Visitor Studies· 2026Q1
Creation and Validation of the Meaningful Experiences Measure for Museums
- 1citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
A new 15-item scale, the Meaningful Experiences Measure (MEM), reliably and validly quantifies meaningful visitor experiences in museums, proving unidimensional and unaffected by visitor demographics.
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Key points
- A new 15-item Meaningful Experiences Measure (MEM) was created to assess visitor experiences in museums.
- The MEM is unidimensional, showing strong reliability and validity across various museum contexts and visitor demographics.
- Demographic factors (race, gender, visitor frequency, membership, group composition) did not impact meaningfulness scores.
- Overall meaningfulness scores were consistent across museums, but item-level differences suggest tailored use.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
A new tool for measuring meaningful experiences in museums was developed, consisting of 15 items that explore various themes integral to meaningful visitor experiences. The tool is unidimensional, which facilitates its practical use by museum researchers for trend analysis across visitors and over time. The measure demonstrated strong reliability and validity evidence for comprehensively evaluating visitor experiences across diverse museum contexts and visitor demographics. Encouragingly, demographic factors of race, gender, visitor frequency, membership status, and group composition did not influence meaningful experiences. Interestingly, overall meaningfulness scores did not vary by museum, but differences among items underscore the importance for individual museums to tailor their usage of the tool according to their unique settings and missions.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Visitor Studies, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Field: Museology
MuseologyArts and Humanities