Unobtrusive Observations
Evaluating Beyond Chicken Soup
A blog post by Graham Humphrey, Visitor Services Coordinator. To read more posts by Graham click HERE.
For the past month, we have begun doing evaluations of our Beyond Chicken Soup: Jews and Medicine in America exhibit. We have been tracking, or completing “unobtrusive observations” of visitors, where data is collected about what attracts and holds the attention of our guests in the exhibition. We have also been completing short interviews where we ask visitors questions about their experience after leaving the exhibit. We hope to conduct between 70-100 evaluations before the exhibit closes in mid-January and have already completed about 25, due in large part to the work of our fabulous summer interns and volunteers.
I received a sneak peek at the data we have collected. I learned that the average stay was 30 minutes. The audience type was a mix between seniors, adults and young adults and many seemed to deeply engage with the exhibit content. When visitors were asked to sum up one “take away” message from the exhibit, one mentioned the long historical contribution of Jews to the progression of medical knowledge and practice. While some listed discrimination and stereotyping of Jewish doctors as a prominent theme, others remarked how so many Jewish immigrants were able to succeed, despite all the obstacles, in medicine. Still others were struck by eugenics or how modern medicine has come a long way since the early 1900s.
Visitors seemed to enjoy the doctor’s office and the old medical instruments. They also enjoyed learning about local Baltimore history, including the spotlight on Sinai Hospital, and seeing the 15th century medical books collected by Harry Friedenwald and on loan to the JMM from the National Museum of Israel. Almost all visitors exclaim “eww!” when they read in our Pharmacy window that a dead mouse was once considered medicine for the treatment of diabetes.
Visitors have also been continuing to add post-it notes to the comment board. One visitor commented that the exhibit is amazing for kinesthetic learners because of all the interactive parts. We got another slightly humorous comment from a Dr. Berman who explored the exhibit and got slightly panicked each time the “paging Dr. Berman” sound clip went off in the hospital section.