Renaissance Hub Museum Exit Survey, 2009-2010

<i>Renaissance</i> was the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council's (MLA) programme to transform England's regional museums. The programme has received over £300 million since 2002 which has been allocated across nine regional museum hubs. Regional museum hubs are a cluster of four-five museums which receive government investment in order to develop as centres of excellence and as leaders of their regional museum communities.<br><br>The <i>Renaissance Hub Museum Exit Survey</i> is a museum visitor exit survey commissioned to measure the impact of <i>Renaissance</i> funding. The questionnaire survey has been conducted in 45 museums and galleries across England to collect data on the profile of visitors as well as information about visitor satisfaction, propensity to recommend and general attitudes towards the museums and galleries.<br><br>The overall objective of this research was:<ul><li>to provide reliable and representative information regarding the profile of visitors to Renaissance hub venues. There was particular interest in visits from lower socio-economic groups, those from ethnic minority backgrounds and those with disabilities (the priority target groups) </li><li>to gather reliable and representative information on the views and attitudes of visitors on various aspects of their visit which can feed into policy development and programme evaluation</li></ul>Face-to-face interviews were conducted with adult visitors on exit from each of the sites. All had visited the museum. Those who had only used ancillary facilities, e.g. a shop or café on-site were excluded from the survey. Exit interviews ensured that each respondent had the maximum opportunity to experience the full product offering at each site. The interviewing schedule included a mix of daytime and weekday shifts - weekdays (c.60 per cent) and weekends (c.40 per cent), and covered school and public holidays. Interviews were carried out throughout the day in order to be as representative as possible. Admission figures were used as a guide to allocate the shifts on a monthly basis. <br><br>Further information can be found on the MLA's <a href ="http://www.mla.gov.uk/what/programmes/renaissance/renaissance%20results/hub%20exit%20survey" title="Renaissance Exit Survey">Renaissance Exit Survey</a> and <a href ="http://research.mla.gov.uk/" title="Research Evidence Resources">Research Evidence Resources</a> web pages.<br>