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Re: One Survey Idea
by
Hi, Jill. Welcome to the Exchange! I very much like your survey strategy. And I agree that the numbers of responses can be increased simply by making it easier to respond.
When I was at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis, where we delivered 90% of our performances in a formal theatre space, we would distribute simple surveys to audience members when they came in the door. These surveys had no more than 5 multiple choice questions on them, with space provided for optional comments.
Four of the same questions always appeared on every survey: Please rate the quality of the show / Please tell us the age-range of your children / Please tell us how you found out about today's performance / Please tell us your favorite kind of performance (due to the fact that roughly 1/4 of our productions were bookings, choices available were "Live Theatre, Music, Puppetry, Dance, Circus Skills, Magic).
Because of the simplicity of format (I assume), anywhere from 20% to 40% of our attending audience members would complete the survey and turn it in.
We did not survey the audience for gallery theatre performances at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis, and we currently do not here at the Science Museum of Virginia .... although we're right on the verge of starting to do so, once we find a format for a survey that everyone can live with.
Thanks for posting on the Exchange!
Larry Gard
Artistic Director, Carpenter Science Theatre Company;
Moderator, Museum Theatre Idea Exchange