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Interactive Video Within the Museum
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INTERACTIVE VIDEO WITHIN THE MUSEUM SETTING:
THE A'ITRACTING POWER, USE, AND EFFECT ON
VISITORS' INTERACTION WITH AN EXHIBIT

by
Kristine Ann Morrissey

A DISSERTATION

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology and Special Education
1989

e04Is5t

ABSTRACT

INTERACTIVE VIDEO WITHIN THE MUSEUM SETTING:
THE ATTRACTING POWER, USE, AND EFFECT ON VISITORS'
INTERACTION WITH AN EXHIBIT

By
Kristine Ann Morrissey

Research suggests that without some type of intervention, it is unlikely
that the casual museum visitor will learn. Visitors may be overwhelmed by
the vast amounts of diverse stimuli present. Visitors' interaction with
exhibits can be increased by using adjuct devices to attract and direct their
attention. A variety of devices have been used effectively but most media are
not able to address the varied needs and interests of a heterogeneous
audience because of their linear format.

This study investigated the use of an interactive videodisc program
(authored with Hypercard) as a form of media with potentially greater
capability to support effective instructional strategies. A non-obtrusive
video camera was installed outside the exhibit hall to record visitor behavior
on both experimental days (with the program present) and control days
(without the program present). The computer program recorded the
number of users, their self-assessed interest in birds and comfort level with
computers and the level of options utilized.

An analysis of variance showed the elapsed time within the exhibit
was significantly higher on experimental days than on control days
(p=.001). Visitors who did not use the program, but were present on the
experimental days also spent significantly longer periods of time within the
exhibit than the control group (p=.004). Viewing time for one specific

mount shown on the videodisc was significantly higher on experimental
days than control days (p=.001) but that of a second mount was not.

Groups who used the program were compared to the general
population of visitors using chi-square test of association to assess whether
gender, group composition, computer comfort level or interest in birds were
related to use of the program. Group composition (p=.004). gender
(p=.0001), computer comfort level (p=.03) and interest in birds (p=.0003) were
all found to be related to usage.

Program users were coded as using either the Level One options
(from the main menu) or Level Two options (from sub-menus). AN OVA
procedure suggests that bird interest was related to the level used (p=.03)
but computer comfort level was not (p=.37).

To my parents, Marge and Jim Morrissey,
who gave me the enthusiasm for learning that encouraged me to begin this
effort and the perserverance necessary to complete it.

iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Many friends and colleagues supported this effort. I would like to thank a

few who have made significant contribution to me efforts:

To my committee Chairperson, Richard McLeod, for your personal
and professional support and inspiration throughout my years in
graduate school.

To C. Kurt Dewhurst, Director of the Michigan State University
Museum and committee member, for your support of both my
academic and professional roles within the museum.

To Lawrence Alexander, Don Hamachek and Stephen Yelon, the rest
of my committee members who shared their expertise,
enthusiasm, and support throughout my graduate education.

To Zane Berge, my friend and colleague for guiding, encouraging, and
entertaining me throughout the process of completing this degree.

To Okhee Lee, my friend, for sharing the excitement and the tensions
of graduate school.

To Martin Hetherington, and the rest of the staff of the Michigan State
University Museum who offered help and advice during this
researc .

And especially to G. Scott Bartlett, my husband and friend for easing
the difl‘icult times and sharing the better moments of my years in
graduate school.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PRELIMINARIES
List of Tables ...................................................................... viii
List of Figures ..................................................................... ix
CHAPTER ONE. INTRODUCTION.
Introduction ........................................................................ 1
Museums and scientific literacy .............................................. 2
Learning in the museum setting ............................................. 4
Using adjunct Devices to Focus Visitor attention ....................... 7
User control options .............................................................. 12
Summary of the problem ........................................................ 13
Central Research questions and hypotheses ............................ 14
Purpose of the study .............................................................. 17
Delimitations ...................................................................... 17
Significance of the Study ...................................................... 18
Assumptions ...................................................................... 19
Chapter Summary ............................................................... 20
CHAPTER TWO. REVIEW OF LITERATURE.
Introduction ....................................................................... 21
Role of museums in science education ................................... 22
Research on attention .......................................................... 24
Attention in the museum setting ............................................ 25
Adjunct devices as instructional accessories ............................ 31
Summary of research involving adjunct devices ............ 35
Attracting power of adjunct devices ......................................... 35
Media research .................................................................... 38
Summary of media .................................................... 43
Interactive video research ..................................................... 44
Summary of interactive video research ......................... 48
Chapter summary ................................................................ 49
CHAPTER THREE. METHODS
Setting ................................................................................ 51
Population and sample ........................................................ 52
Materials ............................................................................. 53
Data collection instruments .................................................. 55
Validity and reliability of instruments .......................... 57
Procedures and design ......................................................... 59
Data analysis ...................................................................... 60
Chapter summary ................................................................ 62
CHAPTER FOUR. RESULTS
Setting and subjects .............................................................. 65
Description of data collected .................................................. 65
Results and discussion .......................................................... 66
Research question one ................................................ 66

vi

Research question three ............................................. 82

User reactions to the program ..................................... 85
Chapter summary ................................................................ 86
CHAPTER FIVE. SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary .............................................................. , ............. 88
Discussion of question one .................................................. 91
Summary of question one ............................................ 97
Discussion of question two .................................................. 97
Summary of question two .......................................... 103
Discussion of question three .............................................. 103
Summary of question three ....................................... 106
Visitors' reactions ................................................... 10?
Conclusions ....................................................................... 107
Limitations ........................................................................ 108
Recommendations for further study .................................... 110
APPENDIXES
Appendix A. Diagram of the Exhibit and Video System ........... 115
Appendix B. Hypercard Presentation Screens ...................... 116
Appendix C. Printout of Computer Records ......................... 123
Appendix D. Sample of visitor survey ................................... 125
LIST OF REFERENCES ............................................................ 126

vii

LIST OF TABLE

TABLE 1. Elapsed time within exhibit area for all groups ................. 67
TABLE 2. AN OVA results for elapsed time for

experimental vs. control group ........................................ 68
TABLE 3. AN OVA results for elapsed time for

non-users vs. control group ............................................. m
TABLE 4. ANOVA results for viewing time of bird mounts ............... 70
TABLE 5. Use of program regressed on group composition ............... 72
TABLE 6. Relationship between groups composition and use ............. 75
TABLE 7. Mean time spent within hall by group composition ............. 75
TABLE 8. ANOVA results of group composition and elapsed time ..... 76
TABLE 9. Chi-Square test of relationship between gender and use ..... 77
TABLE 10. Computer skill and bird interest ...................................... 8)
TABLE 11. Comparison of random sample to program users .............. 81
TABLE 12. Level one users compared to Level Two users ................... 83

viii

us'r or FIGURES

FIGURE 1. Kulhavy's model of attention ...................................... 25
FIGURE 2. Model of museum learning ....................................... 2
FIGURE 3. Breakdown of groups by type of composition ................. 74
FIGURE 4. Level One users compared to Level Two users .............. 84
FIGURE 5. Users' time with the interactive video presentation ....... 86

CHAPTER ONE. INTRODUCTION
Introduction

Research on museum education consistently suggests that most
museum visitors do not attend to the exhibits even though attention has
been shown to be a critical factor in learning. This has been supported by
both experimental research on cognitive and afl'ective outcomes, as well as
visitor behavior studies (Screven, 74, 75; Gennaro, 1981; Koran, Lehman,
Shafer and Koran, 1982; Koran and Koran, 1983; Koran, Longino and
Shafer, 1983; Ambach, 1986; Falk, Koran and Dierking, 1986; Koran, Koran
and Foster, 1988). Museum educators and exhibit designers face the
instructional problem of attracting the visitor's attention and of focusing
that attention on the critical elements of the exhibits.

Attracting and directing Visitors' attention is a difficult and complex
instructional task in an informal setting such as museum for several
reasons. The characteristics of the stimuli within the museum are often
novel and complex and can overwhelm the visitor (Falk, Martin and
Balling, 1978; Falk and Balling, 1982; Koran et al., 1983). Because of the
nature of its informal learning setting, "attention is not enforced or
reinforced by extraneous rewards " (Du Terroil, 1975, p. 4). Museum
visitors are a heterogeneous group with varying degrees of prior
knowledge, experience, interest areas and motivation as well as many
other learner characteristics (Falk, Koran, Dierking and Dreblow, 1986).

Various types of media have been used to increase the attention and
participation of visitors. Instructional devices such as audio tapes, wall
panels, video tapes and slide presentations have all shown success in
increasing attention when they are specifically designed to direct the
visitor's attention to the critical attributes of the exhibit.

1

2

Different media appear to attract different types and numbers of
visitors (Washburn and Wagar, 1972; Screven, 1974; Beer, 1987), suggesting
that potentially effective devices may not be used by visitors. As new
technologies become available, questions arise as to both their ability to
influence Visitors' behaviors as well as Visitors' motivation to utilize them.
This research focused on a relatively new technology, the interactive
videodisc, and its potential to attract and to influence the way the casual
museum visitor interacts with a particular exhibit on birds.

This study investigated three general questions: 1) What is the effect
of the interactive videodisc on Visitors' elapsed time in the exhibit hall; 2)
What types of groups are attracted to the interactive videodisc program; and
3) Are there any differences between groups who utilize the Level One user
control options within the interactive video program and groups who use
the Level Two options?

Museums and Scientific Literacy

The museum's ability to influence visitor learning has become
increasingly important as public museums have proliferated and as
educators have increasingly turned to them as a source of scientific literacy
for the population at large (Ucko, 1985; Koran et al., 1983; Ambach, 1986;
Alexander, 1988). By the 1980's, there were over 6000 museums in the
United States with millions of visitors annually (Koran and Dierking-
Shafer, 1982; Falk et al., 1986).

Suggesting the potentially important role museums play in science
literacy, Ucko (1985) points to recent reports from the National Science
Foundation and the United States Department of Education which report
that "the current trend toward virtual scientific and technological

illiteracy-unless reversed-means that important national decisions

3

involving science and technology will be made increasingly on the basis of
ignorance and misunderstanding" (p. 288). These comments are
underscored by reports from groups such as the Roundtable Group on
Science and Engineering Talent (1987) warning that "The advance of
science and technology is essential to the health of the nation-essential to
quality of life, to economic stability and national security" (1). iii).

Although the definition of scientific literacy has fluctuated over the
four decades of its use, Mitman et a1. (1987) suggest that the term currently
includes at least the following features: 1) preparing all students and
citizens to function within an increasingly technologically oriented society,
2) a general body of science content, and 3) appreciation for the
meaningfulness of science in the context of other frameworks such as

"science and technology" or "science and society.‘ Their research suggests
that there is a gap between current practices in science classrooms and the
commonly accepted goals of increasing scientific literacy for all
individuals. If this gap continues to exist, the problem of scientific
illiteracy will continue into the future.

Museums may be uniquely prepared to address scientific literacy for
the general public for at least three reasons. First, museum audiences are
not limited to the age bracket served by formal education, but include
families and individuals of all ages. Second, as an informal educational
institution, they are free of the affective and emotional overtones of the
formal classroom (Feher and Rice, 1985; Falk et al., 1986). As Ucko
explains, "Unlike school, the museum setting is voluntary, open-ended,
nonlinear, hands-on and entertaining. There are no requirements, no

prerequisites, no exams, and no grades" (p. 291). Third, because museums

collect and exhibit tangible obj ects, they have the potential to actively involve

4
the public in processes integral to scientific literacy such as observing,
discriminating, classifying, generalizing and creating hypotheses.
Learning in the Museum Setting

This section reviews two questions considering the role of attention in
the museum setting: 1) What evidence exists that the visitor is not attending
to the stimuli within the museum exhibits, and 2) Does this lack of attention
affect learning? Naturalistic studies on visitor behavior and experimental
research on both cognitive and affective outcomes are reviewed.

Visitor observation studies have identified common patterns of
behavior that suggest that visitors are not attending to the stimuli within
the museum environment. First, visitors seldom read exhibit labels
(Screven, 1969, 1974; Cone and Kendall, 1978; Wolf, 1980; Beer, 1987) and
rarely allocate more than fifty to sixty-five percent of their attention to the
exhibits (Falk, Koran, Dierking and Dreblow, 1985). Second, the amount of
time spent with each exhibit is minimal, with the typical visitor spending
an average of less than forty seconds at each exhibit (Screven, 1974; Linn,
1976; Cone and Kendall, 197 8; Falk, 1983), and perhaps even less than
twenty seconds (Robinson, 1928; Nielsen, 1946; Shettel, 1973; Shettel, 1976).
Third, most visitors skip more than half the displays (Brooks and Vernon,
1956; Cone and Kendall, 197 8; Beer, 1987) and disregard the designated
layout of exhibits (Nielsen, 1946; Shettel, 197 6; Cone and Kendall, 1978;
Alexander, 1979), often paying exaggerated attention to exhibits on the right
even to the exclusion of those on the left (Shettel, 1976).

These general trends of behavior suggest that the typical casual
museum visitor generally does not attend to the exhibits. If this is true,
what are the consequences? Is attention necessarily related to learning? In

discussing the relationship between attention and learning, Kulhavey

5
(1986) states, "both common sense and research data suggest that even if
the relationship between attention and learning is not absolute, attending
behavior itself still represents one of the more powerful determinants of
what people will gain from study" (p. 116). Koran and Koran (1984) state,
"Museum educators have long recognized that attention is a critical factor
in visitor learning from museum exhibits" (p. 14).

Research by Falk and colleagues has identified a high correlation
between attention and positive afl‘ective and cognitive outcomes. Falk's
research found that time spent within the exhibit and the locus of attention
of the visitor were strong predictors of learning. This correlation between
nonverbal behaviors (elapsed time and locus of attention) and both positive
affect and cognitive learning has been substantiated by several studies by
Falk and others (Falk et al., 1978; Martin, Falk and Bailing, 1981; Balling
and Falk, 1981; Fall: and Balling, 1982; Falk, 1983;Fa1k et al., 1985).

These studies suggest that attending to the exhibits is an important
determinant of learning in the museum setting. Experimental studies
have looked more specifically at the amount of learning taking place within
the museum and have consistently reported that without some type of
intervention, there is a lack of learning (Shettel, 1973; DeWaard, J agmin,
Maistro and McNamara, 1974; Screven, 74, 75; Gennaro, 1981; Koran, et al.,
1982; Koran, Longino and Shafer, 1983; Ambach, 1986;Fa1k et al., 1986;
Koran et al., 1988). In one of the earliest and most often cited studies of
museum learning, Screven (1974) tested visitors after viewing an exhibit on
primitive human skulls and compared their scores to a control group who
had not seen the exhibit. There were no significant differences between the

scores of the experimental and control groups. Screven states that,

6
"Evidence that is available suggests that exhibits as normally presented are
not very effective in communicating the information contained in them."
Screven's findings are consistent with other early research
conducted by Shettel (1973) to evaluate the effectiveness of scientific and
technical exhibits. Data collected within the exhibit "The Vision of Man"
in the National Museum of History and Technology led Shettel to this

conclusion:

However, not so expected was the fact that the casual viewer
group (i.e., the actual museum visitor) pre-test scores were not
significantly different from the casual viewer post-test scores,
and actually lower than the control group scores ...Thus one is
forced to say that the casual viewer group as a whole learned
very little from the exhibit as measured by the tests used. (p. 37)

In a review of educational research within science and natural
history museums, Koran, Longino and Shafer (1983) conclude that "Unless
the visitor has prerequisite knowledge, is directed to specific learning
outcomes, or has very specific learning intents, it is unlikely that learning
will result."

One possible explanation for the lack of attending behavior within the
museum setting is offered by research that suggests that visitors are
overwhelmed and inhibited in their learning by the amount of novel stimuli
within the museum (Falk et al., 1978; Martinet al., 1981; Koran et al.1983;
Falk et al., 1986; Koran et al., 1988). Koran et al., (1983) state:

A critical problem in science museums is the tremendous
number of stimuli, many quite novel, competing for attention. . .
visitors have difficulty focusing their attention and remaining in
the area of the stimulus for a sufficient amount of time for
information processing to occur. (p. 334)

Research on attention suggests that in a novel situation, the learner

must deal with the incoming stimuli by first ascertaining the dimensions of

7
stimuli (Grebe, 1986). Kulhavy discusses the importance of three types of
instructional accessories: schema activators, questioning, and mnemonics.
Schema activators and questioning are of particular interest to this study.
Kulhavy defines schema activators as "any semantic stimuli which work to
provide people with a way of organizing or interpreting the information" (p.
127). Kulhavy suggests that these schema activators influence attention by
"providing the learner with an appropriate knowledge schema for
interpreting and integrating new information" (p. 127 ).

Various efforts have been initiated to influence the way the visitor
interacts with the exhibits and to help the visitor process the information
within the exhibits. Attention directing devices which serve as schema
activators in helping visitors orient themselves to the relevant attributes of
an exhibit, have been successful in promoting visitor learning. The next
section reviews efforts that involve the use of adjunct devices as
instructional accessories to help the visitor focus attention. The section
concludes with a look at the device used in this study, the interactive
videodisc.

UsingAdjunct Devices to Focus Visitor Attention
Koran et al. (1989) describe two approaches to improving visitor

learning.

While behavioral approaches emphasize changing the
environment in order to influence visitor behavior in hopes
that greater interest and learning will occur, the cognitive
approach emphasizes influencing how the learner perceives,
thinks and acts in relation to exhibits. (p. 1)

This study followed the cognitive approach and investigated the use of an
adjunct guidance device, the interactive videodisc program, to influence the

ways the visitor interacts with the exhibit. Adjunct devices are those that

8
are used to supplement or enhance an exhibit. They may be any type of
media but their function is to help the visitor interpret the exhibit. The use
of adjunct devices are a practical alternative to creating new exhibits or
changing permanent exhibits (Koran et al., 1989), or tr9_<_iocents or other
intermediaries which are not readily available or even desired by many
casual visitors.

A variety of guidance devices have shown success in helping the
visitor process information and encouraging more interaction with the
exhibits. A few examples are wall panels highlighting critical information
(Koran, Longino, Shafer and Koran, 1983), punchboards with related
questions and feedback (Screven, 1975); study guides (Gennaro, 1981;
Nielsen, 1946), slide-tape presentations and study cards (DeWaard, 1974).
These devices have been consistently effective when used to focus attention,
cue visitors to intended learning and to elicit participation. The role of
viewer interaction and participation in increasing attention has been
supported by studies by Screven and others utilizing devices that elicit
visitor responses such as mechanical question and answer devices, audio
tapes or written materials (Screven, 1969, 1974, 1975; Shettel, 1973; DeWaard
et al., 1974) or computers (Hilke, 1988).

While these media devices have shown promise in supporting visitor
learning, they are limited in their ability to address the varied needs and
interests of a heterogeneous audience because of the linear format of most
media. Museums visitors are a diverse population entering the museum
with a wide range of individual and group characteristics. Individual
differences include age, gender, prior knowledge, interest level and
purpose for visit (Falk et al., 1985). Group differences include size,
distribution, relationships, and purpose. Computers offer a unique option

9
by providing the capacity to branch according to the user's input. But
computers are limited to text and still graphics whereas motion is not only
more attractive to visitors (W ashburn and Wager, 197 2; Beer, 1987;
Patterson and Bitgood, 1988), but it is often necessary to adequately
illustrate concepts and principles in the natural sciences. The new
technology of interactive videodisc combines the branching capacity of
computers, the audio and motion capabilities of video, and the durability of
videodiscs.

