Causal

The research design for this project is comparative, and is designed to generate evidence which is causal [experimental]. There were two treatment and two control conditions. Both treatment conditions involved teaching groups Inquiry Games which focused on two key inquiry skills that could be applied at any exhibit; one Inquiry Game used a structured, collaborative format for teaching the skills while the other used a spontaneous, individualized format. The Pure Control condition simply asks groups to use the exhibits as they normally would, without intervention of an educator. In the Exhibit Tour Control, an educator offers groups a brief tour of the exhibits which focuses on the exhibits’ underlying science and design history; the educator does not teach the groups anything about inquiry.

This project collects original data using observation (videography), survey research (paper and pencil self-completion questionnaire), and structured interviewer-administered questionnaire (face-to-face and telephone). Coding of the video included assessing the following at both a pre-test and a post-test exhibit: (a) Time groups spent, (b) Frequency and duration of utterances indicating use of the two skills taught in the Inquiry Games (Propose an Action and Interpret Results), (c) Coherence of groups’ investigations, (d) Collaboration and degree to which group members built on each others’ interpretations. The post-test interview assessed group members’ attitudes toward the Inquiry Game or Exhibit Tour. The follow-up interview gathered data on group members’ experiences after they left the research lab, both on the museum exhibit floor and outside the museum.

Coding schemes were created for all coding. Coding of the audio/video data used specialized software for that purpose; multiple coders were theory-blind and were checked for inter-rater reliability. Coding of transcripts of post-interviews and follow-up interviews employed spreadsheet software; interview responses were double-coded.