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Evaluator Competencies for Professional Development

• Introduction
• Competency List
• Self Assessment
• Bibliography
• Glossary

See these websites for other bibliographies related to visitor studies.

• http://www.visitorstudiesarchives.org/index.php
• http://www.informalscience.org
• http://oerl.sri.com
• http://www.eval.org/Resources/bibliography.asp
• http://ericae.net/ftlib.htm
• http://www.policy-evaluation.org
• http://www.astc.org/resource/visitors/index.htm

COMPETENCY A: Principles and Practices of Visitor Studies

Bash, S. R. (2003). From Mission to Motivation: A focused approach to increased arts participation, Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, (78).

Borun, M., & Adams, K.A. (1992). From hands on to minds on: Labeling interactive exhibits. Visitor Studies: Theory, Research, and Practice, 4, 115-120.

Dierking, L.D., Ellenbogen, K.M., & Falk, J.H. 2004. “In principle, in practice: Perspectives on a decade of museum learning research (1994-2004)”. Science Education, 88 (Supplement 1).

Doering, Z.D. (Ed.), (1999). Special Issue of Curator: The Museum Journal, 42(2).

Greene, J.C. & Caracelli, V.J. (Eds.), (1997). New directions for program evaluation, Vol. 74. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Hood, M. G. (1983, April). “Staying Away: Why People Choose Not to Visit Museums”. Museum News, 50-57.

Knowles, M. S. (1981). Androgyny. Museums, Adults and the Humanities: A Guide for Educational Programming. Washington, D.C.: American Association of Museums.

McLean, K. (1993). Planning for People in Museum Exhibitions. Washington, D.C.: Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC). Schauble, L., Leinhardt, G., & Martin, L. (1997). A framework for organizing a cumulative research agenda in informal learning contexts. Journal of Museum Education, 22, (2&3), 3-8.

Screven, C.G. (Ed.), (1999). Visitor Studies Bibliography and Abstracts, 4th Education. Chicago, IL: Screven and Associates.

Serrell, B. (1998). Paying attention: visitors and museum exhibitions. Washington DC, American Association of Museums.

COMPETENCY B: Principles and Practices of Informal Learning

Allen, S., Gutwill, J. Perry, D., Garibay, C., Ellenbogen, K., Heimlich, J. Reich, C. and Klein, C. (2007). Research in museums: Coping with complexity. In J.H. Falk, L.D. Dierking, & S. Foutz (Eds.), In Principle, In Practice. New York: AltaMira Press.

Bransford, J.D., Brown, A.L., & Cocking, R.R. (Eds.), (2000). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Committee on Developments in the Science of Learning. National Research Council. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

Crane, V. (Ed.), (1994). Informal Science Learning: What the Research Says about Television, Science Museums, and Community-Based Projects. Dedham, MA: Research Communications. Ltd.

Cross, J. (2007). Informal Learning: Rediscovering the Natural Pathways That Inspire Innovation and Performance. San Francisco: John Wiley & Son.

Falk, J.H. & Dierking, L.D. (1995). The Museum Experience. Washington, D.C.: Whalesback Books.

Falk, J.H. & Dierking, L.D. (Eds.), (1995). Public Institutions for Personal Learning: Establishing a Research Agenda. Washington, D.C.: American Association of Museums.

Falk, J.H & Dierking, L.D. (2000). Learning from Museums: Visitor Experiences and the Making of Meaning. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.

Friedman, A. (Ed.), (2008). Framework for Evaluating Impacts of Informal Science Education Projects. Report from a National Science Foundation Workshop.
Available on-line and free at http://insci.org/resources/Eval_Framework.pdf

Hein, G., (1998). Learning in the Museum. New York: Routledge.

Hein, G. & Alexander, M. (1998). Museums: Places of Learning. Washington, D.C.: American Association of Museums.

Husen, T. & Postlethwaite, T.N. (Eds.), (1985). The International Encyclopedia of Education. New York: Pergamon Press.

Knowles, M.S. (1975). Self-directed Learning: A Guide for Learners and Teachers. New York: Association Press.

COMPETENCY C: Knowledge of and Practices with Visitor Studies Research

Bradburn, N. M., Sudman, S. & Wansink, B. (2004). Asking questions: The definitive guide to questionnaire design. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Diamond, J. (1999). Practical Evaluation Guide: Tools for Museums & other Informal Educational Settings. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.

Dierking, L.D. & Pollock, W. (1998). Questioning Assumptions: An Introduction to Front-End Studies in Museums. Washington DC, Association of Science Technology Centers.