This study investigated the use of an interactive videodisc program as
a new form of media with perhaps greater capabilities than linear media to
support the instructional strategies found effective in influencing visitor
learning. Specifically, the device is capable of supporting interactivity,
providing information to orient the visitor in either text, audio or video
format, asking questions, receiving and reacting to responses and
providing feedback.

The use of computers or interactive video in museums is quite
limited at this time, but there is increasing pressure for museums to
integrate computer technology into exhibits (Hilke, 1988). It is likely that its
presence will follow the pattern established by other educational devices
moving into informal setting as their popularity increases in formal
settings. As there is a lack of research on this new device, this study
focused on the effects of interactive video on visitors interaction within an
exhibit in an attempt to follow up on previous research done on more
traditional devices.

One concern with the use computers or computer mediated
programs in the museum setting is the limitation on the number of users.

While only a small number of visitors can use the computer at one time,

10
other media can address a large audience. However, if even a small
number of users are influenced by their use of the computers, other visitors
may imitate their behavior. Research suggests that museum visitors often
imitate or model behaviors observed in other visitors (Koran, Koran, Foster,
Dierking, 1988). Koran (1988) states that "modeling is an effective method of
directing and controlling attention and introducing behaviors not already
in the observer's repertoire." To investigate the role of modeling, visitors
who did not use the program but who visited the exhibit when the
interactive videodisc was present, were compared to the control group of
visitors who visited the exhibit when the program was not present.

Given the informal nature of the museum, it is possible that even the
most effective device may not attract visitors. Shettel's (1968) comments
about exhibits may be relevant to the use of devices. He states, ". . .
regardless of the type of exhibit, in order to be educationally effective it must
attract and maintain their attention" (p. 331). The term "attracting power"
has been used to refer to the ability of an exhibit or device to attract the
viewer as measured by the percentage of visitors who stop. Studies that
have investigated attracting power indicate that Visitors' choices are
influenced by the type of medium used (Screven, 1974; Washburne and
Wager, 1972; Beer, 1987 ) and that the attracting power of a device is not
necessarily related to its instructional impact (Screven, 1974). This
suggests that the potential effect of a guidance device in an informal free-
choice setting such as a museum may be mitigated by its attracting power.
Therefore, this study investigates not only the effect of an interactive
videodisc program, but also its attracting power.

This study investigates the characteristics of the groups that are
attracted to the device. Specific variables investigated include the

11
composition of the group, gender of both the adults and children, and
background related to the content of the exhibit (birds) and comfort level
with the medium employed (computer). Group composition investigates
any differences in groups composed of different ratios of adults to children.
Research in the museum setting has found that children often react
differently than adults. Children are more likely to touch objects but less
likely to read labels or spend time in the exhibit area and are more
influenced by motion (Bitgood, Nichols, Pierce and Patterson, 1986; Koran,
Koran, and Longino, 1986).

There is limited research on gender differences in the use of
technology within the museum setting but one study found no gender
differences in the use of computers within an exhibit area (Hilke, 1988).
Gender is studied as little research has looked at gender differences in the
museum setting and this research offers an opportunity to study the
behavior of families in a free-choice informal setting and to investigate any
gender related differences in use of the device.

This study also investigates whether visitors are attracted to the
device because of their interest in the content area (birds) or because of their
interest in the medium utilized (computer and laserdisc player) and if there
is any interaction between interest in the content area and interest in the
medium. If visitors are attracted because of an interest in birds, and there
is no relationship to the medium, then it may be that any device would be
effective in attracting viewers. If the medium is significantly related to the
choice, then a popular medium may be able to attract visitors to less
popular or more difficult content areas. For example, visitors with a high
interest in birds may avoid the program if they have a low interest in

computers or visitors with a low interest in birds may be drawn because of

12
the device. vaisitors' interest in the media and the content are interrelated
in their influence on choice of using the device, then both content and
attracting power of the medium need to be considered when designing
guidance devices and strategies.
User Control Options

Many of the claims for the desirability of computer based/aided
instruction rest on its ability to branch according to the user's input,
thereby allowing greater user control and individualization (Laurillard,
1984; Hannafin and Colamaio, 1986). In a museum setting, user control
over content, sequence, practice, and amount and type of information could
help meet the needs of the heterogeneous audience with varied interests,
prior knowledge, motivation, distractibility, and available time (Hilke,
1988). However, one of the more prominent and complex instructional
design issues in designing interactive videodisc programs involves different
instructional control strategies (Hannafin and Colamaio, 1986). There are
no clear directives regarding user control (vs. program control) of the
pacing, sequencing and amount of information presented. Research on
varying levels and types of user control has shown contradictory and
inconclusive evidence in both computer aided instruction (Steinberg, 1977;
Ross and Rackow, 1981; Tennyson, 1985; Goetzfried and Hannafin, 1985)
and interactive video instruction (Hannafin and Colamaio, 1986).

The problems of these contradictions are compounded for museum
applications as most computer and interactive video research has been
conducted in formal settings such as industrial and military training
settings (Hofmeister, 1982). Therefore, their generalizability to the audience
within the informal free-choice setting of a museum is uncertain. Because

most of the interactive video research has been conducted within a fairly

13
specific and prescribed setting, little is known about the conditions where
interactive video is most effective (Ebner et al., 1984). Ebner states:

vaideodisc technology's potential is to be realized and fully
exploited, it will have to be used appropriately in the correct
educational settings, and consistent with its unique
capabilities and strength.

(p. 26)

This study did not attempt to resolve the complex issue of user control
that has remained clouded after several decades of research. Instead, it
attempted to assess patterns of usage and investigated whether the level of
options used by the viewer is related to the viewers' computer skill or
interest in birds. While this may not determine the effectiveness of user
control options, it does address the issue of whether the museum is an
appropriate setting for offering the user control over the way information is
presented. This may lay groundwork for later research on individual
differences and appropriate user control options.

Summary of the Problem

Studies suggest that without some type of intervention, it is unlikely
that the museum visitor will learn from interacting with the exhibits.
However, visitor behaviors can be influenced with a resulting increase in
participation and learning. Specific instructional design variables proven
to be successful within the museum setting include: cueing, attention
focusing, eliciting responses (i.e. through questions) and providing
feedback. While various strategies and devices have been efl‘ective within
the museum setting, research shows that visitors may not use the

instructional devices that are most effective.

14

The interactive videodisc has become increasingly popular in
educational settings and may offer unique educational capabilities to the ,
museum setting. However, little research has been done on appropriate
settings for its usage or its attracting power within informal settings.
Research on interactive video often neglects identifying or manipulating
instructional design variables. One instructional design variable of
considerable interest to the museum setting, that of user control, has
yielded inconclusive and contradictory research.

This research investigated. the effectiveness and the attracting power
of the interactive videodisc program. It also investigated Visitors' use of the
control options and looked for a relationship between the level of use and
prior interest in birds or computers.

Central Research Questions and Hypothem

This study focused on three related questions. The first question
pertains to whether the interactive videodisc program influenced the way
visitors interacted with the bird exhibit. The dependent variable,
interaction with the exhibit, was measured by assessing time spent within
the exhibit. The independent variable was the presence or absence of the
interactive videodisc program. To investigate the effect of the program,
three comparisons were conducted. First all subjects on the experimental
day were compared to all subjects on the control day. Second, those visitors
who did not use the computer on the experimental day were compared to
the control group to test for modeling effects'. Third, the experimental
group was compared to the control group in terms of viewing time of two
specific mounts in the exhibit area that were part of the interactive

videodisc presentation.

15

The second question relates to the power of the interactive videodisc
program to attract the casual visitor and the relationship between the
independent variables of group composition, gender, and prior interest in
the device or the content area and the dependent variable of using the
device. The third question focused on Visitors' responses to the options of
control over the amount of information and the presentation of practice
questions. Two levels of control options were offered by the program and
use of these two levels was compared to the users' interest in birds and
comfort level with computers. The dependent variable was the level of
options used and the independent variables were the users' interest in birds
and computer comfort level.

The hypotheses related to the research questions are listed below.
1) What is the effect of the interactive videodisc program on visitor' elapsed
time in the exhibit hall?

W1: There is no significant difference in the elapsed
time spent within the exhibit hall between the experimental group
exposed to the interactive videodisc program and a control group not
exposed to the interactive videodisc program.

W: There is no significant difference in the elapsed
time spent within the exhibit hall between the control group and the
group who did not use the computer on the experimental days.

W: There is no significant difference in the elapsed
time spent in front of a hawk mount in the exhibit hall between the
control group and the experimental group.

WA: There is no significant difference in the elapsed
time spent in front of an eagle mount in the exhibit hall between the
control group and the experimental group.

16
2) Are groups who use the program different from groups who don't use the
program?
W: There is no significant relationship between group

composition and use of the interactive videodisc program.

W: There is no significant relationship between gender
and use of the interactive videodisc program.

W There is no significant difference in the computer
skill level of the groups who used the computer and that of a random
sample of the general public.

WA; There is no significant difference in the level of
interest in birds of the groups who used the computer and a random

sample of the general public.

3) Are there any differences between groups who use the Level One control
options and groups who use the Level Two ccontrol options?
Wk There is no significant difference between those
groups who use the level One control options and those who use the
Level Two control options regarding their level of interest in birds.
W There is no significant difference between those
groups who use the Level One ccontrol options and those who use the
Level Two control options regarding their skill level with computers.
W There is no significant interaction between the
computer skill and the level of interest in birds on use of control

options.

17
P6111088 0f the Study

This study examined the effect of the interactive videodisc program
on the Visitors' interaction with the exhibit. The dependent variable was the
Visitors' amount of time spent within the exhibit hall. Visitors in the
experimental group exposed to the interactive videodisc program were
compared to visitors in a control group who were not exposed to the
program.

Research has shown that the effectiveness of a device is not
necessarily related to it usage. Therefore, this study examined the
attracting power of interactive videodisc program. The dependent variable
was the initiation of the program and the independent variables were group
composition, gender and prior interest in birds or computers.

If interactive videodisc proves to be a practical and pedagogical
alternative to other types of media, then further information is needed about
instructional design strategies to design levels of interactivity to meet the
needs of the users. This study examined user control over the amount of
information and number of practice questions presented and investigated
whether the level of control the viewer uses is related to either interest in
the content (birds) or skill level with the medium (interactive videodisc).
Delimitations

This study did not attempt to compare interactive video to other
technologies or to make any conclusions about the effectiveness or
desirabilities of other devices. Therefore, results of this study cannot be
used to make generalizations about, or comparisons with the effectiveness
or desirability of other types of media.

This study included only casual visitors within a specific bird exhibit

that is located within a university museum. Observations were made

18
during the winter months. The audience within this museum at these
times may not be representative of those at other types of museums or other
times of the week or year. The visitor who comes as part of an intact group
may react differently than the subjects of this study.

While this study investigated user control, it does not make any
claims about the instructional effects of offering user control. Rather it was
limited to the question of whether visitors utilized the option and whether
use was related to interest in birds or skill with the computer.

To investigate the effectiveness of the interactive videodisc as an
exhibit adjunct device, the only outcome variable used was elapsed time.
The results of this study cannot be used to make inferences about other
potential outcomes.

Significance of the Study

Interactive video is a relatively new technology that has been
proposed as overcoming many of the drawbacks inherent in computer aided
instruction and video-based instruction ( DeBloois, 1982). However, the
numerous claims and assumptions for interactive video have not been
substantiated. As Hannafin states, "Since little research has been
conducted with interactive video to either refute or support the claims of
uniqueness, the instructional potential and applications of interactive video
remain a concern" (Hannafin, 1985, p. 237).

This study extends the work done within educational and training
settings which tend to be highly structured and more formal settings, to the
informal educational setting of a museum, studying not only the
effectiveness, but also the attracting power of the interactive videodisc
program. It incorporated much of the work done by Screven, Koran and

others on the efi‘ectiveness of guidance devices used with exhibits, but went

19
on to study whether the casual visitor used the device, and what factors
influenced the use of the device. The results of this study may have
implications for museums educators attempting to influence visitor
behaviors and interactions with museum exhibits as well as the curators
and exhibit designers responsible for the exhibits. It may also have
implications for those in other informal settings.

This study also extends the user control research by looking at the
issue under the different conditions of an informal setting and focusing on
whether visitors used the option rather than focusing on its effectiveness or
efficiency. Identifying the characteristics of users who utilize the optional
control may have implications on the feasibility and desirability of offering
user control in a free choice learning setting, thereby preparing the
groundwork for further research on the effect of different levels of control in
an informal setting.

Assumptions

This study assumed that increased participation and learning from
the exhibits is desirable and consistent with the mission of museum
education and that learning is accurately measured by measuring elapsed
time spent within the exhibit area. It also assumed that without some type
of intervention, learning is not likely, but that interventions can affect
learning. Adjunct devices were assumed to be appropriate within the
museum setting.

In this study, the role of the interactive videodisc program was seen
as introducing rather than presenting the subject matter of the exhibit,
serving to focus attention on the specimens within the exhibit. This
assumes that the exhibit should be the focus of the visitor's learning

experience, not the interactive video program. Finally, there is an

Z)
assumption that the program used in this study was of interest to the visitor
and relevant to the goals of this exhibit.
Chapter Summary

Research on museum visitor behavior has shown consistent evidence
that the visitor is generally passive, rarely reading labels or interacting
with the exhibits in a manner conducive to learning. This is of
considerable interest and concern to museum and science educators who
are beginning to turn to museums as a source of science literacy for
learners of all ages.

Both museum and science educators are attempting to identify
methods to enhance the effectiveness of museums. One method showing
promise is the use of guidance devices such as audio and video tapes,
questioning machines, and computers. However, there has been little
research on the attracting power of these devices or on instructional design
issues such as that of user control options. As the museum is a free-choice
setting, the attracting power as well as the effectiveness of a device or an
instructional strategy needs to be considered.

While many devices have been successful in the museum setting,
there are both practical and pedagogical drawbacks that interactive
videodisc may overcome. More research is necessary to better understand
the appropriate uses of interactive videodisc and the instructional design
strategies supported by the interactive videodisc device.

CHAPTER TWO. REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Introduction

This chapter draws from research on museum education, research
on attention, and research on media, particularly that involving interactive
video. In this paper, the use of the term "interactive video" is consistent
with the general definition proposed by Floyd (1982) as "any video program
in which the sequence and selection of messages is determined by the
user's response to the material" (p. 2). Using this definition, both
interactive videodisc and interactive video tape are referred to as interactive
video and the chapter looks at research utilizing both formats though this
study utilized an interactive videodisc.

Efforts to understand and influence museum Visitors' experiences
can be viewed as following either a behavioral or a cognitive approach.
Behavioral approaches investigate ways to influence visitor behavior
through changing the environment (i.e. exhibits) while cognitive
approaches attempt to influence how visitors process the information
within the exhibit (Koran et al., 1989). This study followed the latter
approach and drew from the body of research that deals with Visitors'
cognitive behaviors within the museum setting. The chapter focuses on
instructional variables that influence visitors cognitive behaviors and
reviews research on the interactive videodisc as a device that may be
particularly suited to handle those variables.

This chapter begins with the role of museums as a source of informal
science education for the general public and investigates the amount of
learning that actually takes place within museums. Various strategies are
reviewed that utilize diverse media devices to enhance the learning
potential of exhibits with particular emphasis on interactive video as a

21

22
device that may perform well under the unique learning conditions of the
museum setting. Particular attention is paid to the issue of user control
options in the design of interactive video programs.
Role of Museums in Science Education

The growing role of museums in science education is evident from
the increased attention from both the general public and science educators.
Over the last decade, the field of science education has begun to explore the
potential role of museums in promoting science literacy (Falk, 1983; Ucko,
1986). A review of the last twenty years of the W
W illustrates this trend. While the decade from 1967
through 1977 shows no articles addressing science education within the
museum setting, the next decade included at least ten articles dealing with
tapics such as the museum field trip (Wright, 1980; Gennaro, 1981; Falk et
al., 1978), attention and curiosity in museums (Koran et al., 1984), attention
directing devices and techniques used with exhibits (Koran et al., 1982;
Lehman and Lehman, 1984), and research within the museum (Koran et
al., 1983).

This increased attention from science educators has been
complemented by an enthusiastic response from the general public.
Science related museums comprise only eighteen percent of all museums,
yet almost forty-three per cent of the total museum attendance is to science
related museums including natural history museums, nature centers and
science technology centers (Price et al., 1981); Fifty million individuals
visit science technology centers alone (U cko 1985). With over 6000 museums
in the United States (Koran et al., 1983) and a new one opening every 3.3 day
(Alexander, 1979), almost every community "of any size in the United
States, has its museum" (Burcaw, 1975, p. 16). A large percentage of the

2'3
visitors come in groups. A review of the family museum experience
reported that most visitors come as part of a group with one study finding
that over two thirds of the visitors who were not part of a school group came
as part of a social group and 60% of these groups were family groups
(Dierking, 1989)

As the number of visitors and attention from science educators has
increased, so have efforts to measure learning within the museum setting.
While some research on museum education took place over fifty years ago,
only in the last two decades has the study of museum learning become an
active field (Washburne, 1975; Hayward and Larkin, 1983). One of the most
often cited experimental studies investigating visitor learning was
conducted by Screven in 1974. The study, conducted at the Milwaukee
Public Museum, involved the recognition and ordering of five primitive
skulls by appearance and name. The experimental group was allowed to
spend as much time as desired in the exhibit and then asked to take a post-
test. A control group was given the post-test without the benefit of visiting A
the exhibit. There were no significant differences between the scores of the
experimental and control groups. Screven states that, "Evidence that is
available suggests that exhibits as normally presented are not very effective
in communicating the information contained in them" (p. 70).

Screven's findings are consistent with extensive research conducted
by Shettel to evaluate the effectiveness of scientific and technical exhibits
(Shettel, 1973). Data collected within the exhibit "The Vision of Man" in the
National Museum of History and Technology found no differences in post-
test scores between individuals exposed to the exhibit and a control group
that did not view the exhibit. Shettel concludes that the casual museum

24
visitor group "as a whole learned very little from the exhibit as measured
by the tests used" (p. 37).
Research on Attention

The term "attention" has collected many connotations. The behavior
referred to in this paper as "attending to" something is first examined.
Grebe (1986) suggests a model of attention resembling an expanded use of
the term "selective attention". Grabe's model of attention is built on several
interrelated propositions: 1) mental resources are limited, 2) both external
(environmental) and internal sources of stimuli (long term memory)
compete for the learner's attention, and therefore, 3) the learner must
make decisions in allocating the limited resources among competing
stimuli.

A similar and consistent view of attention is described by Kulhavy et
al. (1986). Kulhavy suggests that there are two types of attention as related
to learning- primary and processing attention. Primary attention involves
simply filtering the stimuli through the sensory system, while processing
attention is described as the "effective agent for directing encoding
activities, and for fixing the limits on what will and will not be learned and
remembered" (p. 117). Both of these views suggest that attention is a
limited resource and involves the learner in actively selecting which
stimuli to attend to and in directing strategies for processing the stimuli.

