Applied Interpretation

More than 350 National Park units preserve over 115 million museum objects, specimens and archival items to tell the stories of the places where many of the most exciting events of American history, cultural experiences, and natural phenomena have taken place.

Jefferson National Expansion Memorial

Of the hundreds of museums in the systems, the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (JNEM) boasts one of the largest annual visitor counts. For example, in 2008, the site hosted 1.945 million people (National Park Service, 2009). The JNEM is an urban NPS memorial site, positioned along the banks of the Mississippi River, adjacent to Laclede’s Landing and downtown St. Louis.  Comprising the memorial is the Arch, the Museum of Westward Expansion, two movie theaters, and the Old Courthouse. The museum preserves some of the rarest artifacts from the days of Lewis and Clark. The exhibits, and related films and programs, explore the world of the American Indian and the 19th Century pioneers who helped shape the history of the American West.

In an attempt to explore the short and long-term impacts of a visit to JNEM Dr. James Farmer from Marshall University and I conducted a mixed method research study. This approach includes both quantitative and qualitative evaluation.

Participants for this study were solicited from the JNEM visitors who had self-selected to enter the memorial and participate in one or more of the programs, activities, and / or experiences offered at the site. Individuals were asked to complete a questionnaire prior to entering the memorial and then were asked to complete the same questionnaire as they left the site (the quantitative data). Visitors who completed both pre and post instruments were also asked to participate in a telephone interview five to six months following their experience (the qualitative data).

The Quantitative Results

One hundred thirty-five total participants completed both the pre and post visit questionnaire.  The questionnaire was developed to assess the impacts of the experience and to attain demographic information related to the visitors of JNEM.  An example of one of the questions from the instrument is shown below:

Other questions in this format evaluated change in learning from park rangers, personal meaning, knowledge about the park, and the novelty of the visit. The pre and post questionnaire was analyzed using a variety of statistical analysis.

The analysis found a significant difference among the 135 participants between the pre and post visit instrument. In other words, visitors were positively impacted by their visit to Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. Their connections to the history of westward expansion increased, knowledge of the time period increased and attitude toward the museum improved.

So do these positive results stack up with what they said about their visit six month later…check in next week’s blog to find out!!!