(developed by Selinda Research Associates for use at the Great Lakes Science Center, Cleveland, Ohio)

The Great Lakes Science Center is updating and expanding its current biomedical technology exhibition with a Science Education Partnership Award from the National Center for Research Resources of the National Institutes of Health.  Selinda Research Associates is conducting three phases of evaluation for the new exhibition.  We are conducting:   

• Front-end evaluation which focuses on the potential audience, especially how they think and feel about the topics proposed for the exhibition.  This was completed in year one.
    
• Formative evaluation, where the project team tests prototype versions of exhibits, labels, and multimedia presentations to see how effective they are at achieving their goals and to suggest ways to improve them.  This will be completed during year two.
    
• Summative evaluation, which investigates how effectively the completed exhibition achieves its goals and objectives.  This will be conducted in year three.

Following are links to evaluation documents related to this project.  We will continue posting documents on this page as they become available.

If you use any of these materials for any purpose, we would love to hear how things turn out.  Please contact us at EGyllenhaal@SelindaResearch.com to let us know how you used them.

• Front-End Evaluation Plan and Topical Framework. Go here to view a pdf version of this document.
    
• Front-End Evaluation Report.  Here's the citation, plus links to pdf files of the report:
    
  Gyllenhaal, E. D., & Ziff, K. (2006). Front-end evaluation of the Biomedical Technology Project. Unpublished manuscript, The Great Lakes Science Center, Cleveland, OH. 
     Go here to view the pdf version of the main report.
     Go here to view the pdf version of Appendix G (evaluations of individual exhibits).
   
• Formative Evaluation Plan. Go here to view a pdf version of this document.
   
• Formative Evaluation Process and Forms.  Here are a series of documents describing the formative evaluation process for the Biomedical Technology exhibition, which is underway during fall, 2006.  Some of these documents are posted as Word files, so that interested parties may modify them for their own use.
    
  Go here for a pdf description of the formative evaluation process.
    
  Go here for a pdf document that describes how to write exhibit unit intentions.
    
  Go here for a Word document with many of the forms used during formative evaluation.
   
  Go here for a Word version of the Respondent Data Sheet.
    
  Go here for a Word version of the Formative Mini-Report Format.
      
• Formative Evaluation Mini-Reports.  Here are three reports from studies conducted during fall, 2006:

Gyllenhaal, E. D., and Ziff, K. (2007). Biomedical Technology Project mini-report: Formative evaluation of the adult vs. embryonic stem cells panel. Unpublished manuscript, The Great Lakes Science Center, Cleveland, OH.  Go here to view a pdf version of this paper.

Gyllenhaal, E. D., and Ziff, K. (2007). Biomedical Technology Project mini-report: Formative evaluation of the microarray interactive. Unpublished manuscript, The Great Lakes Science Center, Cleveland, OH.  Go here to view a pdf version of this paper.

Gyllenhaal, E. D., and Ziff, K. (2007). Biomedical Technology Project mini-report: Formative evaluation of the infectious disease multimedia interactive. Unpublished manuscript, The Great Lakes Science Center, Cleveland, OH.  Go here to view a pdf version of this paper.
  

Knowledge hierarchies played an important part in the front-end evaluation. Please consult the following online papers to see examples of other knowledge hierarchies:

Gyllenhaal, E. D., Perry, D. L., & Forland, E. (1996). Visitor understandings about research, collections, and behind-the-scenes at the Field Museum. Current Trends in Audience Research and Evaluation, 10, 22-32.  Go here to view a pdf version of this paper.

Perry, D. L., Garibay, C., & Gyllenhaal, E. D. (1998). Front-end evaluation for Life Underground, a Field Museum exhibition about life in the soil. Current Trends in Audience Research and Evaluation, 11, 59-67.  Go here to view a pdf version of this paper.

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