But what determines the stimuli the learner attends to and the
strategies selected? Kulhavy et al. (1986) suggest there are several variables
that affect the way the learner attends to and encodes incoming stimuli.
~These variables are graphically illustrated in Figure 1. Kulhavy states that
the linear relationship between the components is shown for discussion

purposes and not a suggestion of the way the learner operates. Kulhavy

25
proposes that the learner's prior knowledge and instructional expectations
call up a related task schema while the message content and structure call
up a related knowledge scheme. The task schema influences the
mathemagenic behaviors while the knowledge schema influences the way
the information is interpreted. Finally, the instructional accessories such
as cues, directions, and adjunct devices influence how the new information
is encoded and learning takes place. Therefore, in an educational setting,
influencing learning could take the form of altering the content or of
introducing instructional accessories appropriate to both the learner and

the stimulus characteristics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Learner
Characteristics
Prior Knowledge
Instructional , .
. . Information
Expectation Instructional Encoding
+l Accessories '39 Activity = L§::iie?d
Message Content , ,
and Structure
i Stimulus
Characteristics

 

 

Figure 1. Kulhavy's model of components affecting instructional encoding

Attention in the Museum Setting

Attention has been used as an indicator of museum learning for over
50 years. One of the most commonly used measures of attention has been
observations of elapsed time within an exhibit. Robinson coined the term
"holding power" in 1928 to refer to the average time visitors devoted to an

%
exhibit in an art museum (Falk, 1984). The use of time as a dependent
variable within museum research was supported very early in the history
of the field by the work of Melton, Feldman and Mason in the 30's and 40's.
More recent research by Falk and others (described below) has supported
the use of time as an indicator of learning and has extended this line of
re search.

In a search for unobtrusive methods for measuring cognitive and
afl‘ective changes, Falk (1983) studied the possibility of using observable
behaviors such as Visitors' locus of attention and amount of time spent
viewing an exhibit as valid measures of learning. Earlier research had
established a high correlation between nonverbal behavior and both positive
effect and cognitive learning (Falk, 197 6; Felk et al., 1978; Martin et al.,
1981; Belling and Falk, 1981; Falk and Belling, 1982). Falk (1983) then
initiated a study to test a model of museum learning hypothesizing that
learning was a function of time and behavior. His model states that "The
change in knowledge brought about by a museum visit, as typically
measured by change of score in pre-test/post-test designs, is postulated to be
predicted from some interaction of the visitor's time spent and behaviors
exhibited" (p. 268).

To test the model, Falk conducted a study within the Hall of Human
Biology of the British Museum of Natural History. The subjects were given
a pretest before visiting the museum and a post-test after the visit. The
subjects were school children ranging from eleven to sixteen years of age
and were not aware of the relationship between the tests and the museum
visit. The subjects were encouraged but not required to visit the exhibit.
While visiting the exhibit, the subjects were monitored by closed-circuit

television. Behaviors were then measured by amount of time spent at the

27
exhibit and locus of attention at the exhibit. Learning was measured by a
fourteen item multiple choice and true/false test. Results indicated that
Falk's model including time spent viewing exhibits and observable behavior
together, was successful in predicting learning in 83% of the visitors
studied (Felk, 1983). Further research has continued to corroborate this
correlation between nonverbal behaviors and both cognitive and effective
learning (Falk et al., 1985).

These studies support the hypothesis that attention is an accurate
predictor of learning in the museum setting. Both naturalistic and
experimental studies have shown that most visitors do not attend to the
exhibits and their contents. Recent research by Falk and others on the
impact of novel environments suggest a possible explanation for the lack of
learning. This research is consistent with this discussion of attention and
applies to the setting of a museum with vast amounts of novel stimuli.

A series of studies conducted by the Center for Environmental
Studies of the Smithsonian Institution has led to the proposition that the
abundance of novel stimuli in a setting may inhibit rather than encourage
learning. An initial study of the effects of the environment found that
children who were familiar with the outdoor setting of the field trip (i.e.
children living in rural wooded areas) showed higher conceptual learning
than children who were unfamiliar with the setting (Falk et al., 1978). Falk
suggests that the children in the unfamiliar group were unable to
assimilate incoming stimuli into an existing cognitive structure, resulting
in disequilibrium and instigating an adjustment or adaptive process which
directed the students toward exploring elements of the environment, rather
than learning the task at hand. Further research has corroborated the
novel field trip phenomenon (Martin et al., 1981) and identified a

28
continuum with maximum learning occurring with a moderate amount of
novelty; too little novelty or too much may interfere with learning (Belling
and Falk, 1981).
Additional research suggests that adults as well as children are
overwhelmed and inhibited in their learning by the amount of novel stimuli
within the museum (Koran, Jr. et al.1983; Falk et al., 1986). In a synthesis

of museum research, Koran, Longino, and Shafer (1983) observe:

A critical problem in science museums is the tremendous
number of stimuli, many quite novel, competing for attention. .
. . visitors have difficulty focusing their attention and
remaining in the area of the stimulus for a sufficient amount
of time for information processing to occur. (p. 334)

In Grabe's model, discussed in the section above, attention is a
limited resource within an information processing system with goals or
priorities determining where the resource is expended. When the cognitive
system must coordinate and execute many processes that all require
attention, the system is overwhelmed and the learner is unable to complete
the task. This view is consistent with museum research that suggests that
the visitor may become disoriented and fail to process the stimuli at the
initial stage of learning if the stimuli is too difficult or complex (Wilson and
Koran, 1976; Koran et al.1983; Falk et al., 1986).

A model of learning in museum settings developed by Koren,
Longino, and Shafer (1983) and revised in 1987 by Koran and Koran can be
used to explore the reaction to stimuli within the museum. (See Figure 2.)
This model is similar to those advocated by proponents of an information
processing view of learning. The key concepts of information processing
concern the components of the memory system, the organization of the

knowledge within the memory, and the active processes of perceiving,

ea
storing, retrieving and using knowledge. This model of learning places the
visitor in an active role. Koran and Koran (1989) describe this view of the
visitor as not passive consumers of information, "rather visitors must use
their information-processing skills, search and scanning abilities, memory

and intrinsic motivation to organize and understand the exhibit."

 

 

Attention
Stimulus—b Perception". STM _’ LTM —’ Retrieval
Coding
Response (curiosity) Performance

STM=short term memory
LTM-long term memory

 

 

Figure 2. Model of Museum Learning

In the museum setting, stimuli include text labels, physical
characteristics of the artifacts and specimens within an exhibit, audio cues
either planned as in audio tapes or unplanned such as the conversation of
another group, or perhaps even smells. The visitor selectively attends to
specific stimuli, perceives and codes it in short term memory (STM).
Attention, perception, and coding are influenced by the level of curiosity
aroused by the stimuli. From the STM, the information then moves into
long term memory (LTM) which is generally described as the point when
learning takes place (Gagne, 1985). Information can later be retrieved.

Koran's learning model proposes that the stimuli should elicit
attention, perception, and coding which are all affected by the response of
curiosity. Koran and colleagues suggest that the visitor can be guided to

so
selectively attend to and process the abundant information within the
museum setting through strategies that influence mathemagenic
behaviors at the initial stage of learning, that of attention, perception and
coding (Koran, Jr. et al.1983; Koran et al., 1989). The term
"mathemagenic" was coined by Rothkopf to describe the activities learners
perform at this initial stage of addressing stimuli. The learner's
mathemagenic behaviors can be directed through strategies that focus the
Visitors' attention, elicit active participation, provide feedback, prompts and
cues. This is consistent with Grabe's model which suggests that
processing attention, rather than the superficial primary attention, can be
encouraged through instructional accessories that influence how the new

information is encoded and learning takes place. Felk suggests:

Novelty, and the very powerful needs for exploration it
generates, is an extremely important educational variable. The
challenge for educators is to harness this variable to enhance
rather than hinder our educational objectives. (p. 133)

Research on museum education and research on attention agree that
learners can be encouraged to develop and select appropriate
mathemagenic behaviors. Grebe ( 1986) suggests that in a novel situation,
"learning to attend is a two-stage process. First, the students must gain
some appreciation for the dimensions of the stimuli they have been asked to
work with. Then the students must attend to the dimensions that are
relevant to a particular task and ignore the dimensions that are irrelevant"
(p.75). Kulhavy discusses the importance of three types of instructional
accessories: schema activators, questioning, and mnemonics. Schema
activators and questioning are of particular interest to this study. Kulhavy
defines these activators as "any semantic stimuli which work to provide

people with a way of organizing or interpreting the information" (p. 127).

31
Kulhavy suggests that these schema activators influence attention by
"providing the learner with an appropriate knowledge schema for
interpreting and integrating new information" (p. 127).

Efforts to help the visitor focus attention on critical information,
cueing, prompts and other instructional strategies have been shown to help
the visitor employ appropriate mathemagenic behaviors and consequently
led to increased learning. The next section reviews the use of adjunct
devices as instructional accessories.

Adjunct Devices as Instructional Accessories

Screven's study (1974) with the Milwaukee Public Museum's display
on primitive skulls was discussed earlier. After ascertaining that the
exhibit was ineffective in communicating information, ScreVen attempted
to increase the effectiveness through the utilization of an adjunct guidance
device. The device consisted of an audio tape that contained information
and questions coupled with a punchboard which allowed the visitor to select
answers on the punchboard and then receive feedback from the audio tape.
The questions on the audio tape were designed to orient the visitor to names
and relationships, to make comparisons and to give the visitor "a sense of
progress, active participation and contingent feedback" (p. 71).

Visitors to the exhibit were asked to use the audio/punchboard
system as they walked through the hall and were then given the same
criterion test used in the earlier study conducted within the hall. Subjects
using the guidance device showed significant improvement over both the
pre and post-test groups who didn't use the device. By orienting the visitor
to key information and providing an opportunity for responses and feedback
the visitor appeared to learn more. This suggests that orienting, questions

and providing feedback may influence Visitors' attention and interaction

32
within the exhibit.

A similar, but more complex experimental study involved the
Frederick Carder Glass Exhibit in the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian
Institution (Screven, 1975). Screven designed ten experimental conditions,
created through the manipulation of exhibit label design (three groups),
adjunct devices such as audio tapes (five groups), and two control groups
who didn't see the exhibit (although one group used an adjunct device).
Screven's devices function in a similar capacity as the instructional
accessories that Kulhavy recommends for helping the learner attend to the
stimuli. Each of the experimental conditions was administered on different
days for eleven months. After completing the visit to the exhibit, the 736
casual visitors participating in the study were given a criterion test and
asked to react to their experiences. Reactions were recorded in one of five
categories ranging from intense dislike of the device or material to very
enthusiastic.

Results of Screven's research are examined in relationship to the
variables suggested as important in influencing mathemagenic behavior.
All the conditions employing adjunct guidance devices that guided the
viewer to attend to specified characteristics of the exhibit showed a
significant improvement over all of the control groups. The four groups .
using adjunct devices that included questions scored significantly higher
than the two conditions of labels without questions and the control groups.
Of the three conditions employing audio, only one condition did not include
questions and this group was significantly lower than the other two audio
groups. As the questions were the only design difference for the audio
groups, this would suggest that eliciting a response was an important

design element. Screven concluded that the exhibit was not very effective

33
without use of some kind of adjunct device, but the use of an adjunct device
did improve the effectiveness of the exhibit.

Attributing the success of Screven's devices to the "interactive nature
of visitor responding, feedback, and positive reinforcement" (p. 457),
DeWaard et al. (1974) attempted to identify non-electronic and therefore less
expensive adjunct devices that would serve the same purpose. The subjects
viewed the Age of Man exhibit with or without a set of programmed cards
that varied by the presence or absence of feedback, and the amount of
information. The subjects received the same post-test used in Screven's
study. Scores for all four experimental groups were significantly higher
than both the control group that viewed the exhibit without any aids and the
control group that did not view the exhibit, reinforcing Screven's conclusion
that visitors learn little without some intervention, but that learning can be
increased through the use of adjunct devices.

Similar research has attempted to influence the visitor through
intervention strategies before the visitor experiences the exhibit by providing
what Kulhavy might call a "schema activator". One study investigating
both pre and post-viewing intervention, used wall panels designed to focus
the attention of visitors entering a walk-through exhibit of a cave that was
considered "so rich in stimuli that some means of directing and controlling
attention" was necessary to encourage learning (Koran et al., 1983, p. 342).
Subjects were directed to read wall panels presented either prior to entering
the exhibit or at the end of the walk through exhibit. Both groups exposed to
the wall panel learned more than a control group that did not have access to
the panel.

Another example is a study by Gennaro (1981) conducted with a
group of eighth grade earth science students prior to visiting the Science

34
Museum of Minnesota. The experimental group was exposed to a unit
designed to serve as an advance organizer preparing them for new
material on the "Big Bang" and plate tectonics theories, while the other
students received the same amount of instruction but through a traditional
unit on geology. When visiting the museum, the students viewed a
program on the "Big Bang" and plate tectonics theories. Students were
given both a pre and post-test measuring their knowledge of information
presented in the museum program. Students exposed to the advance
organizer scored significantly higher, with no interaction effect noted for
different ability groups.

Research investigating participatory exhibits suggests that eliciting
the visitor's participation seems to lead to increased learning. While this
study is not directly related to research on participatory exhibits, claims for
the advantages of user participation with interactive video suggest that the
field has implications for this study which utilizes an interactive video
system. Discussing exhibit design, Shettel ( 1973) writes:

One of the most powerful principles to emerge from the
general field of behavioral psychology and its application to
instruction has been the idea that active participation
heightens the acquisition and retention of information. (p. 40)

Eason and Linn call for more active involvement of the museum visitor by
reviewing the philos0phy of educational theorists such as Bruner who
espoused the importance of involving the learner in the act of discovery, and
Dewey, Shulman and Temir, who have promoted active participation as
integral to learning. Further research on participatory exhibits suggests
that actively involving the visitor can increase Visitors' attention and
subsequent learning (Sneider, Eason, and Friedman, 1979; Faber and Rice,
1985).

35
S IE I I l . E l. | D .

These studies suggest that Visitors' attention can be attracted and
focused through the use of instructional accessories used as an adjunct to
the exhibit. Visitors' attention seems to be influenced by strategies such as
orienting or focusing attention, cueing, eliciting the visitor's response
through questions and providing feedback, and promoting participation.
These instructional design strategies were used as the basis for the design
of the interactive videodisc program employed in this study.

This study builds on this research and investigated whether an
interactive videodisc program, which included the instructional strategies
identified above, could influence Visitors' attention within an exhibit hall.
The research hypothesis was that the interactive videodisc program, when
designed with appropriate instructional strategies, could act as an effective
instructional accessory within the museum setting.

AttractingPower of Adjunct Devices

While research cited above suggests that a variety of devices can be
used to influence mathemagenic behaviors, other research shows that the
potential effectiveness of a device can be mitigated by its lack of attracting or
holding power. Attracting power is defined as the percentage of visitors
who stop to use the device and holding power as the length of time the
visitor stays with the device or exhibit. Screven's study within the Renwick
Gallery of the Smithsonian (1975) attempted to measure visitor acceptance
of the ten different experimental conditions discussed earlier. A
comparison of the effectiveness as measured by a post-test and the visitor
responses suggests that the strategy most effective is not necessarily the
most popular. Of the four strategies discussed, the audio with no questions
and tape-paced rather than self-paced, was significantly less effective than

36
the other three strategies, yet it received the most positive reaction and had
the strongest holding power with only 14.6% quitting before completion.
Individuals using the self-paced audio with questions scored higher than
any of the other ten conditions, yet this condition had the highest quitting
percentage (39.7%) and a lower acceptance score than the tape-paced with
no questions. This research suggests that the efl‘ectiveness of a device is not
necessarily related to its attracting or holding power.

Research on the attracting power of various devices, shows visitors
do display specific preferences. One study evaluated Visitors' reactions to
the content and medium components of exhibits (W ashburne and Wagar,
1972). Visitors expressed highest interest for motion pictures, followed by
audio, models and objects. Text ranked in the bottom quarter of the ranking
followed only by two dimensional mediums such as slides or flatwork.
More recent research has supported the high attracting and holding power
of motion (Bitgood, Patterson, Benefield, 1986; Patterson and Bitgood, 1988).

In an observational study of visitor behavior in ten museums in the
Los Angeles area, Beer (1987) studied the attracting and holding power of
exhibits based on the combinations of materials. Beer found visitors were
significantly influenced by the combination of materials in the exhibits with
the attracting and holding power roughly related. Exhibits with "text only"
had the lowest attracting power and the second (out of eleven) lowest
holding power. When audio, audiovisual, models or manipulables were
added, both the attracting and holding power increased with the
combination of text, audio and model showing the strongest attracting and
holding power. The study also investigated the attracting and holding
power of exhibits with varying lengths of audiovisual presentations. The

longer the presentation, the lower the percentage of visitors viewing the

37
whole presentation. Beer's study suggests that the visitor's attention is
often limited and the attracting and holding power of exhibits can be
increased through the addition of audio, audiovisual, models or
manipulables.

These studies suggest that visitors seem to use a consistent criteria
in selecting the exhibits they will attend to, with the medium employed
influencing the attracting and the holding power of exhibits. Visitors seem
to be attracted by motion and sound and their attention may not hold if the
presentation is too long (over three minutes) or if the medium involves text
only. Screven's study also suggests that the attracting and holding power of
a device is not necessarily related to its effectiveness. Both the effectiveness
and the attracting power of a device need to be explored when attempting to
select or design strategies to influence visitors.

Research on museum learning and on the use of adjunct devices can
be synthesized and their implications viewed together. Consistent research
suggests that without some type of intervention, the museum visitor does
not learn. Intervention devices include participatory exhibits, wall panels,
audio tapes, movies and printed materials. Instructional strategies that
have proven successful include eliciting viewer participation, orienting and
focusing attention on critical attributes of the exhibit, questions and
feedback. Screven suggests that "the deliberate programming of pre-exhibit
experience may be one of the more feasible, economic, and unobtrusive
ways of facilitating learning in museums" (Screven, 1975). This study used
these findings as a guide in development of the interactive videodisc
program. Included in the program were motion, audio, and text screens
that introduce information within the exhibit, questions and appropriate

feedback, and opportunities for visitor interaction with the program.

38

While these studies show promise in using a variety of techniques,
there is a lack of research on Visitors' reactions to the different types, and of
the attracting and holding power of each. This is relevant to the museum
setting as there is no extrinsic reason for the visitor to use the devices. In
selecting effective adjunct devices, design decisions should consider
information on both the comparative attracting power as well as the
effectiveness of various strategies and devices. Therefore, this study
investigated the attracting power of the interactive videodisc and attempted
to identify characteristics of the types of visitors that were attracted to the
device.

Media Research

Gagne (1985) defines media as the"combination of things or systems
of things used to deliver communications or other instructional stimuli to
the learner." Research discussed earlier indicates that the combination of
objects (specimens and artifacts) and accompanying labels are not adequate
to promote learning in the instructional situation of the museum, and that
other combinations may be more effective in encouraging cognitive
outcomes. This section looks at other types of media and their potential to
attract and direct Visitors' attention. The interactive video is reviewed as a
medium that may have the capabilities appropriate to reach the casual
visitor within the informal setting of the museum.

Research on instructional media has warned against confusing the
medium with the instructional message when researching learning from
media (Clark, 1983, 1988; Hofmeister, 1985; Clark and Soloman, 1986;
Grabowski, 1989). Clark compares mediated instruction to a grocery
delivery truck. While the truck delivers the food, the nutritional value of the
food cannot be attributed to the truck. In the same way, media delivers

:9
instruction, but it is the instructional strategies that influence learning and
not the media. Studies that report causal connections between media and
achievement or other outcomes are commonly confounded by other variables
including novelty effect and different instructional methods used within the
treatments that are compared. Clark (1986) advises that, "Five decades of
research suggest that there are no learning benefits to be gained from
employing different media in instruction regardless of their obviously
attractive features or advertised superiority" (p. 450).

