Children’s Museum of Alamance CountyPrimary Research Report

Background, Research Objectives and Research Questions:

The purpose of conducting this primary research was to better understand the Children’s Museum of Alamance County’s target audience. It is important to know the likes and dislikes as well as the motivations of the museum patrons. The objective of the research was to determine the target audience’s relationship with CMAC and their interest in enhancing their relationship with the museum and other patrons. The research was led by the following research questions:

Research Question 1: What are the patrons’ current perceptions of the museum?Research Question 2: What level of interest do patrons have in building a community and relationships with other patrons of the museum?

MethodologyIn-person interviews were conducted at CMAC, taking advantage of the proximity of the museum to campus. We visited the museum mid-afternoon on Wednesday, Jan. 14th, to ask patrons the questions in Appendix I. Additionally, quantitative survey was posted on CMAC’s Facebook page and was created using Survey Monkey. The questions for this survey can be found in Appendix II.  Both of these entailed volunteer and convenient sampling techniques. We received five participants for the in-person interview and nine for the online survey.  

The in-person interviews were analyzed through a comparison of the responses, to identify overarching themes and key insights. The Survey Monkey answers were analyzed through the reporting of percentages.

Detailed Findings

Online Survey Data:

The online survey was conducted in order to gain further insights on the patrons of CMAC and their attitudes towards the museum as well as a possible parent/caretaker community.                                                             In order to better understand the museums’ target audience we provided one gender demographic question. Out of the nine respondents, 100 percent were female and had visited the museum before. This implies that CMAC patrons and active CMAC Facebook fans are majority female.

Current Perceptions of Museum are High, Especially for Exhibits and Programming

To determine perceptions of CMAC’s attributes we asked respondents to select all aspects they liked about the museum. As shown below, their answers varied between, exhibits: (78%), educational programming: (44%), other: (22%), connecting with other parents/caregivers: (11%), and hosting events: (0%). The respondents who selected “other” listed: crafts and that CMAC is a “safe, fun place.”

While the exhibits are the most popular selection, educational programming is successful as well. 22% of the respondents selected programming over exhibits, while; 22% of those who selected exhibits also selected programming. This information can be used in order to determine possible programming for community building opportunities. It is clear that the incorporation of the exhibits is a necessary step in order to create a successful community-building plan.

One of our survey questions asked: “If you attend programs through the museum already, what are your favorite types of programs and why?” 78% of respondents skipped this question. In reference to question four, we inferred that 50% of those who selected “programming” did not have a favorite program, while the other 50% wrote “Just about everything” and “Tidbits and Tales.” Therefore, the overall perception of the museum is positive with high popularity for exhibits and programming.

Positive Patron Recommendations and Retention Rates

Our findings suggest that approximately 44% of the patrons of CMAC originally heard about it from family or friends. Therefore, it is relevant that, according to our data, 87.5% of respondents said they strongly agreed they would recommend CMAC to their friends or family. Word of mouth is an important communication tool, which our findings suggest is not a method that should be overlooked. It can be observed that maintaining a good relationship and reputation with the patrons can increase the verbal spread of CMAC to the family members and friends of the patrons.

According to our data, 87.5% of respondents strongly agreed that they intended to return to CMAC in the future and 75% of the respondents already identify as members. Having a high retention rate is important to CMAC, because it suggests that the patrons have a good perception of the museum. This finding is also relevant, because if multiple patrons visit the museum numerous times the likelihood of developing strong relationships amongst the patrons increases simply because of familiarity.

Patron Interest in Building a Community at CMAC

When respondents were asked if they would be interested in connecting with the other parents or caretakers at CMAC 55.6% responded yes, whereas, 44.4% chose no. This finding suggests that setting a goal to build a strong community amongst all the members may be challenging. However, building a strong community amongst almost half of the registers members and repeating patrons is a reasonable goal.

The data suggests that the participants who would like to connect with the other parents or caretakers would like to do so through activities that involve the children as well. A common response to an open ended question asking what type of connection-building environment the participants would be open to all of the respondents expressed an interest in scheduled programs that involve parents and children. This finding suggests that though the parents are interested in building a community, they want the children to be equally as active within the community as the older members. According to the data, 57.1% of respondents would be the most interested in connecting with other parents and caretakers during morning activities.

In-person Survey:

The in-person surveys that were conducted gave good insight into what patrons’ interest level is for the museum adding parent/caretaker groups and communities. All of the patrons interviewed were female with the exception of one father visiting with his wife and child. Three of the five patrons interviewed had only one child and two of the patrons had two children.