Fischer, D.K. (1997). Visitor Panels: In House Evaluation of Exhibit Interpretation. In Visitor Studies: Theory, Research and Practice, Vol. 9.

Frechtling, J. (2002). The 2002 User-Friendly Handbook for Project Evaluation: Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology Education. National Science Foundation, Directorate for Education and Human Resources. Arlington, VA. NSF 02-057.
Available on-line at http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2002/nsf02057/nsf02057.pdf

Friedman, A. (Eds.), (2008). Framework for Evaluating Impacts of Informal Science Education Projects. Washington D.C. : National Science Foundation.
Aavailable on-line and free at http://insci.org/resources/Eval_Framework.pdf)

Hatry, H., van Houten, T., Plantz, M.C., & Greenway, M.T. (1996). Measuring Program Outcomes: A Practical Approach. Alexandria, VA: United Way of America.

Hood, M.G. (1986). Getting Started in Audience Research. Museum News, 64(3), 25-31.

Loomis, R. (1987). Museum Visitor Evaluation: New Tool for Museum Management. Nashville, TN: American Association for State and Local History.

Korn, R., & Sowd, L. (1990). Visitor Surveys: A User’s Manual. Washington, DC: American Association of Museums.

Mohr, L. B. (1992). Impact analysis for program evaluation. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Patton, M.W. (1990). Qualitative Evaluation Methods. Beverly Hill, Ca: Sage Publications.

Preskill, H. & Russ-Eft. D. (2005). Building Evaluation Capacity: 72 Activities for Teaching and Training, Sage Publications.

Rubenstein, R. (1990). Focus Groups and Front-End Evaluation. Visitor Studies: Theory, Research, and Practice, vol. 3, 87-93.

Serrell, B. (1998). Paying Attention: Visitors and Museum Exhibitions. Washington, D.C.: American Association of Museums.

Sommer, R., & Sommer, B. (1980). A Practical Guide to Behavioral Research: Tools and Techniques. New York: Oxford.

Stake, R.E. (1995). The Art of Case Study Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Taylor, S. & Serrell B. (Eds.), 1991. Try It!: Improving Exhibits through Formative Evaluation. Queens, NY: New York Hall of Science.

Webb, E.J., Campbell, D.T., Schwartz, R.D., & Seachrest, L. (1966). Unobtrusive Measures: Nonreactive Research in the Social Sciences. Chicago: Rand McNally College Publishing.

Wells, M. & Butler, B. (2002). A Visitor-Centered Evaluation Hierarchy. Visitor Studies Today, 5 (1): 5 – 11.

Young, J. (1997). Program Evaluation: Background and Methods. http://ed.fnal.gov/trc/program_docs/eval.html

Protection of Human Subjects
A short computer-based training, from the National Institutes of Health, on protecting human subjects, one for people who are doing research and/or evaluation and one for people who are members of institutional review boards can be accessed at http://ohsr.od.nih.gov/cbt/index.html.

The NSF web site is regularly updated with rules and references and can be accessed at:
http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/human.jsp.

COMPETENCY D: Business Practices, Project Planning, and Resource Management

Kellogg Foundation, (2001). Using models to bring together planning, evaluation, and action.
http://www.wkkf.org/Pubs/Tools/Evaluation/Pub3669.pdf

Miller, T., Kobayashi, M., & Noble, P. (2006, March). Insourcing, Not Capacity Building, a Better Model for Sustained Program Evaluation, American Journal of Evaluation, 83.

Screven, C.G. (1990). Uses of evaluation before, during, and after exhibit design. ILVS Review, 1(2), 36-66.

Torres, R. T. & Preskill, H. (2001). Evaluation and Organizational Learning: Past, Present, and Future, The American Journal of Evaluation, 387.

Wholey, J. (2001). Managing for Results: Roles for Evaluators in a New Management Era,” The American Journal of Evaluation, 343.

COMPETENCY E: Professional Commitment

Houle, C. O. (1980). Continuing Learning in the Professions. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

Shettel, H. (1993). Professionalism in visitor studies: Too soon or too late? In S. Bicknell & G. Farmelo (Eds.), Museum Visitor Studies in the 90s. London: London Science Museum. Pp. 161 - 165.

ETHICS:
Shadish, W., Newman, D., Scheirer, M.A., & Wye. C. (2004). Guiding Principles for Evaluators: A Report from the American Evaluation Association (AEA) Task Force on Guiding Principles for Evaluators. The American Evaluation Association. Available at http://www.eval.org.