Clark suggests that research on media should instead emphasize the
instructional design variables and the effectiveness and/or efficiency of a
device in implementing the stipulated instruction design strategies.
Despite the warning of Clark and others, most research on interactive video
has shown the same tendency to compare this new medium to other
mediums and to draw conclusions about the device rather than the
instructional strategies. Reeves (1986) evaluation of current research
regarding interactive video states:

Despite at least 25 years of unfavorable criticism and few useful
results (Hoban, 1958; Phillips, 1980; Sander, 1981), research and
evaluation studies which use experimental and quasi-
experimental designs to compare one instructional technology
with another (or with the mythical "traditional instruction")
continue to predominate research with instructional
innovations. (p. 102)

In a current review of research on interactive video, Slee (1989) states "We
MUST re-orient ourselves toward conducting research on instructional
strategies of effective variables that lead to formulating generalizable
theory. In addition, an increased focus on the evaluation of interactive

videodiscs and their uses would enable us to optimize the medium for

particular situations, types of content, and types of learners" (p. 159).

40

Therefore, this section follows the advice of Clark and others and
avoids reviewing media comparison studies. Instead the characteristics of
interactive video are compared to other media and research is reviewed that
focuses on instructional design variables related to the design of
instructional interactive video programs. Over two decades ago, Gagne
(1965) warned that no single medium is likely to have properties that make
it best for all purposes. Gagne suggests selecting media based on the
characteristics of the media and those of the instructional situation. This
section will first review the characteristics of the museum as an
instructional setting and then review various media and their instructional
characteristics. Reviewing the characteristics of the museum setting is
related to identifying what Reigeluth and Merrill define as the instructional
conditions which are "the factors that influence the effects of methods and
are therefore important for prescribing methods" (Reigeluth, 1983, p. 14).
The characteristics of the museum as a learning setting are largely
determined by the fact it is an informal learning setting and the learners
are often very different in their backgrounds, expectations and other
individual characteristics. In a comparison of formal and informal
learning, Bitgood (1988) points out some of the differences. In formal
education, classrooms generally provide little distracting stimulation, the
learner stays in the same or similar environment for extended periods and
learners are exposed to small amounts of stimuli repeatedly and for
extended lengths of time. In comparison, the museum setting offers
extensive amounts of novel stimuli and the learner is generally exposed for
brief periods. There is no instructor present for the casual visitor and no
extrinsic reward system. The type of learning that is taking place ranges
from verbal knowledge to higher level problem solving, depending on the

41
contents of the exhibit and the characteristics of the learner. Because
museums receive many visitors yet often operate on limited budgets, media
selection is often influenced by cost effectiveness.

The learning setting within the museum suggests the media should
possess at least some of the following characteristics: flexibility, ease of
maintenance, ability to direct attention, ability to elicit response and provide
feedback or reinforcement, and ability to individualize. The next section
will review characteristics of various media that have been used within the
museum setting. The media reviewed include printed materials (labels,
brochures, exhibit guides), video and motion pictures, computers and
interactive video.

Printed materials are relatively inexpensive to generate, require little
maintenance, and can be designed to direct attention, and elicit responses.
The user has complete control over what is read, the sequence of reading
and responses to any questions embedded in the text, thereby
individualizing the way the material is received. However, this potential is
neutralized by the reaction of most visitors to ignore printed material as
evidenced by the lack of attention to labels (Screven, 1968, 1974; Cone and
Kendall, 1978; Wolf, 1980; Beer, 1987) as well as research by Screven (197 5)
suggesting that exhibit guides were not well received by the visitors and
when used, often detracted attention from the exhibits themselves. Video
and motion pictures appear to be more enticing to visitors than printed text.
As one museum educator states, "visitors come to museums primarily for
visual experiences, not to read" (V anausdall, 1986). There are pedagogical
as well as practical liabilities with video and motion pictures. The costs
and maintenance requirements are higher than that of printed material

and visitors seldom watch for more than three minutes (Beer, 1987).

Q
Motion pictures can be designed to focus attention and elicit responses, but
the continuation of the program is not contingent on viewer participation,
and the individual viewer does not have any control over the content or
sequence of presentation. Some research suggests that these constraints
may create passivity in viewers (Laurillard, 1984).

The branching capabilities of computer programs allow them to react
to each user's input, ofl'ering control over sequence, content and
presentation styles which can be responsive to individual interests, prior
knowledge or other individual characteristics. However, computers and
appropriate software, are often expensive and can be more difficult to
maintain than other mediums discussed. Presentation modes include only
text or computer generated graphics. With museum exhibits often offering
only a static view of the phenomenon or items on display, there may be a
unique instructional value in the ability of motion picture to show a bird in
flight, a fossil being excavated or a habitat through changing seasons.

The merger of the computer's technology with the video, joins the
computer's ability to branch (allowing greater individualization and user
control) with the video's varied presentation capabilities. This ability of
interactive video to involve the user through requesting and reacting to user
responses is one of the characteristics receiving the most attention in
educational applications. Floyd (1982) states that "viewer participation in
an interactive video program is a critical factor; this is not so for traditional
linear video programs, in which the viewer remains passive" (p. 2). In a
chapter addressing educational technology in the future, Bork writes
"most learning theories agree on the importance of addressing individual
differences, but most mediums are unresponsive to this " (DeBloois, 1982,

p. 7). Proponents of interactive video suggest that the extensive and varied

43

display facilities are likely to stimulate and maintain students' attention
more effectively than computer graphics or straight video (Deshler and
Gay, 1986; VanHorn, 1987). Dalton and Hannafin (1986) suggest that
current research "indicates that the variety of visual and auditory learning
stimuli present in interactive video can dramatically improve learning
Other advantageous characteristics include use of motion which may
increase interest, motivation and emotional impact (Ebner, 1984), the use
and high fidelity of audio (DeBloois, 1982; Ebner, 1984), large data storage
capability and rapid random access (DeBloois, 1982; Parsloe, 1985), ability to
integrate information from many sources (Parsloe, 1985), and low
maintenance (DeBloois, 1982; Parsloe, 1985; VanHorn, 1987).
SnmmanLnLMedie

A review of the characteristics of the museum as an informal
learning setting, and the characteristics of various instructional media,
suggests that the interactive video format may have the capabilities to
address the instructional conditions within a museum. Over ten years ago

Screven (1974) ofl'ered this advice for the design of effective exhibits:

One way of securing cooperation, attention and control within
the framework of the exhibit is to provide for interaction
between the exhibit's instructional components and the visitor.
. . . To achieve this interaction, one must find ways 1) to direct
and sequence viewer attention to names, distinctions,
relationships, etc; 2) to provide for selective responding by the
viewer; and 3) to provide for immediate feedback (preferably
differential feedback) following viewer responses. (p. 70)

While this advice was meant for the devices available at that time, the
prescription seems to speak to the potential of the characteristics of the

interactive video.

Interactive Video Research

Research on interactive videodisc programs show a lack of emphasis
on the instructional design strategies used within the programs studied.
Researchers and instructional designers have called for more aggressive
research on the instructional design principles related to the design of
interactive video programs (DeBloois, 1982; Schaffer and Hannafin, 1985;
Hannafin, Phillips, and Tripp, 1986; Hannafin and Colamaio, 1986;
Hannafin, Phillips, Riebner, and Garhart, 1986). DeBloois (1982) suggests
that because of the unique capabilities of interactive video, "instructional
models once useful for linear single audience, instructional development
may no longer be useful for non-linear, interactive applications with varied
audiences" (p. 32). Efi‘orts have turned to identifying instructional variables
that may be most advantageous in the design of interactive video programs
and measuring the effects of variables under varying conditions (Hannafin
and Colamaio, 1986; Hannafin and Phillips, 1986; Hannafin, Garhart,
Rieber and Phillips, 1985).

Many of the specific variables of interest in computer aided
instruction (CAI) research have continued to be points of investigation in
this new technology. For example, interactive video research has looked at
the role of control strategies (Ebner et al. 1984; Laurillard, 1984; Goetzfried
et al., 1985; Hannafin, 1987) , feedback, orienting instructions (Hannafin,
Phillips and Tripp, 1986), practice (Hannafin, Phillips and Tripp, 1986;
Hannafin, 1987), levels of interactivity (Schaffer et al., 1985), and processing
time (Hannafin et al., 1986) and visual display formats.

Control strategies received considerable attention in earlier computer
based instruction and continues to be of interest in interactive

video programming research. Different levels or amounts of user control

45
have been investigated including: 1) adaptive control, 2) learner or user
control with varying levels, and 3) combinations of adaptive and learner
control for different functions. The learner (or user) control method allows
the individual learner to determine the learning strategy including such
areas as number of examples given, sequence and rate of presentation, and
type of feedback. With the adaptive control method, the instructional
presentation is directed by the program and is continuously adjusted to the
individual user's needs based on achievement, interest level and
characteristics of the learning task (Tennyson, 1980). Still other research
has investigated the efl'ects of mixing control options over sequence of
content, amount of practice, type and amount of feedback. Research on
control options has measured a variety of outcomes including achievement,
error rates and completion rates, anxiety states and attitudes (Steinberg,
1977).

The results from user control research related to both CAI and
interactive video have been contradictory. Learner control in CAI had been
assumed to benefit the learner through "anxiety reduction, greater task
engagement, faster learning, improved attitudes, and better performance"
(Steinberg, 197 7). Steinberg's (197 7) review of student control in CAI
disputes these assumptions and reviews a large body of contradictory
research on learner control. Regarding control over practice, Steinberg
cites studies that show improved achievement (for example, Judd et al.
1970) while another study showed learners opted for excessive practice
(Lahey et al., 1975), problems that were too difficult (Whitlock, 1976) or
under some circumstances, inadequate amounts of practice (Montanelli
and Steinberg, 197 6). Learner control over sequence has shown reduced

achievement (Judd et al. 1970; Oliver, 1975) particularly for low achievers

46
and increased the drop out rate for college students in one study (Curtin et
al., 197 6). Steinberg concludes that "Because the data base is inadequate
and the experimental results are highly variant, it is not possible to make
generalizations regarding the locus of control in CAI " (p. 88).

Reacting to the contradictory research on control, Tennyson (1980)
tested a strategy of allowing learner control but providing advisement that
includes diagnosis and prescriptions related to the criterion performance.
He tested this approach, termed "learner-adaptive control" against adaptive
control and learner control with university students in an introductory
physics course. The advisement was based on a management system, the
Minnesota Adaptive Instructional System (MAIS) that was developed by
Tennyson and associates. His findings in this study suggest that the
learners in the learner-adaptive strategy performed significantly higher
than the learner control group and as well as the adaptive control group,
but needed 24% less time than the adaptive control group. Tennyson states
that the reduction in on-task time is particularly important because
students in a learner control situation consistently leave before mastery.
This research suggests that learner control can be more effective if
integrated with instructionally sound advisement.

Goetzfried and Hannafin (1985) investigated the efi'ects of three levels
of control over CAI strategies on the accuracy and efficiency of
mathematics rule and application learning for low achieving 7th grade
students. The three experimental treatments were an externally controlled
adaptive strategy, an individually based learner control with advisement
strategy, and a no control linear design strategy. Results suggested no
significant differences in the effectiveness of each treatment, but significant

differences in efficiency with the no control group requiring less time with

47
no loss in achievement, suggesting that the linear model was more
appropriate for the subjects and content addressed in this study. There
were also no differences for gender.
Almost a decade after Steinberg's synthesis, Goetzfried and
Hannafin (1985) state that the problem of how to optimally apply control is
not yet resolved regarding CAI:

The locus of control in CAI design, learner, computer, or
combined control, has been a recurring, but as yet unresolved,
issue. The amount of control that learners can effectively
manage, and the factors likely to affect control strategies, are
not generally known. (p. 3)

With no definitive answers regarding the use of control, it has become clear
that it is a complex issue with various factors influencing the effect of the
locus of control. Some of the factors include nature of the learning task
(Hannafin, 1984), the ability level or prior achievement of the learner
(Tennyson, 1980) and age of the learner (Hannafin, 1984).

Research on locus of control has been extended into research on
interactive video with some suggesting that the issue may be even more
important when designing instruction using interactive video for at least
two reasons: 1) the videodisc can provide vast amount of information, so
there is increased potential for varied ways to present it (Laurillard, 1984),
and 2) many believe that the interactivity possible with interactive video can
enhance discovery or inquiry approaches to learning that require user
control over "their own learning sequence, content, forms of
representation, speed or presentation (slow, fast motion, or still frames).
and overall pace" (Deshler and Gay, 1986).

Hannafin and Colamaio (1986) investigated the effects of practice and

three types of control- designer imposed, learner selected, and linear on

48
three learning outcomes- factual information, procedures and problem
solving related to CPR. Their findings suggest that both the designer
imposed and the learner selected control groups performed significantly
better than the linear group for all three learning outcomes, but found no
significant differences between the designer imposed and learner selected
conditions.

The studies discussed above were conducted in formal learning
settings with many of them dealing with the relatively homogeneous
audience of college students. There is a lack of research on the effects of
user control options for the learner in a free choice setting such as a
museum and with the adult learner or the mixed family group. In a
review of empirical issues in interactive video research, Hannafin (1985)
recommended the following proposition as one requiring more research,
"interactive video is not appropriate for the full range of learners, to-be-
learned content and types of learning tasks. . .What is lacking is a clear
understanding of when, why, how, and for whom interactive video is
effective" (p. 25). Because the museum audience is a heterogeneous group
with varied interests and knowledge bases, the user control options offer an
instructional strategy that could help meet diverse needs. Further
research on locus of control is relevant to instructional design within the
museum setting.

S E I I I' If I B I

Research on interactive video has turned to many of the same
instructional design variables as CAI had earlier investigated. Research
on locus of control has been contradictory and complicated in both computer
aided and interactive video research. Learner control with advisement has

shown some promise in producing consistent results.

49

Little research has investigated the conditions most appropriate for
employing interactive video. Most research has focused on formal settings,
while neglecting informal setting such as the museum. This suggests that
the small body of research that does exist on interactive video may not be
generalizable to the museum setting.

To further study the role of user control strategies, this study focused
on Visitors' use of two levels of control options. The two levels were
differentiated by the amount of examples and the presence of practice
questions. Visitors who used the second level of options (Level Two) were
compared to visitors who used only the first level of options (Level One).
Characteristics of the visitors were investigated to determine if interest in
birds or comfort level with computers were related to the level of options
used.

Chapter Summary

Research from the field of museum education suggests that museum
visitors often do not attend to the exhibits and consequently do not learn
from their visit. This has been substantiated by both experimental research
and observational studies. Some research suggests that this is because
visitors are overwhelmed by the vast amounts of stimuli present within the
museum. Efforts have turned to preparing visitors for the exhibit using
adjuct devices such as slide shows, videos, or printed materials. These
devices are meant to operate as schema activators, preparing visitors
conceptually for the information within the exhibit. These efforts to use
adjunct devices have been consistently successful in increasing visitor
participation and visitor attention within the exhibit area. Visitor attention
can be measured by identifying the amount of time spent within the exhibit
or in front of an exhibit. Elapsed time has been shown to be highly

50
correlated to both cognitive and afl'ective outcome measures. It can also be
measured using non-intrusive methods, thereby not disturbing the
spontaneous behaviors of visitors.

This research focused on the use of a relatively new instructional
medium, the interactive videodisc, as an adjunct device. Research on the
use of interactive videos has been primarily conducted in formal settings
such as higher education institutions or within industry. Research within
informal learning settings such as the museum is rare. One research
issue regarding instructional development of interactive video programs is
that of control options. User control refers to giving the user, or the
learner, control over such options as sequence and type of presentation,
practice, and speed. Program control refers to designing the program to
control the sequence, speed, etc. Research on the effects of different types
and amounts of user control options has been contradictory and confusing.
This study utilized a program with two level of user control options and
investigated which level would be used and whether any individual
characteristics of the users were related to the level of options used.

CHAPTER THREE. METHODS.

This chapter describes the sample of visitors used for this study, the
setting for the study and the materials used for the interactive videodisc
program. The measurement instruments used to collect data about
Visitors' use of the videodisc program and their behaviors within the exhibit
area are presented and the validity and reliability of each instrument is
discussed. The procedures used for the data analysis are also described
and the validity and reliability of the procedures are reviewed.

Setting

The study took place within the Michigan State University Museum,
a natural and cultural science museum. The area of observation was a
special exhibit on endangered birds of Michigan titled "Birds in Trouble in
Michigan". This exhibit was selected as the setting for two reasons: 1) The
hall has only one door used as both entrance and exit, simplifying the task
of measuring the amount of time spent within the hall and ensuring that
visitors were exposed to the interactive program before encountering the
hall, and 2) The number of videodiscs currently available are limited and
there was an appropriate videodisc available on the topic of birds.

On experimental days, the interactive videodisc system was set up on
a rolling cart outside the entrance to the exhibit area. (See Appendix A for
diagram.) A sign was placed over the station that read "Video Introduction
to Birds in Trouble in Michigan Exhibit". The video deck used to record
visitor behavior, was placed inside a black wooden box and placed on top of
an exhibit case on the opposite side of the hallway. The video camera was
mounted on top of the box. The video camera was part of the security
system and consistent with other cameras mounted around the museum.

The wide angle of the camera offered a view of the computer users, the
51

52
entrance to the exhibit hall and one wall of the exhibit area.
Population and Sample

Each group of visitors that entered the exhibit hall, or who used the
interactive videodisc program during the days of the study were part of the
study. Groups were defined as any number of individuals who entered
and/or exited the hall together or were seen either conversing, in physical
contact or sharing in any child care responsibilities. The study focused on
the group rather than the individual because most visitors enter the
museum as part of a social group, and the majority as part of a family
(Dierking, 1989; Kropf, 1989) and the group or family influences the
behavior of each member (Cone and Kendall, 197 8; Hilke and Belling, 1985;
Kropf, 1989; Dierking, 1989)

The groups of casual visitors were investigated rather than intact
formalized groups for three reasons. First, the needs of intact groups
visiting the museum can be addressed through guided tours, pre/post visit
information and special orientation sessions or materials. However, the
casual visitors are primarily responsible for addressing their instructional
needs without the support of a formalized presentation. Second, as the
number of casual museum visitors continues to grow at phenomenal rates
(Alexander, 1979), and as the science education community expends more
energies on increasing science literacy of the population as a whole,
museums become one of the most likely vehicles to reach those individuals
no longer part of formal education (Ucko, 1983; Feher and Rice, 1985;
Finkelstein, Stearns and Hatcher, 1985). Third, it has been suggested that
much of the existing experimental research done within the museum
setting has been done with intact groups specifically brought into the

museum for the study with results that are not useable or generalizable to

53
the real museum audience (Wolf, 1979, 1980; Felk, 1976, 1983).
Materials

The hardware components included the videodisc player (Pioneer
2000), a computer to drive the videodisc and to present the instructional
program (Macintosh Plus), an interface between the computer and the
videodisc player, and a video monitor. Software included Hypercard, which
was used as the authoring program to create the program and a videodisc
from the Audubon Society. A complete diagram of the set up is included in
Appendix A. To make the system less intimidating to the non-computer
literate, the keyboard was disconnected from the computer and a
Kensington "turbo mouse" replaced the traditional Macintosh mouse.