Interest Level in Community and Relationship Building is Present with Limitations

The in-person interviews found similar results to the online-survey in reference to community building.  Four out of the five patrons that were interviewed were interested in the idea of community groups within the museum; however, few seemed excited at the prospect. Most of the respondents answered a simple “yes”; one mother said, “that would be fun.” Another mother, who seemed most interested in the idea, had a 3-year-old son. She said that she would “quite possibly” be interested:

"My son goes to preschool next year, but this age (3) would be good for that."

She then elaborated on how next year when he is in preschool she may not have as much of a need for a parent group. She seemed to imply that as he is not yet in school they visit the museum more often than she anticipates they will in the future. From this it seems that the parents/caretakers of children not yet in preschool may be interested in parent groups; however, no other parents gave an indication of this or gave a contrast to this by mentioning their interest level if they had older children.

The only patron surveyed to respond “no” to the question was a part-time working mother with two children. She said:

“I have a part time job. It is hard enough to get out of the house, and I have a hard time keeping up with the few friends I do have."

While this was the only mother to respond this way, it does give insight into an audience that would not be best to target for these parent groups.

The next question we asked was for patrons to specify what types of programs they would want to see community building centered around. Two of the respondents answered that they would like scheduled play dates (such as specific times for specific

ages), while one said she would like more open-ended play dates for community building; one respondent answered that she would be open to either. From this it seems that there is no one type of program that would be best for all parents.

Knowledge of Museum Programs is Low, Interest Level Depends on Age

Three of the respondents answered that they had not been to any of the programs that the museum currently hosts. One of these was a mother who said she was not aware that these programs existed. Her daughter, who was an older child, loves arts and crafts, and when we made her aware that they have programs focused on just that she was surprised and did not know, but seemed excited at the idea.

Two of the mothers were aware of the programs. One having attended some with her older daughters, who especially liked the arts and crafts related programs. She was visiting the museum with her two year old son and said:

"I used to come more (to the programs) with my older girls but with him it is harder to do scheduled activities."

Another mother, with a 3-year-old son, answered similarly and gave a potential explanation for the difference in program interest depending on a child’s age. She said:

“We don’t participate in current programs because he comes in here (to the train exhibit) and camps out. His attention span is much shorter than the older children’s’."

One key theme seems to be that age plays a part in the child’s attention span and interest in the programs. Some of the patrons had not been to the programs and did not know of their existence, and the possible explanation for this may be that their children were too young. Another key insight from these answers is that older female children enjoy the arts and crafts programs the most.

Connecting With Patrons: Email and Facebook Still Key Communication Forms

All of the patrons who were asked what social media they use said Facebook. We also asked respondents to explain their use of Instagram, a growing social media platform; however, none of them gave Instagram as an answer when first asked about their social media use. Most of the patrons have Instagram but not many of them use it. One mother specified that she utilizes Facebook for social interactions and Instagram for business. Two others said they have an Instagram but do not use it. Facebook was the most popular form of social media used among the patrons that we talked to.

While there may be some issues with reaching the target audience on Facebook, as two mothers said they were not following the museum on the platform and another said she sees the posts too late, there is an interest for this to be one of the main forms of communication between the patrons and the museum. Only one of the patrons surveyed said she does not prefer to get updates through social media.

"If the museum had parents groups we would definitely follow them on Facebook"

"I follow the museum, and my girls school... but sometimes I don't see the posts until the next day."

"I would like to get posts on my Newsfeed."

Emails were another form of communication that those patrons surveyed said they prefer to receive. They specified certain times that they felt emails were more appropriate such as special events and holiday hours, whereas Facebook is better for daily happenings in the museum.

"I get the emails, but subject line is important for whether or not I read them."

"Sometimes emails are better for a special event, but Facebook for what time they open and what is going on that day."

"We mostly check their website, but emails are best"

Discussion/Implications

Limited Patron Interest in Building a Community at CMAC

The data suggests that about half of CMAC patrons are interested in connecting with each other. The patrons willing to connect with others responded they were more likely to do so during scheduled activities with their children during the morning hours. Working mothers and fathers have less time with their children, family, and friends, so they do not appear to be a target market that would be interested in using their free time to build relationships within the museum. Parents and caretakers of children who are not yet in preschool may be the best target audience to focus on, as this is when the children need activities to do outside of the home. Therefore, we feel that a strategy of targeting stay-at-home parents of younger children for morning community programs would be the best approach. If older children, already in some level of schooling, are to be targeted, it may be best to schedule these for the weekends or evenings.  With 55.6% of respondents agreeing they would like to connect with other parents and caregivers, the data suggests building a strong community amongst all patrons would be a challenging task. A more reasonable goal would be to build a connection amongst the other 50%, making the community building a more selective and niche activity within the museum.

Implications for Programming

Two of the mothers interviewed in-person reported that their children’s attention span was too short for the programming that the museum already held. Their children were ages two and three. Mothers of two older female children said that their favorite programming was arts and crafts related. Therefore, it seems that messages targeting programming to older children for programming would be better, especially for arts and crafts. A strategy may be to differentiate programs depending on the target age for participants.

