-Centered Exhibitions and Edu-Curation in Art Museums with Pat Villeneuve and Systems Thinking in Museums with Yuha Jung.

Deborah Randolph, PhD, is a Principal Researcher for International Scholars Group and is based in Raleigh, North Carolina, and New Orleans, LA, USA. She is the former Curator of Education at the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC, and the former Associate Curator of Education at The Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA. She has co-written chapters in five edited volumes. Her research interests include arts and social justice, art museums, qualitative research, artistic practice, museum environmental resistance, arts integration, and historical weaving.