The videodisc, "Audubon Society's VideoGuide to the Birds of North
America: I" is marketed by MasterVision and covers 116 species of birds
that breed in North America including loons, grebes, pelicans, swans,
geese and ducks, hawks, vultures, and falcons, and chicken-like birds.
Video segments show close-ups of distinguishing characteristics and
motion pictures illustrating behaviors such as diving into water for food.
The sound track includes bird sounds and a narrative with information on
identification, threats to the survival of the species, range, and other
significant information. Seven segments were selected from the videodisc
that were consistent with the content and conceptual approach of the
exhibit on endangered birds. The birds illustrated in these segments were
the Bald Eagle, Northern Harrier, Cooper's Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk,
Merlin, Peregrine Falcon, Greater Prairie-Chicken.

Samples of text from the exhibit label and an audio segment from the
videodisc illustrate the consistency between the information within the
exhibit and that on the videodisc.

54

Once common in parts of Michigan, the decline of the Red-
shouldered Hawk has followed the loss of the larger tracts of
bottom land forest to human encroachment. Research is
needed to determine the sensitivity of this species to pesticides
and other forms of environmental contamination, both here
and in its wintering areas.

(from the label for the Red-shouldered Hawk)

This vocal raptor [Red-shouldered Hawk] is declining

throughout its eastern range due to the accumulation of

pesticides in its prey. It is also a victim of the disastrous,

ongoing destruction of its bottomland forest habitat from the

building of recreational lakes on the livers of the eastern US.
(from the audio segment on the videodisc)

When the program was not being used, the video ran continuously with no
audio and the introductory screen on the computer invited visitors to "press
the red dot" on the turbo mouse to begin the program and to turn on the
audio. Once either of the buttons was pressed, the video stopped and the
computer program presented the introductory screen. I

The design of the Hypercard program was influenced by previous
research on museum guidance devices and included the following
instructional design strategies: providing information that would orient the
visitor to key concepts within the exhibit, use of questions, eliciting
responses and providing feedback, offering user control over content,
sequence and pacing. (See Appendix B for a printout of the presentation
screens.) Throughout the program, options are presented on the screen
and the visitor turns the ball to move a corresponding arrow on the screen
and then clicks on their choice. The main body of the program begins with
a menu that allows the user to select the content and sequence. The

options on the main menu are:
1) Introductory segment
2) Video on hawks
3) Video on eagles

4) Video on falcons 55

5) Video on prairie-chickens

6) Challenge questions
Before each video segment, the viewer is presented with a screen on the
computer that includes general information about the video segment and
relates the segment to the mounts within the hall. Each video segment
lasts between thirty and sixty seconds. After each video segment, the
viewer is shown a sub-menu related to the species just viewed. The viewer
may return to the main menu or ask for further examples or questions
related to that species.

At all times the user has control over the content (i.e. moving from
one type of birds to another) and the mode of presentation (i.e. shifting from
examples to questions). Each selection that the viewer makes is recorded
by the program. The program consists of one main menu, seven sub-
menus, seven video introduction screens, seven screens with practice
questions and feedback and fifteen instructional screens.

The interactive videodisc program was designed to introduce the
visitors to important information within the exhibit and to supplement the
exhibit with video and audio support for concepts involving motion or
sound. No tests were done to assess the content validity of the program but
the face validity was assessed by three content specialists. The program
was reviewed by the Curator of Ornithology who designed the Birds in
Trouble in Michigan exhibit, the museum naturalist who wrote the labels
for the exhibit, and the Curator of Education who is also a biologist. These
three individuals felt the program was consistent with the exhibit.

Data Collection Instruments

As the focus of this research was on visitor behavior, it was

important to have accurate and reliable observations of all visitors during

56
both the experimental and control days. A video camera was used to record
the behavior and characteristics of the subjects. The video camera,
mounted on the well outside the special exhibit hall, was part of the
museum's security system, identical to others throughout the building,
thereby reducing potential intrusiveness of the instrument. The wide angle
lens on the camera allowed a view of the computer outside the door of the
exhibit, the entrance to the exhibit and one wall of the exhibit. (See
Appendix A for diagram.) The tape deck coded the dates and times
providing an accurate measure of time spent within the exhibit hall and
also supported the ability to match the computer records with observations
from the video tapes.

While the video observations provided the descriptive data necessary
for analyzing visitor interaction with the exhibit hall, this study was also
interested in the specific ways the user interacted with the computer
program. The user's choice of options or "path" through the program was
of interest as previous research on user control options has primarily
emphasized formalized learning settings and this study was based in a
free-choice informal learning setting. Therefore, the computer program
was designed to collect data about each choice the user selected, specifically
the level and type of choice. Level One options were defined as those
selected from the main menu. Level Two options were defined as those
selected from one of the sub-menus. For each group viewing the program
the following data was recorded by the computer program: elapsed time on
program, number of choices from the main menu (Level One), number of
choices from the sub-menus (Level Two), and types of options (questions or
examples).

Previous research on the use of adjunct devices in museums has

57
suggested that both individual difi'erences and characteristics of the media
may influence Visitors' usage of adjunct devices. To analyze whether users
were drawn to the program because of the medium or the content, the
interactive video program asked each user the following two questions:
1) Do you feel comfortable with computers?
__ yes __ somewhat _ no

2) How would you rate your interest level in birds?

high medium low

The answers to these questions were not available for the subjects
who did not use the computer. Therefore, it was necessary to conduct a
survey of the museum population to provide sample responses that were
representative of the general population and could then be compared to the
responses from the groups who used the interactive video program. On
three week-end days outside of the observation days, a random sample of 65
visitors exiting the bird exhibit were asked to fill out a short survey included
in Appendix D with two questions identical to those presented by the
computer: 1) How would you rate your interest in birds, and 2) Are you
comfortable with computers? Sixty-five groups were interviewed to provide
a sample size comparable to the number of groups that used the interactive
video program.
II III 13 l' l'l'l II | |

To investigate whether the program influenced visitors interaction
with the exhibit, elapsed time within the hell was used as the dependent
variable. Elapsed time was measured from the moment the group walked
through the entrance to the exhibit until exiting. Time spent on the
videodisc program outside the hall was not considered part of the elapsed

58
time within the exhibit. Elapsed time has been used as a dependent
variable to measure learning within the museum setting since the 1920's
when Robinson first coined the term "holding power" to investigate the
effectiveness of art exhibits (Felk, 1984). Time has been show to be highly
correlated to both cognitive and effective measures and has been validated
by Felk and others over several studies (Felk, 197 6; Felk et al., 1978, 1981;
Belling and Felk, 1981; Felk and Belling, 1982; Felk, 1983). More recent
research on the role of attention in museum learning has supported the
relationship between elapsed time and learning (Koran, Koran and Foster,
1989; Haeseler, 1989). In a review of the use of time as a dependent variable,
Felk states (1983),

Time is, perhaps not coincidentally, the single measure most
frequently used for evaluating exhibit(s) quality/effectiveness
and assessing visitor behavior-the time spent in an exhibit, the
time spent in an exhibit hall, the time spent in a museum.
Time, as a research variable, is easy to measure, essentially
objective, and theoretically non-trivial." (p. 183)

Elapsed time was measured by observing the videotapes and recording the
time that the first member of the party entered the exhibit hall and the time
that the last member exited the hall. The videodeck recorded the time by the
hour, minute and second. Therefore, it was possible to stop the video tapes
at the point of interest and record the time shown on the videotape.

The characteristics of the groups were also identified from observing
the video tapes. All video tapes were viewed by the researcher and the
following data coded for each group entering the hall or using the program:
entrance and exit time, number of adults and children in party, gender of
each member and, if the computer was used- starting and ending time with

the computer. All coding was done by the researcher to avoid reliability

59
problems of multiple observers. No reliability tests were conducted to test
the internal consistency or stability of the coding over time. However, the
independent variables were selected for this study because they were
observable and discrete objective variables resistant to subjective variances
in observations.

The Hypercard computer program that drove the interactive
videodisc program was designed to collect data about the users' choices
throughout the program. The Hypercard program was designed so that if
no input was received after one minute, the computer recorded all data on
the past user and returned to the introductory screen. This protected the
data collection from being confounded by the possibility of two users being
recorded as one, which could happen if a second user took over in the
middle of the program. Also, anytime a viewer asked to see a choice from
the main menu that had already been recorded, the program asked if the
viewer was a new user and if so, the program again recorded all choices
and began a new file for the current users. These precautions were meant
to insure the validity of each users' records.

Procedures and Design

Data was collected in two hour segments over five consecutive week-
ends, with one day of each week-end randomly assigned the experimental
condition and the other as the control condition. Week-ends were selected
rather than week-days because the audience of interest was the casual
visitor and week-days typically include a larger number of intact groups -
such as school classrooms, or other organized and more formalized
educational groups.

Under both the experimental and control conditions, the video deck
was pre-set to record for the same two hour period each day making it

60
possible to insert a new tape before the museum opened and insuring a
consistent time schedule of taping. During the control days, the only data
collected was by the video tape. Under the experimental conditions, the
interactive videodisc program was set up at the entrance to the hall with a
label describing it as a "Video Introduction to the Birds in Trouble in
Michigan Exhibit." (See illustration of the set up in Appendix A.) At the
end of each experimental day, the data collected by the computer was
recorded and a new file established for the next session. This data was
later analyzed to address the question related to user control.
Data Analysis

The first research question of this study pertains to whether the
interactive videodisc program influenced the amount of interaction between
visitors and the exhibit hall of interest. Elapsed time was used as a
measure of visitor interaction with the exhibit. For each group, elapsed
time was computed for time within the exhibit and time in front of two
specific bird mounts (Bald Eagle and Red-shouldered Hawk) that were part
of the videodisc presentation.

A posttest-only control group experimental design was utilized with
treatments randomly assigned to each day. According to Campbell and
Stanley (1968), this design ofi‘ers strong protection against threats to
internal and external validity. Specific factors controlled by this design
include history, maturation, testing, instrumentation, regression,
selection, interaction of testing and treatment, and mortality. Interaction
of selection and other factors is not controlled. One way analysis of
variance (AN OVA) was used to determine whether the differences between
the group means were greater than would be expected from sampling error

alone (Glass and Hopkins, 1984). Four comparisons were tested: 1) the

61
elapsed time within the exhibit between all visitors on the experimental day
and all visitors on the control day, 2) the mean elapsed time within the
exhibit between visitors on the experimental day who W
W and all visitors on the control day, 3) the
elapsed time spent in front of the Bald Eagle between all visitors on the
experimental day and all visitors on the control day, and 4) the elapsed time
spent in front of the Red-shouldered Hawk between all visitors on the
experimental day and all visitors on the control day.

As the museum setting is an informal learning environment with
minimal or no external pressures on the learner, some types of visitors are
likely to be attracted to certain devices more than other devices. Therefore,
this research also looked at the attracting power of the interactive video
system and attempted to identify the variables that might be related to the
visitors use. Potentially related variables included gender (of both the
children in the party), group composition (ratio of adults to children and
gender of each member), self-assessed level of interest in birds and level of
comfort with computers.

Both the dependent variable (use of the program) and the
independent variables (group composition, gender, bird interest and
computer comfort) were categorical variables. Therefore, non-parametric
statistical methods were required. The chi-square test of association was
selected as it is commonly used to test the relationship between two factors
or variables with unknown expected proportions (Kirk, 1982; Glass and
Hopkins, 1984). This procedure compared the groups that used the
interactive videodisc program to the general population of exhibit visitors
during the time of the study (i.e. the total sample within this study). If the

groups of computer users were a representative sample of the general

62
population on all independent variables, then chi-square would show the
observations to be independent of each other suggesting no relationship
between the independent variables and the use of the program.

The third research area of this study addressed the use of the two
levels of control options. Users were identified as either Level One if all
their selections were from the main menu, or Level Two if they went beyond
the main menu and selected from the sub-menus that offered a more
indepth look at the species of bird. The research assumption was that the
Level Two users would have a higher level of interest in birds and a higher
comfort level with computers than Level One users. Because these
variables were also categorical, a chi-square procedure was used to assess
whether there were any significant differences between the group who used
the program and the control group that was randomly selected on days
when the program was not available.

Chapter Summary

This research was conducted within the Michigan State University
Museum, a natural science and cultural history museum. The
observations were conducted within an exhibit titled "Birds in Trouble in
Michigan", a special exhibit on endangered birds of Michigan. An
interactive videodisc program was used to introduce visitors to conceptual
information and terminology used within the exhibit. The program was set
up outside the exhibit hall on randomly selected experimental days. An
experimental posttest-only control group design was used to assess whether
the experimental group with access to the program, spent greater amounts
of time within that exhibit than a control group that visited the exhibit when
the program was not present. The characteristics of the visitors who used

the program were also investigated as this study was interested in

63
identifying relationships between individual or group characteristics and
characteristics of media programs. Specific visitor characteristics studied
included group composition, gender of the adults and children in the
group, and the level of interest and level of comfort with the computer.
Visitors who used the program were tracked in their use of the program to
investigate any relationship between the levels of options used (Level One or
Level Two) and either self-assessed interest in birds or comfort level with
computers.

All data for this study was collected through non-intrusive methods
in an attempt to keep the study an observation of natural behaviors. A
security camera identical to other cameras throughout the building, was
used to collect data on visitor characteristics (group composition and
gender) and elapsed times. The video recorder was contained in a wooden
box that was painted black and placed on top of an exhibit case. The video
tapes were later viewed and data recorded by the researcher. The
Macintosh computer program driven by Hypercard collected data on the
users' choices throughout the program, the users' self-assessed level of
interest in birds and level of computer comfort, and the time of use.

Mean elapsed times for the experimental group and the control
group were compared using analysis of variance (AN OVA) procedures.
The characteristics of those using the computer were compared to the
characteristics of the general population visiting the exhibit using a chi-
square procedure. The chi-square procedure tested for any relationship
between each of the independent variables (group composition, gender,
interest in birds, computer comfort level) and the dependent variable of
using the interactive video program. Groups that used the program were

also investigated to assess whether self-assessed interest in birds or comfort

64
level with the computer was related to the level of options used. A chi-
square procedure was used to compare the characteristics (i.e. bird interest

and computer comfort) of the Level One users to the characteristics of the
Level Two users.

CHAPTERFOUR. RESULTS.
SettingandSuhjects

This study took place within Michigan State University Museum, a
natural and cultural science museum. The specific area of observation
was a special exhibit on endangered birds of Michigan. The study took
place over five week-ends with each day randomly assigned to either control
or experimental conditions. Under the experimental conditions, an
interactive videodisc system was set up outside the entrance to the hall.
(See Appendix A.) The system consisted of a computer, a videodisc player
and a video monitor and contained a program related to the exhibit. On
control days, the system was not present.

All groups of visitors who entered the exhibit, "Birds in Trouble in
Michigan" during the five week-ends of data collection were included in
this study. Visitors who used the interactive videodisc program but did not
enter the hell were also included in the study. The total number of groups
included in the study was 366 with 181 in the experimental group and 185 in
the control group. Groups ranged in size from one individual to eight.
Groups were defined as individuals who entered and exited together or
were observed either conversing or in physical contact. Under the
experimental condition, 65 groups used the interactive videodisc program.
Description of Data Collected
Three sets of data were collected during this study:

1) Observations from the video tapes provided the following
information for each group: number of adults and children, gender of each
individual, elapsed time in hell, use of interactive videodisc program and
elapsed time on program.

2) The computer program that was part of the interactive videodisc

65

66
system collected the following information for each group: starting and
ending time on the computer, number and type of Level One and Level Two
options used, and self-assessed level of comfort with the computer and
interest in birds. Level One options were defined as those selected from the
main menu and Level Two options were those selected from sub-menus.

3) On three week-end days outside the original five week-ends of
observations, a random sampling of 65 visitors exiting the bird exhibit were
asked to fill out a short survey with six general questions such as number of
adults in party and two research questions identical to those presented on
the computer: 1) How would you rate your interest in birds (high, medium
or low), and 2) Are you comfortable with computers (yes, somewhat, no).
Results and Discussion

This study focused on three general research questions discussed
below: 1) What is the effect of the interactive videodisc program on visitors
elapsed time in the exhibit hall, 2) Are groups who use the interactive
videodisc program different from groups who don't use the program, and 3)
Are there any differences between the groups who use the Level One options

and the groups who use the Level Two options?

We; What is the effect of the interactive videodisc

program on Visitors' elapsed time in the exhibit hall?

Null Hypothesis 1.1: There is no significant difference in the elapsed time
spent within the exhibit hall between the experimental group exposed
to the interactive videodisc program and a control group not exposed to
the interactive videodisc program present. Null hypothesis 1.1 was
rejected (p=. 001)

67

The average length of time spent within the endangered birds exhibit
hall for all subjects (control and experimental groups) was 145 seconds (see
Table 1). The mean length of elapsed time within the exhibit hall for the
control group was 126 seconds and for the experimental group (with
interactive videodisc present), the mean elapsed time was 167 seconds.
During the experimental days, the mean of the groups who used the
interactive videodisc program was 180 seconds and the mean for groups

who didn't use the program was 160 seconds.

TABLE 1. Elapsed time spent within exhibit area for each group

 

 

 

 

Group Suljects M_ean
Control group 181 126 seconds
Experimental group 15 167 seconds
non-computer users 120* 160* seconds
computer users 65* 180* seconds
before " 219 seconds
after " 122 seconds
All subjects in both groups 3% 145 seconds
" experimental group broken into the users and non-users
** computer users broken into groups that used the computer
before entering the hall and groups that used it after exiting _

 

The AN OVA procedure used to analyze the difference between
elapsed times of the control and the experimental group yielded a
statistically significant difference (p< .001). (See Table 2.) Two post-hoc
comparisons were also conducted. Elapsed time for program users (180
seconds) was significantly higher than non-users (160 seconds) on the
experimental days (p<.05), and the elapsed time for groups who used the
computer before entering the exhibit (219 seconds) was significantly higher
(p<.05) than those who used the computer after exiting (122 seconds).

68

TABLE 2. AN OVA results for elapsed time of experimental vs. control
group

 

Sign of
Soume SS DF MS F F
Between groups 125792.85 1 12579285 10.59 .0012“
Within groups 4300137592 365 11878.833
Total 442593044 366
* p<.001

Null Hypothesis 1.2: There is no significant difi‘erence in the elapsed time
spent within the exhibit hall between the control group and the group
who did not use the interactive videodisc program on the experimental
days.

Null hypothesis 1.2 Wected (p=.004)

Research on behavior modeling within museums (Koran, Koran,
Foster and Dierking, 1988) suggests that if groups who used the program
behaved differently within the exhibit ball, then that behavior may have
been observed and modeled by other visitors. A second comparison was
done between the control group (not exposed to the program) and
individuals who did not use the computer on the experimental day to test for
any effect of modeling on non-users. A significant difference was also
found between these two groups (p=.004) with the mean of the non-users on
the experimental days (160 seconds) higher than the mean of the control
group (126 seconds). (See Table 3.)

w
TABLE 3. ANOVA results for non-users on experimental group vs. control

group

 

Sign of
Source S D!“ MS F F
Between groups 93286.438 1 93286.438 8.16 .0044“
Within groups 377106241 365 11427.46
Total 386434885 366

"' p<.01

Null Hypothesis 1.3: There is no significant difference in the elapsed time
spent in front of a hawk mount in the exhibit hall between the control
group and the experimental group.

Null hypothesis 1.3 mrejected (p=.001)

Null Hypothesis 1.4: There is no significant difi‘erence in the elapsed time
spent in front of an eagle mount in the exhibit hall between the control
group and the experimental group.