Implications for Social Media and Email Communication

Almost all of the mothers interviewed reported email and Facebook as their primary forms of desired communication with the museum. Therefore, a strategy that continue to utilize emails and Facebook posts should be implemented. However, a more strategic approach to what is posted from each platform should be adopted. The data suggests CMAC use Facebook posts for daily postings and keep email for more special events or announcements critical to operations, such as holiday hours. Social media can also be a great forum for new audiences to interact with the museum. Utilizing this space in a clever, effective fashion can help strengthen the community CMAC has created and improve retention.

Implications of Positive Patron Recommendations and Retention Rates

According to the data, a majority of patrons are willing to recommend CMAC to friends and family as well as visit the museum again. In fact, a majority of respondents discovered CMAC because of a friend or family recommendation. Therefore, the positive reputation of CMAC must be preserved amongst the patrons in order to continue the trend of spreading information about the museum by word of mouth. Maintaining the already high standards CMAC has set for operation can preserve the reputation. Encouraging referrals can be an effective way to maintain the constant flow of recommendations within the community.

Shortcomings and Limitations

For this study there were multiple shortcomings and limitations that need to be taken into consideration. The Survey Monkey posted to Facebook only had nine participants; numbers that suggest the survey did not reach CMAC’s full audience. The survey was posted to Facebook in late afternoon, which might have been an off time to reach mothers with hectic schedules. Additionally, it was confusing to see that a link was attached to the post, which might have misled potential survey participants. Only females took the Survey Monkey, giving us no insight as to what men think of the museum and potential community programming opportunities. Overall, the survey was very insightful and provided useful data for potential programming and museum changes.

The in-person interviews at CMAC were very thorough and provided adequate qualitative data. The morning that the interviews were to be completed, the museum had a delayed opening due to inclement weather. There weren’t many patrons at the museum due to the weather and the delay. Only five mothers were available for interviews, which didn’t provide diversification for results. Another limitation was that the mothers at the museum were all very busy watching their children, so answers were limited. Question number one, shown in Appendix 1, seemed uncomfortable for some mothers to answer. It seemed they felt bad if they did not have any interest in connecting with other families. Also, question two, shown in Appendix 1, needed more clarification, thus skewing how each participant answered. Lastly, the time period that the survey was conducted did not allow for working mothers and fathers to be participants in the survey.

If this survey could be conducted differently, we would post the Survey Monkey on multiple different platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and through the email newsletter. This would allow it to reach multiple different audiences and allow for more respondents. For the in-person survey, we would have spread out interviewing over multiple days so that way we would be able to get a more diverse sample of families.

Appendix 1:

1. Would you be interested in connecting with other parents at the museum through parent groups?

2. Would scheduled activities or open-ended play dates (where children could play more freely) interest you more?

3. Do you participate in any of the activities or scheduled events the museum already programs?

a. If so, what are your favorite events? 4. Are you on social media and if so what forms do you use? If you were to follow

an organization on any of those platforms, what would you want to see them sharing and how often?

5. What forms of communication would you like to receive from the museum, if any? (Ifthey answered yes to Q1:  How would you like to learn about opportunities to connect with other parents?)

Appendix 2:

1. Are you male or female? o Maleo Female

2. Have you attended the Children’s Museum of Alamance County?o Yeso No

3. How did you first hear of the museum? o Social Media: Facebook, Twitter, Instagramo Website or search engine o Family, friend, or other acquaintance o School or daycareo Workplaceo Other (Please specify.)

4. What drew you to the museum? Select all that apply.o Educational programming: Weekly events such as Art Classes, Dance

Lessons, etco Exhibits: Building Zone, Health Center, Science Adventure, Artists’

Workshop, Wobble & Roll, The Lucky Climber, Then and Now, and My Own Backyard.  

o The opportunity to host and celebrate eventso Connecting with other parents and caregivers

o Other (Please specify.)5. If you attend programs through the museum already, what are your favorite

aspects and types of programs and why?6. Please rate the level to which you agree with each statement from strongly agree

to strongly disagree.o I intend to return to CMAC for future visits.o I would recommend CMAC to a friend or family member.

7. Are you a CMAC member? Why or why not?8. Would you be interested in connecting with other parents/caretakers within the

museum?o Yeso No

9. What types of parent/caretaker connections would interest you most (e.g., meet-ups at the museum, scheduled play-dates, scheduled programs for children and parents/caretakers, etc.)?

10. What time of day would you be most interested in visiting the museum to connect with other parents/caretakers?

o Morningso Afternoonso Eveningso NA. This does not interest me.o Other (Please specify.)