Null hypothesis 1.4 was not rejected (p=.91)

To further investigate whether Visitors' cognitive processes were
influenced, data were collected on viewing time of two specific bird mounts
within the exhibit that were part of the interactive videodisc program
presentation- the Red-tailed Hawk and the Bald Eagle. It was hypothesized
that groups viewing the video segments on these two mounts would be
prepared conceptually for the exhibit and more likely to attend to these
mounts than the control group. A comparison of the control group and the
experimental group showed significant increase in the experimental
groups' viewing time for the mounted hawk but not for the eagle. (See Table
4.)

70
TABLE 4. AN OVA results of viewing times of bird mounts

 

Source: S DF MS Sign of F
Test involving viewing time of eagle mount.

Between groups 1.22 1 119.5 .9195
Within groups 42564 365 1.22

Test involving viewing time of hawk mount.
Between groups 320.167 1 320.167 .000'
Within groups 6419.53 365 18.032

* p<.001

This research found that the presence of an instructional interactive
videodisc program influenced the way visitors interacted with an exhibit
ball as measured by elapsed time spent within the hall. The presence of the
program appears to have influenced groups who used the program and
also those groups who did not use it. Visitor attention was higher on
experimental days for one specific mount (hawk) but not for the second
mount (eagle) observed.
393W Are groups who use the program different from
groups that don't use the program ?

Museum research has suggested that different media devices and
instructional strategies attract different proportions and types of visitors
(Washburne et al., 1972; Screven, 1975; Beer, 1987). In a free-choice
learning setting such as a museum, with a heterogeneous audience,
museum educators are interested in matching visitor characteristics with
the capabilities of difl'ering mediums. This study attempted to identify
characteristics of groups and individuals that might be likely to use the

71

interactive videodisc device. All groups who had one or more members sit
at the interactive videodisc system and initiate the program were coded as
computer users. Specific variables investigated include group composition,
gender, computer comfort level, and interest in birds. Each variable is
discussed below.
Null Hypothesis 2.1: There is no significant relationship between group

composition and use of the interactive video program.

Visitors come to the museum in heterogeneous groups varying in
age, number, gender, prior expectations and many other factors. This
study was interested in whether the interactive videodisc program would
appeal to any particular types of group of visitors. To investigate whether
the composition of the group was related to usage, all groups were first
coded in the following categories: single adult (1), male and female (2),
mixed group of adults (3), single adult with children (4), male and female
with children (5), mixed adult group with children (6) and only children (7).
This breakdown was designed to investigate the effects of different
combinations of adults and/or children in each group.

To test whether the composition of the group was a good predictor of
usage, a regression equation was tested with six predictor variables
representing the different types of groups with the outcome variable being
use of the program. While this yielded a statistically significant F (p< .001),
the corresponding R2 was only .13. (See Table 5). The coefficient of
determination (R2) assesses "...how powerful an explanation (or
prediction) our regression model provides" (Lewis-Beck, 1980, p.20) When
R2 = 1, then the independent variable (3) accounts for all variation in the
dependent variable. The R2 of .13 suggested that knowing the group

composition was helpful in explaining (or predicting) approximately 13

72
percent of the variance in Visitors' choice to use the device. Understanding
the behavior of thirteen percent of the audience is probably not of practical
value.

The regression model is based on an assumption that there is no
measurement error in either the independent or dependent variables. In
this study, it appears that measurement of the dependent variable (groups'
use of the device) was hampered by the heavy usage of the computer
program. An assumption of this study was that the attracting power of the
device could be measured by observing if groups used it. However, it seems
likely that many of the groups may have been attracted to the device but
unable to access it because it was already in use by another group. For
many, if not most of the groups, use of the program may have been dictated
by availability more than any other variable. Therefore, this study did not
meet the assumptions of the regression model making it impossible to test
the predicting power of the independent variables.

TABLE 5. Use of Program Regressed on Group Composition

 

 

DF: R: _ R-squared: Std. Error:

189 .365 .133 .441

_S_9urce DF: Sum Squares Mean F Si of F
Regression 6 5.468 .911 4.687 .0004
Residual 184 35.584 .194

Total 190 41.053

An alternative way to explore the relationship between group
composition and computer use was possible by changing the comparison
groups. Instead of comparing users to non-users, it was possible to

compare the group of computer users to the general population (all subjects

73
of this study) and assessing whether the computer using group was a
representative sample of the general population. Figure 3 compares the
composition of the groups who used the program (n=65) to the composition
of all the groups who entered the exhibit during this study (n=366). The
types of groups that were most frequently observed throughout the study
were composed of a single adult with children (group 4). The second most
frequently observed type of groups were those composed of single adults
(group 1) and then groups composed of a male and female adult (group 2).
If the groups that used the computer were a representative sample, the
frequency of these types of groups would show the same trends. Instead,
there appeared to be a drop out of the adult groups (groups 1 and 2) and the
highest proportion of users were the groups composed of a single adult with
children (group 4) followed by groups with a male, female and children
(group 5). Groups of only children (group 7) are also over represented in
the computer sample primarily because children were unlikely to visit the
exhibit without parents but it was not unusual for children to use the
computer while parents visited other exhibits.

To assess the relationship between the composition of the group and
use of the program, a chi-square procedure compared the proportions of
each type of group composition in the general population to the proportions
in the group of computer users. The test yielded statistically significant
results (p<.001) suggesting differences in the group composition for those
groups who used the program and those who didn't use the program (see
Table 6).

 

    

 

 
  

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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74
a. Breakdown of all groups visiting the exhibit

75

To investigate whether group composition affects other behavior
within the museum setting, the relationship between composition and
elapsed time spent within the hall was next analyzed. A review of the
mean time for each type of group shows a range between 106 secondsand
186 seconds (see Table 7). The lowest mean time spent within the hall was
for type four groups (single adult with children) with a mean time of 106
seconds with the longest time spent by type two groups (male and female
with no children) with a mean of 186 seconds. A comparison of the mean
elapsed time of each of the difl'erent types of groups yielded a statistically
significant difference (p=.005) between the groups (see Table 8).

TABLE 6. Relationship between group composition and use of computer

 

Total Chi-Square DF Coefficient P
47.327 6 .329 .0001"I
* p<.001

TABLE 7. Mean time spent within hall by group composition

136

1. Single Adults 91

2. Male & Female adults 62 186
3. More than 2 adults 36 166
4. Single adult with kids 122 106
5. Male, Female with kids 55 127
6. More than 2 adults and kids 21 136

Note: Group seven is not represented as only two groups of
children without adults were observed in the exhibit hall.

76
TABLE 8. AN OVA results of group composition and elapsed time in hall

Som'oe $ IF MS F Sign of F
Between groups 200935.653 5 40187.131 3.405 .0051*
Within groups Q24994.791 365 11801.661
Total 442593044 366

* n<.01

Summary of Hypothesis 2.1

It was not possible to assess the predicting power of group
composition on use of the program because access to the program was
limited. However, it was found that the groups that used the computer
program were not a representative sample of the general population.
Groups with children were over-represented and groups with adults only
were under-represented in the computer users. Groups with children
spent less time within the exhibit hall, were also more likely to use the
interactive videodisc program. Adult only parties spent longer periods of
time in the exhibit hall and they were less likely to use the program.

Null Hypothesis 2.2: There is no significant relationship between gender
and use of the interactive videodisc program.
Null hypothesis 2.2 mreiected (p=.0001)

To investigate the effect of gender, each group was coded by gender
for both the adult(s) and children in the party. As with group composition,
the groups who used the interactive videodisc program were compared to
the general population (all subjects of this study) to assess whether the it
was a representative sample of the general population. A chi-square

procedure was used to test for a relationship between gender and use of the

77

program. The test was statistically significant (p=.0001). (See Table 9a.)

The percentages of users to non-users for each type of group is shown
in table 9b. The percentages of users for each group (i.e. the top row of
figures) is re-arranged in table 9c to show the gender of both the adult (8)
and children in each type of party. A three by four matrix shows the gender
of the adults in the party (either male, female, male and female) crossed by
the gender of the children (girl, boy, boy and girl, no children). Each cell
represents one of the categories of group composition and identifies the
percentage of that group that used the computer. For example a party that
had a female adult and one or more girls was coded as a "7". On Table 9c,
this is under adult column of "Female" and the children's row marked
"Girl". The number in the cell, 5.26, indicates that just over five percent of
all groups with a female adult and girl(s) used the program.

TABLE 9. Chi-Square test of relationship between gender and use of
program

a. Statistical results

 

Total Chi-Square DF Coefficient p
70.559 16 .391 .0001
* p<.001

b. Percentages of users to non-users in each group“

Group Number
1 2 3 4 5 6

computerusers 7.55 2.63 6.45 22.73 9.09 10
nonusers 92.45 97.33 93.55 77.27 90.91 90

78
Table 9 (cont.)

Group Number
7 8 9 10 11 12

oomputerusers 5.26 14.29 14.29 24 50 5.88
nonusers 94.7 85.71 85.71 76 50 94.12

*Percentages of computer users are re-arranged on the following table.

c. Percentages of users from Table 7b rearranged by gender of adults and
children in party

ADULTS IN PARTY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

KIDS IN PARTY Female Male M & F
Girl 5.26 (19) 14.29 (14) 5.88 (17)
Boy 14.29 (28) 24.00 (25) 41.18 (17)
Girl & Boy 10. (10) 50.00 (20) 16.00 (25)

None 2.63 (38) 7.55 (53) 6.45 (62)

 

 

Table 9c suggests that the gender of both the children and the adults
appears to influence whether the group used the computer. Groups with
an adult male were more likely to use the computer than groups with an
adult female. This is true whether there were children in the group or not.
Similarly, groups with a boy were more likely to use the program than
groups with a girl. Of the parties with a single adult female, 5 percent of
the groups with girls used the computer compared with over 14 percent of
the groups with boys. Fourteen percent of adult males with girls used the
computer compared with 24 percent of males with boys. Of parties with a
male and female, almost 6 percent of the parties with girls used the

computer compared with over 41 percent with males.

79
When the party included both genders for either the children or the

adults, the effect of gender is not as clear. When the adult is either a

female, or a when there is both a female and male, the presence of a girl

and boy increases the chances of using the program over groups with only a

girl, but not as much as when only a boy was present. However, if the only

adult is a male, the presence of a girl and a boy almost doubles the chances

of using the program over parties with a boy and triple that of parties with a

girl. Consistent with the earlier look at group composition, this table

illustrates the low participation of groups composed of adults without
children. Less than three percent of single female parties, seven percent of
adult male parties and six percent of parties with a male and female used
the program.
Summary of Hypothesis 2.1

Group composition was analyzed in terms of the gender of each
member of the party and different combinations of gender may have
influenced whether a group uses the computer program. Groups with
adult males were more likely to use the computer than were groups with
adult females. Likewise, groups with male children were more likely to
use the program than were groups with female children. Groups with an
adult male and female were most likely to use the computer when the child
was a boy than they were with either a girl, or a girl and boy. The highest
percentage of users (50%) was within parties composed of a male adult and

a girl and boy.

Null Hypothesis 2.3: There is no significant difference in the computer skill
level of the groups who used the interactive videodisc program and that
of a random sample of the general public. Null hypothesis 2.3 was
rejected (p=.03)

80
Null Hypothesis 2.4: There is no significant difference in the level of interest
in birds of the groups who used the interactive videodisc program and
a random sample of the general public. Null hypothesis 2.4 was
rejected ( p=. 0003)

It was hypothesized that some individuals might be attracted to the
program because of an interest in the medium (interactive video) whereas
other individuals might be drawn because of an interest in the content of
the program (birds in danger). There was also concern that the medium
might inhibit groups with a low skill with computers. Groups that used the
program were compared to a random sample of the general public to
compare the way they ranked their interest in birds and computer comfort
level. A chi-square test to assess any differences in the two groups found
significant differences between the two groups in both bird interest (p=.003)
and computer comfort (p=.037). (See Table 10.)

TABLE 10. Computer Skill and Bird Interest

 

Total Chi-Square DF Coefficient p
Computer skill
6.584 2 .20 .0372*
Level of bird interest
16.544 2 .32 .0003“
* p<.05
** p<.001

A comparison of the random sample to the program users is
illustrated in Table 11. A higher percentage of the program users identified
themselves as being comfortable with computers (58%) than the general

81
public (50%). Of the general public, 20 percent identified themselves as not
being comfortable with computers but only 6 percent of computer users
identified a low skill level. It was expected that groups with a high interest
in birds would be more likely to use the program than were those with a low
interest. However, the percentage of users identifying a high interest in
birds (31%) was just slightly higher than the proportion with a low interest
(26%). The percentage of the general public professing a low level of
interest in birds was only 3% compared to the 26% of the program users
who identified a low level of interest. However, it also seems likely that the
medium itself may have kept away other groups with a low level of skill in

computers.
TABLE 11. Comparison of program users to random sample of exhibit
visitors

a. Answer to Question: "Are you comfortable with computers?"

yes somewhat no Totals
random sample 50% 29.69% 20.31% 100%
oomputerusers 58.02% 35.8% 6.17% 100%
Totals 54.48% 33.1% 12.41%

b. Answer to Question: "How would you rate your interest level in birds?"

high medium low Totals
random sample 28.12% 68.75% 3.12% 100%
oomputerusers 31.25% 42.5% 26.25% 100%
Totals 54.48% 33.1 12.41

Summary of Research Question Two
Groups who chose to use the interactive videodisc program were not
a representative cross section of the museum population, but rather a more

specific sub-group. The most frequent users were parties composed of a

82

single adult with children. Groups with adult males were more likely to

use the program than groups with females, and groups with boys more

likely to use the program than groups with girls. Groups who identified
themselves as comfortable with computers (answering either "yes" or

"somewhat") were slightly over-represented while groups with a low

comfort level were under-represented in the group of program users. The

groups using the program showed a higher ratio of groups with a low level
of interest in birds in comparison to the random sample of museum
visitors.

MW Are there any differences between the groups

who use the Level One options and the groups who use the Level Two

options?

Null Hypothesis 3.1: There is no significant difference between those
groups who use the Level One options and those who use the Level Two
options regarding their self-assessed interest in birds.

Null hypothesis 3.1 mrejected (p=.05)

Null Hypothesis 3.2: There is no significant difference between those
groups who use the Level One options and those who use the Level Two
options regarding their skill level with computers.

Null hypothesis 3.2 was mUejected (p=.37)
Null Hypothesis 3.3: There is no significant interaction between bird
interest and computer comfort level on use of options.
Null hypothesis 3.3 was Mreiected (p=.21)
Because of the heterogeneous nature of the museum audience, this
study was interested in identifying ways to adapt presentations to
individual differences. While the branching capabilities of computers

suggest an ability to individualize program presentations, research on the

83
use of different levels and types of user control options has been
inconclusive and sometimes contradictory. Rather than investigating the
effectiveness or eficiency of different control options, this study was
interested in whether there were any differences between visitors in the
types of options utilized.

The interactive video program was designed to include two levels of
viewer control. Level One involved choices from the main menu which
included viewing video segments, an introductory segment and a
comprehensive challenge question segment. Level Two involved choices
from the sub-menus and suggests a more indepth interaction with the
subject. Of the groups using the program, six did not go beyond the main
menu, thirty used the Level One options and forty-three used the Level Two
options. To test whether the groups who used the Level One control options
were different than the Level Two users, an AN OVA procedure compared
the two groups with the independent variables of bird interest and computer
skill. Bird interest was found to be significantly related to level of options
used (p=.03) but computer skill was not (p=.37). There was no interaction
between computer skill and bird interest regarding use of level one or two

(see Table 12).

TABLE 12. Level One users compared to Level Two users

 

Source: S IF MS F Sign of F
Computer skill (A) .421 2 .211 .996 .3716
Bird Interest (B) 1.398 2 .699 3.305 .0393‘
AB 1.231 4 .308 1.455 .2186
Error 32.35 153 .211

* p<.05

84

Figure 4 compares the interest level and computer skill levels of the
groups that used the Level One options and the groups that used the Level
Two options. Of the Level One users, the highest proportion reported that
they were comfortable with computers ("yes"), with the second largest
proportion "somewhat" and only a small proportion answering "no". In
the Level Two group, none of the "no" respondents went beyond the first
level of usage.

Level One users were more evenly divided in their level of bird
interest than the Level Two users. The Level Two users were primarily
"high" with a substantial proportion of "mediums" but a very low
proportion of "low". While there were no significant differences in
relationship to computer skill, none of the few groups with low skill used
Level W0.

A. Two groups broken down by computer comfort.

 

I Yes
23 Somewhat
No

  

 

 

 

   

LEVEL ONE USERS LEVEL TWO USERS
FIGURE 4. Level One users compared to Level Two users.

85
B. Two groups broken down by interest in birds

 

I High
25 Medium
Low

 

 

  

 

 

LEVEL ONE USERS LEVEL TWO USERS

Figure 4 (cont.)

User Reactions to the Program

This study found that the program was very popular with groups and
that the groups who used it, spent comparably long periods of time with the
computer. Some groups spent up to eighteen minutes with the program
with an average time of almost six minutes (353 seconds). This differs from
previous research on media in museums which has suggested that most
visitors spend less than three minutes with media presentations (Beer,

1 987).

 

 

  
 
      

Count
I;

 

   

 

   

 

”/ -7

3 6 12
Time spent on computer in minutes

  

18

FIGURE 5. Users' time with the interactive video presentation

Chapter Summary

Three research areas related to the use of an interactive videodisc
program within a museum setting were investigated by this study
including the attracting power of the program, Visitors' use of control
options, and the efl‘ects of the device on visitor interaction with an exhibit.

The presence of the interactive videodisc program seems to have had
an effect on both the users and the non-users. The average elapsed time
spent within the exhibit was higher among program users than non-users,
and the average time of the non-users was higher when the program was
up than on control daysf

It was not pOssible to accurately assess the attracting power of the
_ program because of the unavailability of the computer to many of the
groups due to extensive usage. However, a comparison of users to the total
population suggests that groups with children were more likely to use the
program than groups without children. The gender of both adults and

87

children seems to have influenced usage with groups more likely to use the
program when a male adult or child was present. Prior interest in birds
and comfort level with computers were both significantly related to use of
the program with a significant proportion of the population with a low level
of interest in birds drawn to the device. Groups with a low level of comfort
with computers were under represented and may have avoided use of the
program regardless of interest level in birds.

Two levels of user options were offered by the computer program.
Use of these levels of options was related to the groups' level of interest in
birds but not to their computer comfort level. Groups with a low level of
interest in birds primarily used the Level One options, while groups with a
medium or high level were more likely to use the Level Two options. While
there was not a statistically significant relationship between computer
comfort level and level of options, none of the groups with a low level of
comfort used the second level of options. The variety of control options may
have encouraged a greater period of interaction with the media than is

common with linear media formats.

CHAPTER FIVE. SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary

Museums are playing an increasingly important role in science
education as the rate of scientific illiteracy continues to increase both
among the school aged population and the adult population (U cko, 1986).

As an informal learning setting, museums may be uniquely prepared to
address scientific literacy for the general public. Museums are free of the
affective and emotional overtones of the formal classroom with no
requirements, prerequisites, exams or grades (DuTerroil, 197 5; Feher and
Rice, 1985; Falk, Koran, Jr. and Dierking, 1986). They appeal to a large
cross section of the population and increasing numbers of families and
individuals are visiting museums annually (Price, 1981; Ucko, 1986; Koran,
et al., 1983).

While museums may be an appealing setting, learning is also more
difficult in this setting for many reasons and a large and consistent body of
research has shown a lack of learning for most museum visitors (Shettel,
1973; Screven, 1974; Koran and Koran, 1986; Falk, Koran, Jr. and Dierking,
1986). Within the museum setting, the visitor is exposed to vast amounts of
stimuli for very brief amounts of time and generally with little or no
individualized intervention between the visitor and the exhibit (Bitgood,
1988). This is contrasted to formal education where the learner is generally
exposed to controlled amounts of stimuli for a greater length of time and
with the support of an instructor or some type of mediator.

It has been hypothesized that visitors are often overwhelmed by the
vast amount of diverse and complex stimuli and that they fail to attend to
the stimuli (Falk et al., 1978; Koran, Jr. et al.1983; Falk, Koran, and

Dierking, 1986). Research has found that the way visitors process the
88

89
information within an exhibit can be influenced through the use of a variety
of strategies (DeWaard, 1974; Screven, 1974; Gennaro, 1981; Koran et al.,
1983; Falk et al, 1986; Koran et al., 1988). Instructional strategies that have
been consistently successful in attracting, directing and influencing the
attention of museum 'visitors include orienting the visitor to critical
attributes of the exhibit, eliciting Visitors' responses through questions,
providing opportunities for participation through hands-on items,
providing feedback, and cueing. A variety of media devices have been
successfully used to develop presentations based on these strategies
including filmstrips, study guides (Nielsen, 1946; Gennaro, 1981) wall
panels (Koran et al., 1983), audio cassettes (Screven, 1974), punchboards
(Screven, 1974; DeWaard, 1974), flip cards.

While these media devices have shown promise in supporting visitor
learning, they are limited in their ability to address the varied needs and
interests of a heterogeneous audience because of the linear format of most
media programs. Museum visitors are a diverse population entering the
museum with a wide range of individual and group characteristics.
Individual differences include age, gender, prior knowledge, interest level
and purpose for visit. Group differences include size, distribution,
relationships, and purpose. Computers have offered a new Option by
providing the capacity to branch according to the users input. But
computers are limited to text and still graphics whereas motion is not only
more attractive to visitors (Washburn and Wager, 197 2; Beer, 1987.
Patterson and Bitgood, 1988), but it is often necessary to adequately
illustrate concepts and principles that involve the natural sciences. The
new technology of interactive videodisc combines the branching capacity of

computers, the audio and motion capabilities of video, and the durability of

videodiscs.

This study investigated the interactive videodisc program as a new
form of media with perhaps greater capabilities than linear media to
support the instructional strategies found effective in influencing visitor
learning. Specifically, the device is capable of supporting interactivity,
providing information to orient the visitor in either text or video format,
asking questions, receiving and reacting to responses, and providing
feedback. An instructional presentation program was developed that used
an interactive videodisc about birds, a Macintosh computer and a
Hypercard program to author the program and drive the disc player. The
program was used within an exhibit on endangered birds in a university
museum setting.

Of specific interest to this study were three research questions:

1) What is the effect of the interactive videodisc program on Visitors'
elapsed time in the exhibit hall?

2) Are groups who use the interactive videodisc program different
from groups who don't use the program?

3) Are there any differences between the groups who use the Level
One options and the groups who use the Level Two options?

Elapsed time was selected as the outcome variable to measure the
effect of the interactive videodisc. Elapsed time has been shown to be highly
correlated to both cognitive and affective measures (Falk, 1976; Falk et al.,
1978; Martin Falk and Balling, 1981; Falk and Balling, 1982; Falk, 1984;
Koran, 1989). Measuring elapsed time was done by using a non-obtrusive
video camera that was part of the building security system. Naturalistic
research that does not tamper with the informal museum setting yields
results that are more likely to be useful and generalizable (Wolf, 197 9, 1980).

91

Research on the use of media within museums has shown that
different types of media (i.e. models, video, flat art work, text labels, etc.)
attract difl'ering numbers and types of visitors (W ashburn et al., 197 2;
Screven, 1974; Beer, 1987). Also, visitors are sometimes attracted to the
devices that are least likely to be efi'ective (Screven, 1974). Therefore, this
research on the potential efi‘ectiveness of the interactive videodisc program
included an investigation of which types of visitors were most likely to use
the device.

The third area of research in this study involved the instructional
design issue of user control. User control, or learner control, is
traditionally defined as giving the user control over the pacing, sequence,
amount and type of information and practice (Hannafin, 1984; Milheim,
1989). In a museum setting with a heterogeneous audience, it was
hypothesized that visitors would take advantage of control options to create
a personalized presentation appropriate for their particular interests. This
study was interested in whether the users' perceived computer comfort
level or level of interest in birds would be related to the level of the control
options used.

Discussion of Question One

A concern among museum educators is that the computers might
compete with the exhibits (V anausdall, 1986; Hilke, 1988). By its definition
as a museum, a primary focus of a museum is its collection and important
fimctions of the museum are to increase, preserve, interpret and share that
collection (Shannon, 1974; Burcaw, 1983; Eisner and Dobbs, 1986; Loomis,
1987). The International Council of Museums defines a museum in part as

"any permanent institution which conserves and displays for purposes of

92
study, education, and enjoyment, collections of objects of cultural or
scientific significance" (Burcaw, 1983). To justify interactive video
programs in a museum setting, research must ask not only if the program
helps the visitor learn, but does the program attract and focus attention on
the exhibits? This question is related to the first three hypotheses.

The first hypothesis of this study investigated the efl'ect of the
presence of the program on visitors' elapsed time within the exhibit.
Visitors on control days spent an average of 126 seconds within the hall. On
the experimental days, when the interactive videodisc program was outside
the exhibit area, the mean time within the hall was 167 seconds,
statistically higher than the control group (p=.001) which spent an average
of 126 seconds in the hall. This suggests that the exhibit was more
productive in visitor learning when the interactive videodisc program was
part of the exhibit. On the experimental days, one third of the visitors
observed or 65 groups, used the interactive video program. The mean
elapsed time for these groups was 180 seconds, which was higher than the
mean of 160 seconds for groups who didn't use the program on the
experimental days (statistically significant at p= .05), or the control group.
It is possible that the results of this last comparison were influenced by
other confounding variables as groups self-selected whether they would use
the program. Therefore, the statistical test for the first research hypothesis
rests on the comparison between all groups under the experimental
conditions and all groups under the control conditions because the
conditions were randomly assigned. Similarly, some of the groups used the
program before entering the hall and others used it after exiting. The
groups that used the computer before they entered the hall had a mean time
of 219 seconds which was significantly higher (p< .05) than the mean time

93
mean time of 122 seconds for groups that used the computer after exiting.
The higher mean for the groups that used the program before entering the
exhibit suggests that the program effectively prepared visitors to process the
information within the exhibit. It was hypothesized that the program
would influence the ways visitors attended to the exhibits and processed the
information within the exhibit as measured by elapsed time. This research
hypothesis appears to be supported by these data.

During the experimental days, the majority of the visitors (two
thirds) did not use the interactive videodisc program. This study
,, hypothesized that these non-users might also be affected by the presence of
the program. Visitors who did not use the program, spent more time in the
exhibit area on the experimental days (160 seconds) than did visitors on the
control days (126 seconds). This difference was statistically significant
(p=.004). This suggests that visitors did not need to directly interact with
the program to be influenced by it.

There are at least three possible explanations "for this finding. First,
many visitors were "peripheral viewers"- watching over the shoulders of
other groups but not actually using the program. They may have seen a
brief segment or text screen that consequently influenced their behavior. A
second possibility is that the presence of a computer sent a subliminal
message to the visitors that "this exhibit is important". A third explanation
may be the effect of non-users modeling behaviors of those who used the
program. Research suggests that modeling is a strong factor in the
behavior of museum visitors (Koran et al., 1988). Visitors who used the
program may have consequently behaved differently and their behaviors
may have been imitated by non-users. This may be because there is not a

prescribed way to behave within museums and visitors are susceptible to

94
what they perceive others doing. As Koran (1988) explains "a visitor can
watch another visitor with an unfamiliar object or event and acquire the
behaviors or strategies of the observed visitor." This suggests that
individuals who do not use the program, may be influenced by the
behaviors of other individuals who were in turn influenced by the program.
Beyond modeling specific behaviors, visitors may have been imitating a
more general attitude toward the exhibit. A certain tone or atmosphere
may have been created by the groups using the computer and this
enthusiasm and level of activity picked up by other visitors and translated
into a more active involvement with the exhibit. In a study of the effect of
computers within an exhibit area, Hilke (1988), found a similar effect on
non-users, and hypothesizes that "the higher level of energy, personal
investment, and interaction routinely evidenced by visitors at the computer
affected the atmosphere in the exhibition as a whole" (p.14). Most likely,
some interaction of these three variables explains why even the non-users
behaved differently than the control group.

The third hypothesis of this study looked at visitors elapsed time with
two specific bird mounts within the exhibit. It was hypothesized that if the
program influences the way visitors processed information within the
exhibit area, then groups viewing video segments on two specific mounts
(Red-tailed Hawk and Bald Eagle) would be more likely to attend to these
mounts than the control group. The average viewing time for the hawk
was 1.2 seconds on control days and 3.2 seconds when the computer was
present, which was statistically higher (p=.001). The average viewing time
for the eagle was 8.4 seconds on the control days and 8.5 seconds on the
experimental days which was not significant different. A possible
explanation for the differential effect on the two mounts may be that the

%
eagle was already of high interest and familiarity to most visitors while the
hawk is not as familiar and perhaps more susceptible to being influenced
by exposure. The significant difference in viewing time for the hawk
supports the hypothesis that viewers' cognitive processes were influenced
by the program. This effect was tested for the total experimental group and
not just the computer users, indicating that modeling may have influenced
non-users viewing time of the hawk.

The findings from these first three hypotheses indicate that the
computers did not compete with the exhibit ball, but instead served to focus
and increase attention within the exhibit area. This finding is supported by
research conducted by the Smithsonian to investigate the impact of a
computer program within an exhibit on lasers (Hilke, 1988). Hilke's
research found that the computer did attract more visitors than other parts
of the exhibit but when the computer was present, there was a 15 percent
increase in the average number of visitors and visitors spent significantly
more time in the exhibition when the computer was on. Hilke's study
concludes that the computer did not seem to reduce visitation to the other
parts of the exhibit.

A second concern with computers in a museum setting was that only
one person can operate the device at a time, whereas other media can
address larger audiences. This research did find that the use of one
computer may have limited the role of the program as an introduction to
the exhibit but the positive effects of the program went beyond those groups
who actually interacted with the program. The interactive videodisc
program used in this study was designed as an introduction to the exhibit,
"Birds in Danger in Michigan". The theoretical assumption was that

introducing visitors to critical concepts and facts would prepare them for

%
the exhibit and lead to greater attention and more effective information
processing within the exhibit. Previous research has suggested that media
presentations that include text and audio visual components attract as
much as 49% of visitors (Beer, 1987). However, this study found that only
approximately one third of the experimental group (35%) used the program
and many of the groups used the computer on exiting rather than before
entering. Hilke's research (1988) on the impact of computers with exhibits
found that the computers were used by approximately 29% of the visitors.
Therefore, when the program was used as an introduction, it was effective
in influencing visitor time within the exhibit; however, the use of only one
program may have limited visitor access.

While the computer was limited in the number of visitors that could
use it at one time, it was often used by groups rather than individuals. A
high rate of interaction was observed among individuals using the program
and different members of the groups were often observed pointing to the
computer screen or images on the video screen. More information is
needed about effective computer/visitor ratios and practical concerns such
as cost-effectiveness of this type of device as compared to other media.

A concern of this study was the relatively low amount of time spent
within the exhibit hall. A high amount of information and visual stimuli
was present within this exhibit. Yet, the highest mean length of elapsed
time, exhibited by the visitors who used the computer, was 180 seconds.
While this is almost a full minute longer than the control group (126
seconds), it still suggests that only a small amount of information was
processed by visitors. Can this amount be increased further and how? Or
is there a ceiling set by visitors and their reasons for visiting? If so, then it

is critical to find ways to help visitors process the information within the

exhibit efficiently and effectively.
W

This study found that the interactive videodisc program was effective
in focusing attention on the exhibit, and that the time spent with the
program did not compete with the exhibit. Groups that used the program
before entering the exhibit spent a longer period within the exhibit than
other groups. This suggests that the interactive videodisc format supports
instructional strategies that have been identified as effective in influencing
the ways visitors attend to and process information within a museum
setting. The use of only one computer did limit the ability of the program to
function as an introduction to the exhibit because most visitors did not have
access to the program. However, when the interactive videodisc program
was part of the exhibit, even groups who did not use the program spent
statistically longer periods within the hall than control groups. This
suggests that more learning took place within the exhibit area when the
program was part of the exhibit than on days when it was not part of the
exhibit.
Discussion of Question Two

Attracting power of a device is defined as the percentage of visitors
who use it. Previous research has shown that different types of media
attract different proportions of visitors (W ashburn and Wager, 197 2; Beer,
1987), and that the attracting power of a device is not necessarily related to
its effectiveness (Screven, 197 5). One device may be effective but never used,
while another device may be highly used but without the desired outcomes.
Therefore, this study attempted to study both the effectiveness of the

interactive videodisc (as measured by its ability to influence time spent

%
within the hall) and also its attracting power.

To measure the attracting power of the interactive videodisc system,
this study assumed it would be possible to compare those visitors who
stopped to use the device to those visitors who did not stop. Because of the
popularity of the program and the limiting factor of only one computer,
most groups did not have the option to use the program. The program was
in use during the majority of the time, therefore it was not possible to
ascertain whether groups would have stopped if the program had been
available. Observations suggested that the greatest predictor of usage was
availability. As soon as the program became available, it was almost
immediately taken over by a group.

The predicting value of group composition was tested With a
regression procedure and found to be statistically significant (p<.001).
However, the corresponding low R2 value of .13 suggested that group
composition predicted usage for only thirteen percent of the population in
this study. To create a valid test of attracting power, each group would need
to have access to the program and then whether they used it or not would be
an accurate measure of the attracting power for that type of group. To
conduct this type of research, either the sample size needs to be controlled
or number of devices increased.

While it was not possible to draw conclusions about variables that
might predict usage, it was possible to compare the groups who did use the
computer to the general population of exhibit visitors and then look for any
differences between the two groups. No conclusions are made about those
visitors who didn't use the computer but conclusions could be drawn about
whether the users were a representative sample of the general population.

The study compared program users to the total population of the study on

99
the following characteristics: group composition, gender of children and
adults, self-assessed interest level in birds and self-assessed computer
comfort level. A chi-square procedure was used to compare the group of
users to non-users on each variable. The groups of users were found to be
different that the groups of non-users on each variable: group composition
(p<.0002), gender (p<.0001), computer skill (p< .0003) and interest in birds
(p< .03).
1) Group Composition and Attracting Power

The type of group most frequently observed in the exhibit were
composed of a single adult with one or more children. This type of group
was also the most likely to use the interactive videodisc program. Groups
composed of single adults were the second most fi'equently observed group,
followed by groups composed of a male and female. However, adult groups
were under-represented in the groups that used the computer. Almost fifty
percent of the total population of exhibit visitors were groups of adults only,
but of the groups using the computer, less than twenty percent were adult
groups.

Previous research has suggested that visitors may prefer devices that
are least effective in promoting learning (Screven, 197 5). This study was
therefore interested in whether the groups that were most likely to use the
program, were the groups that were in need of the intervention. A
comparison of the elapsed time of each different type of group found a
significant difference (p=.005). Groups with a single adult and one or more
children spent the least amount of time within the exhibit area (106
seconds) and groups with an adult male and female spent the longest time
(186 seconds). This suggests that the group that seems most in need of

some type of intervention, the group composed of a single adult and one or

100
more children, is also the group most likely to use the interactive videodisc
program. The interactive videodisc program appears to attract a group that
can benefit from exposure to the program. The program may serve as an
alternate form of presentation for these groups as well as an effective
method for influencing the amount of time this group spends within the
hall.
2) Gender and Attracting Power

This study afforded a rare opportunity to observe families in a free-
choice learning setting and to investigate any differences between males
and females in their use of the computer program. Disappointingly, this
study found that males and females were not equally represented among
those groups who used the interactive videodisc program.

This study found that the gender of both the children and the adults
influenced whether the group used the computer. Groups with an adult
male were more likely to use the computer than groups with an adult
female. This was true whether there were children in the group or not.
Similarly, groups with a boy were more likely to use the program than
groups with a girl.

When the party included both genders for either the children or the
adults, the effect of gender was not as clear. When the adult was either a
female or a combination of a female and male, the presence of a girl and boy
made the chances of using the program greater than when only a girl was
present, but not as great as when only a boy was present. However, if the
adult was a male, the presence of a girl and a boy almost doubled the
chances of using the program over parties with a boy and tripled that of
parties with a girl. On experimental days, almost 100% of groups with an
adult male, boy and girl and 80 % of groups with an adult male and female

. 101

and boy used the program. Given the common lack of access to the
program, this suggests a highly motivated group that most likely had to
wait or return several times to gain access. Further research should look
at these groups to determine why they were so likely to use the program.

This look at gender raises many questions. Did families encourage
boys more than girls to use computer related devices? Were boys more
interested in either the program itself or the device? Were boys more
assertive in gaining access than girls? Were female adults intimidated by
the machine and was this passed on to their girls? Was the content of the
program (birds) more appealing to males than females?

As computers have not been used extensively in museums, there is
not yet a large body of research that investigates these questions. One study,
conducted by the Smithsonian's traveling exhibits program (SITES)
explored the effect of a computer within an exhibit and looked for gender
difference in usage (Hilke, 1988). Contrary to this study, the SITES study
found no gender differences in the usage of the computer. However, a
preliminary SITES study conducted during the summer months had found
that 812 year old boys were the most frequent users. During the fall and
winter of the actual study and when visitor populations were lower, the
numbers were more representative. The SITES researcher suggests that
boys may have been more aggressive in competing for the machine during
the busier summer months. This suggests that in this study, interest in
computers may have been confounded by assertiveness in accessing the
machine. However, it is also possible that the population for the SITES
exhibit is a different population than that found within the university
museum. The SITES exhibit, "The Laser at 25" was a traveling exhibit on
the history and application of laser technology and was hosted by the

102
Maryland Science Center and the Discovery Center in Fort Lauderdale. It
is possible that the exhibit drew a population that was highly interested in
science and that within this specialized audience, there may not have been
the gender differences. The audience within a natural and cultural history
museum may or may not be a more representative sample of the general
public.

Future research is needed to look at the use of technology within
museums. The findings from SITES research suggests that a study for
gender differences should insure adequate access to the machine so that
aggressive behavior is not confounded with computer interest.

3) Computer Skill, Bird Interest and Attracting Power

Significant differences were found between computer users and a
random sample of the population regarding perceived level of computer
comfort and interest in birds. Both the content and the medium used to
present the message, appeared to influence visitors' attraction to the
program. Even though this study attempted to simplify the technology by
replacing the computer keyboard with a turbo mouse and nmning the video
at all times, it still appears that non-computer literate individuals were not
likely to use the program. Of the general population, 20% identified
themselves as not being comfortable with computers but only 6% of the
program users identified themselves similarly. Conversely, the data
suggests that the medium may have attracted individuals who were not
specifically interested in birds. A survey of the general public identified the
greatest proportion of visitors identifying their level of interest in birds to be
primarily medium (69%), with high second (28%), and only 3% of the
population identifying a low interest in birds. However, of the computer

users, a much larger proportion of users, (26%) identified their level of

103
interest as low, with 43% identifying a medium level of interest and 31% a
high level.
Waning

The population who used the interactive videodisc program was
different from the general population of visitors in several ways. Groups
with children were more likely to be attracted than were groups with only
adults. Groups with males (adult or children) were more likely to use the
program than groups with females. Non-computer literate groups may
have avoided using the program even though no computer skill was
necessary to use the program. However, the medium may have attracted
individuals who were not particularly interested in the content of the
program.

Museums interested in using computers or multi-media formats
that include computers, should be aware of the potential differential
reactions based on both individual and group characteristics. This study
suggests that interactive videodisc is an appropriate medium for attracting
target populations which include children. Further research is needed to
look at both individual and group characteristics and the types of mediums
that might be most effective at attracting each.

Discussion of User Control Options

The program used in this study offered the user control over options
including pacing, sequence, content, questions and number of examples
presented. Letting the user control these options has been defined as user or
learner control as compared to program controlled when the selections are
made within the program, or adaptive control which is a merger of user
and program control. Research user control options has often been

contradictory or inconclusive. While a substantial body of research has

104
investigated the impact of various types of options, (learner controlled,
adaptive, and program controlled) in relationship to achievement, there is a
lack of research on the use of control options in an informal learning
setting such as a museum.

The program used in this study offered two levels of options and two
types of selection- extra video presentation or practice questions on the video
segments. The first level of user control (Level One) was defined as only
selecting options from the main menu, which included choices of video
segments, an introductory segment and challenge questions. The second
level of control (Level Two) was defined as selecting options from the sub-
menus that branched from these primary main menu selections. The
second level options further explored the species of birds presented in the
video segment by either showing a second example of a bird of the same
species or asking a question related to the video segment.

Of the groups using the program, six did not go beyond the main
menu, thirty stayed at the first level and forty three used the second level of
user control options. A statistically significant difference was found
between Level One users and Level Two users regarding their interest in
birds but not in their computer comfort level. These data should be
interpreted in light of the findings from the previous two hypotheses of this
study which found that the groups using the computer were not a
representation of the general public and specifically, that groups with a low
computer skill were not likely to use the program. It is possible that no
significant differences were found regarding computer skill because the
groups likely to respond differently (i.e. those not comfortable with
computers), were under-represented in the sample who used the computer.

Groups who were not interested in birds did not seem to use the Level

105
Two options. Those groups who used the Level One options were fairly
evenly divided in their level of bird interest between low (36%), medium
(39%) and high (36%). However, Level Two users were primarily of high
(40%) or medium interest (51%) with only a small proportion indicating a
low interest (9%).

A similar difference was found between the groups using the two
levels regarding their computer skill. The largest proportion of Level One
users identified their comfort level with computers as high (62%) with a
lower proportion identifying it as medium (33%) and a small proportion as
low (5%). Of the groups who used the second level, there were no groups
with low computer skills, and the proportion of high (65%) to medium (34%)
was about the same as Level one. While it was not statistically significant,
it is noteworthy that the small sample of users that were not comfortable
with computers, did not use the Level Two options.

Given control over content and level of presentation, users appeared
to take advantage of the options. To further investigate how personalized
each presentation was, an analysis of thirty of the groups was conducted by
looking at each option selected and the number of times each option was
selected. A listing of users' paths is included in Appendix C. Of the thirty
groups analyzed, there were twenty seven different patterns. In a museum
setting with a heterogeneous population, it is virtually impossible to design
a presentation appropriate for every visitor. However, the type of interactive
program used in this study offers users the opportunity to personally design
their own presentation.

Offering the user control over the presentation also may encourage a
more active participation and involvement. While the average amount of

time spent with linear forms of media in museums is commonly under

106
three minutes (Clowes and Wolff , 1980; Beer, 1987), the average time spent
with this interactive program was almost six minutes. Hilke's study on the
visitors' use of a computer within an exhibit on lasers (discussed above)
similarly reported that visitors often spent as much as four to six minutes
with the computer (Hilke, 1988). Beer (1987) found that 27% of museum
visitors spent less than 30 seconds viewing media presentations and that
presentations of six minutes or more, held 0% of the viewers for the full
presentation. In this study, only 11% of those using the interactive video
program spent three minutes or less with the program and over 33% of the
users spent more than six minutes. These observations suggest that
interactive computer presentations may involve users difi‘erently than other
traditional linear media formats within the museum setting.

While the branching capabilities of computers allow a more
personalized approach, the number of individuals interacting with the
device at one time is limited. In comparison, the audience for a linear
format video or film is limited only by the size of the presentation area.
Interactive videodisc programs are generally utilized by only one group or
even one individual at a time. While it was not unusual for groups to
gather around the device, there was still a limiting factor of the size of the
screen. But even more critical that the screen size is the personal
interaction. If user control is related to longer periods of use, then the effect
of the program may be limited to the individual controlling the branching
choices. Further research might look at other variables that could be
responsible for the greater amount of time spent with this device.
Sumniamffluestimlhrse

Users were unlikely to use the second level of options if they were not

interested in the content or if they were not comfortable with the medium.

107

This is not unexpected and suggests that users let their interests dictate

how they interacted with the program. Viewers appeared to use the options

to create a presentation that was appropriate for their interests. Those with

a low interest were able to control the amount of information and number of

examples they were presented with, while high interest users were able to

pursue their interest through additional video examples and questions.

The user control options may have encouraged more participation than

linear forms of media.

If °l . B |°

Visitors' behaviors suggested a general level of comfort with the
device. Observations of visitors on the video tapes showed that users
seemed to move through screens and find the right buttons on the screen to
make choices. There were no observations of visitors trying to move the
mouse and then giving up. This study concludes that the Hypercard
program was very supportive in the design of a "user friendly" program
and the hardware set up with a turbo mouse seemed to be supportive of the
user.

Conclusions

The following conclusions are drawn from this research study:

1) This study found that the presence of an interactive videodisc program
(designed to introduce visitors to information within the exhibit)
positively influenced the amount of time visitors spent within the hall.
The program also seems to have influenced visitors who did not use it.
When the computer was present, even non-users showed increased time
over the control group.

2) The interactive videodisc was not used by a representative sample of the

general population of museum visitors. Groups with children were

108
more likely to use it than adult only groups. Males were more likely to
use it than females.

3) The medium may have attracted some individuals with a low interest in
the content area (birds) but it may also have kept away groups that were
not comfortable with computers.

4) The branching capabilities offered by the computer seems to be an
advantage in the museum setting. Visitors spent greater lengths of
time with the program than is common with museum media
presentations investigated in other museum studies.

5) The user control options allowed visitors to create their own
individualized presentations. An examination of thirty different users
found twenty seven different paths taken by these users.

6) Users' level of interest in birds was related to the level of control options
used but computer comfort level was not. Users were not likely to go
beyond the first level of options if they had a low level of interest in birds.

7) Access to the videodisc program was limited because users spent a
longer time with the program than anticipated and the exhibit drew
more visitors than a pilot study had predicted. As an introduction to the
exhibit, the program was limited in the proportion of the visitors who
used the program before entering the exhibit area.

limitations of this Study

The study was conducted within a natural and cultural museum on

a university campus. It is possible that the type of audience may not be

representative of other museum populations. The study was conducted on

week-ends only as the focus was on casual museum visitors. These results
may not generalize to intact groups visiting the museum as part of a formal

educational effort, or to museums of other types or locations.

109

This study found that visitors were often limited in their access to the
interactive videodisc program, possibly because the exhibit had more
visitors than anticipated and because groups spent longer with the
program than expected. Trends in pattern use may have been different if
more stations were available. All findings on the gender and group
composition differences should be interpreted in light of the possibility that
the variable of attracting power may have been confounded with other
variables related to gaining access such as aggressiveness or patience.

This study did not attempt to compare interactive videodisc as a
medium to other types of mediums. In fact, efforts were made to avoid this
type of study. The intent was to study whether this type of media could
support the instructional design strategies important in influencing
museum visitor learning. The results of this study do not support the use of
interactive video over other types of media. Rather, they show that an
interactive videodisc is capable of supporting various instructional design
strategies.

Elapsed time within the exhibit hall was used as the outcome
variable to measure effectiveness of the interactive videodisc program.
Research indicates that while time is an effective predictor of learning,
observations of time and behavior offers a more significant predictor of
learning (Felk, 1983; Falk et al., 1985). This study had originally planned to
used both elapsed time and behavior as outcome variables. However, the
viewing. angle of the video camera did not allow a close enough view of
visitors to accurately assess behavior. Therefore, the study relied on only
elapsed time as the outcome variable.

This study investigated the use of an adjunct device (interactive video)

as a method for influencing viewers' attention within an exhibit. No efforts

110
were made to study ways to change or design exhibits. These data should
not be used to draw conclusions about exhibit design.

Visitors' level of computer skill and bird interest were identified
through one question each that the visitors answered. N o efforts were
made to validate the answers. Instead the interest of the study was the
difference between computer users and the general public regarding their
self-assessed levels. Conclusions about these two variables should only refer
to "self-assessed" or "perceived" levels. N o conclusions can be made about
actual computer skills or bird interest. Also, computer users answered the
questions on the computer and the random sample of the population
answered the questions on paper. This may have influenced the answers.

The definition of "Level One" and "Level Two" usage was created by
the researcher. The distinction is somewhat arbitrary.

All video observations and coding was conducted by the researcher.
There were no efforts to check the reliability of the coding procedures.
Although most of the coding involved recording objective information from
the video tape (i.e. time of entrance, time of exit), judgements were made
about group composition and gender of members. Individuals may have
been coded as part of the wrong group if they happened to have entered and
exited together.

Conclusions about the relationship between computer skill and level
of usage was hampered by the small number of computer users with a low
skill level. Therefore, conclusions about users with a low computer skill
level may not be valid.

Recommendations for Further Study
1) The use of time as the measure of visitor interaction with the exhibit

was selected because of its high correlation with both affective and

2)

3)

4)

111
cognitive measures, and because it could be measured with non-
intrusive data collection devices. Other measures of visitor interaction
or reactions to the exhibits could be identified through surveys or by
interviewing visitors. While such techniques might influence the
spontaneous behaviors of visitors, they would provide a different type of
data that might further understanding of visitors' reactions to the media
and to their behaviors within the exhibit areas.
The relationship between the characteristics of the user and the
capabilities of the media device needs to be explored further. In
museum settings with heterogeneous audiences and a free choice
learning setting, such information would help museum educators and
exhibit designers select the media that is appropriate both for the
message and the audience it is meant to attract. In this study, a lack of
devices hampered the ability to compare users to non-users. Future
research on the relationship between characteristics of the device and
the characteristics of the visitors who use the device should insure an
adequate visitor/device ratio.
This research suggests that non-computer users may have been
influenced by the behavior of users. Modeling has been shown to be a
factor in museum visitor behavior. Future research should investigate
whether any individual characteristics are related to modeling. Are
some types of visitors more likely role models and are some types of
visitors more susceptible to the influence of others' behaviors?
The relationship between gender and computer usage was consistent
between adults and children. However, there seemed to be some type of
interaction when both genders were present either among the children

or the adults. Groups composed of an adult male, female and boy and

5)

6)

7)

112
groups composed of an adult male and a girl and boy, both were highly
over represented in computer users. Research should investigate the
behavior of these two groups.
One interactive videodisc arrangement was not enough to meet the
visitor demand. Future research might investigate an optimal ratio of
computers of computer driven devices to visitors. Such research should
consider cost effectiveness of this presentation mode compared to other
options.
This study found that the primary users of the interactive videodisc
program were groups composed of one adult and children. This group
also seems to show the least amount of time within the exhibit area.
Future research could focus on this group and explore reactions of this
specific group to interventions such as that provided by the interactive
videodisc program. _
Adult groups were highly unlikely to use the interactive videodisc
program as were groups with a low level of computer skills. Adults may
have believed that it was inappropriate for them to use the program.
This is supported by anecdotal observations of adult behavior. The few
single adults who used the program were commonly observed standing
in front of the machine rather than sitting and were likely to move on
when others approached the machine. This could be interpreted as an
attitude of not really being involved with the machine, even though the
mean time spent on the computer by adult groups was 358 seconds,
slightly higher than the mean for all users of 353 seconds. Research
using a greater number of computers may produce a more
representative sample of adults. Research should investigate why

adults were under-represented and investigate ways to encourage those

113
who may be intimidated by the technology.

8) Visitors spent greater lengths of time with this medium than is common
with more traditional linear media within museum settings. Research
should attempt to identify the variables related to this trend. Possible
variables to explore include: the presence of user controlled options, the
variety of choices between text screens and video, questions, feedback,
short presentation segments, video and audio components.

9) User control options were well utilized by the users in this study. This
study defined Level One options as those on the main menu and Level
Two as those that branched from a sub-menu. Some individual
characteristics were identified that were related to how users reacted to
these two levels of options. Further research should explore ways to
define different patterns of program branching and to try to match
individual characteristics to branching patterns. This would provide
instructional designers with information to design programs with
optimal user control options for the target audience.

10) This research found that the interactive videodisc device was effective in
supporting instruction design strategies that influenced the ways
visitors interacted with the exhibit area. Instructional design strategies
used within the program include: use of questions, eliciting responses,
providing feedback, presenting information about the critical concepts
within the exhibit hall, offering options between video and text segments
and control over content, sequence, and pacing. Future research could
manipulate these variables to determine which seem to be most
appropriate within this setting and whether any of these variables are
more appropriate for different learners.

11) This research viewed the interactive video program as an adjunct to the

114
exhibit and not as a part of the exhibit. The relationship between media
and the exhibits needs to be explored. The attitudes of museum
educators, exhibit designers and the public toward this relationship
could be explored through surveys, interviews and observational studies.
12) This research has identified and corroborated previously identified
design variables related to the attracting power and holding power of
exhibits. These variables include at least modeling, focusing attention,
and providing schema activators. Research could attempt to create and
empirically test a model that identifies and relates these variables. Such
a model could guide the design of adjunct devices and the evaluation of

existing ones.

APPENDICES

APPENDIX A

APPENDIX A

Diagram of Videodisc Location

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

with camera
' mounted to
V/A View of camera .‘ on p

115

APPENDIX B

APPENDDC B

Hypercard Presentation Screens

Vldeo lntroductlon

on the ”mouse".

 

Directions:

Roll the ball to move the pointer
on the screen. When it is on your
choice of activity, press (click)
the button

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117

This video presentation will
Introduce you to some of the birds
In the special exhibit to your left.

We hope you enjoy the exhibit.

MAIN MENU

Introduction ............. l:
Hawks video ............. D
Peregrine Falcon video ..... D
Bald Eagle video ........... Cl

Greater Prairie-Chicken. . . .D
Challenge Questions ........ Ci

The Michigan Department oi Natural
Resources has listed 29 species of
birds that are endangered,
threatened, or of special concern.

This exhibit contains mounts of 20
of these birds and Information on
their status, Identification, and

‘ suggestions for protecting their

§G :@ E0 It

 

118

The videodisc presents six of these
birds. Motion sequences Illustrate
their unique characteristics and
behaviors.

Each video segment lasts between
30 seconds and one minute.

What Is Extinction?

Extinction occurs when a species fails
to reproduce and the last of a species
dies.

Extinction is a natural process that
humans have accelerated.

Humans can help prevent extinction.

Look at each bird In the exhibit.

. Which birds are ground dwelling
and which are capable of flight?

- How are the beaks of birds
different? Which are birds of

prey?

. Does the coloring of the feathers
suggest where It lives?

 

119

Identification -
, _ ' , Primary
Terms ,I. , - flight leathers

(— Second
flight feathers

 

 
   
 

Red-shouldered Hawk

Status: Threatened

  
  

In the exhibit you will see an example of
a mature male Red-shouldered Hawk.
The video and exhibit explain how
threats to its habitat have led to its
decline.

 
   
        
 

r@ $8

To start video. click on “Video Button".

 
 

 

 

 

 

Length of video- 39 seconds

 

 

 

120

Hawks Menu

See a video of another hawk ..... G <9
Challenge on Red-shouldered Hawk.C’

Return to the Main Menu ....... CI

The decline of the Red-shouldered
hawk Is due In part to -

D destruction of bottomland
forest habitats

lakeshore development

D highway mortality

Bald Eagle

Status: Threatened

In the exhibit you will see an example of
an adult male Bald Eagle. The exhibit
describes why the Michigan population
of Bald Eagles dropped dramatically
about 30 years ago.

" Click the 'Video" button to start video.

@I

M

 

121

 
   
   
    
     
     
 
     
   
   
   

Greater Prairie-Chicken

Status: Extirpated

In the exhibit you will see an example of
a Greater-Prairie Chicken. Because of
the loss of its natural habitat, it is

'extirpated' or extinct in Michigan. but
present elsewhere.

 

The Bald Eagle's dlet consists
primarily of -

[:1 fish
[3 mice and rabbits

[:1 berries

'6
LA

2

 

 

Bald Eagle
Video

 

Length of Video— 31 seconds

 

122

 

Greaterprairie? j
_ChiCl<eri I

 

 

 

Greater Prairie-Chicken Menu

Review video of Prairie-Chicken . .l:]
Challenge on Prairie Chicken. . . . [3

Return to the Main Menu ....... D

 

 
   

  

The Greater Prairie-Chicken
were once numerous In the

E] tall grasslands

[:1 boreal forests

 
   
 

'6
LA

D deciduous forests

  

 

   

 

APPENDIX C

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151PM
154PM
223PM
238PM
211PM
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256PM
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331PM
333PM
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3m9PM
353PM

137PM
151PM
153PM
2fl0PM
233PM
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252PM
258PM
330PM
332PM
336PM
3M9PM
353PM
354PM
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APPENDIX C

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124

APPENDD( D

PPP

APPENDIX D

Museum Visitor Survey

 

Number of adults in party
Number of children (over 2 years) in party
Number of infants (under2 years) in party

How would you rate your interest in birds?

__ high __ medium low

Are you comfortable with computers?

yes somewhat no

How would you rate your interest in animals?

_ high __ medium __ low

How long do you think you will spend on this visit?

Have you visited in the last year?

125

l Ar‘ ‘ .‘l I '

LIST OF REFERENCES

Alexander, E. P. (1979). Museums in mgtign. Nashville: American
Association for State and Local History

Alexander, E. P. (1988). The American museum chooses education, Curator,
31(1), 61-80

Ambach, G. M. (1986). Museums as places of learning, Museum News
35415

 

Aronson, D. T. and Briggs, L. I. (1983) Contributions of Gagne’ and Briggs to a
Prescriptive Model of Instruction in Instructional-Design Theories and
Models: An Overview of their Current Status, edited by Reigeluth, C.

Ausubel, D. P. (1960). The use of advance organizers in the learning and
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Bailing, I. D. 8: Falk, I. H. (1981). A perspective on field trips: Environmental
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Beer, V. (1987). Great expectations: Do museums know what visitors are
doing? Curator, 10 (3), 206-215

Bitgood, S. (1988). A comparison of formal and informal learning. (Technical
Report No. 88-10) Jacksonville, AL: Center for Social Design.

Bitgood, S. Patterson, D. & Benefield, A. (1986). Understanding your visitors:
Ten factors that influence visitor behavior. (Technical Report No. 86-
60) Jacksonville, AL: Center for Social Design.

Bosco, I. (1986). An analysis of Evaluations of Interactive Video.
Educatignal Tghnglogy, 7-17

Brooks, 1. A. & Vernon, P. E. (1956). A study of children's interests and

comprehension at a science museum. British lournal of Psychology.
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