Museum surveys

As part of The National Education Plan for Danish Museums, which is to contribute to improving the quality of the museums' dissemination, Heritage Agency of Denmark is conducting a number of different user surveys.

Both of the surveys mentioned below will be publiced in English and Spanish i February 2011.

National User Surveys on all of the National and Government-Approved Museums in Denmark

The biggest and most important of those, The National User Survey, runs from 2009 through 2011 and will probably be extend to 2012 and beyond.  

As something new, even in an international setting, Heritage Agency of Denmark's national user survey includes all of the national and government-approved museums in Denmark, and it therefore provides a comprehensive and systematic insight into who use – or do not use – the museums. The user survey offers insight into whom use the museums, how they use them and the users' assessments of the museums.  

The survey's objective is to provide national and government-approved museums with tools and knowledge to professionalise their dissemination and communication. The user survey contributes to a high quality discussion of the museums' dissemination based on facts rather than preconceived ideas, and it makes it possible for the museums to learn from each others' experience with a focus on results, follow-up and own objectives as regards the user composition. 

The survey provides the museums with a tool that will help them work strategically to target exhibitions, activities and events at the user groups who visit the museums. The results can also be used to launch initiatives aimed at new user groups. The national user survey makes it easier for the museums to compare themselves to each other and thus identify interesting differences and similarities. This may inspire the museums to increase collaboration and knowledge sharing.

Web User Survey

Heritage Agency of Denmark has completed a web user survey that supplements the national user survey of the museums' physical users at national and government-approved museums.    

The survey is to contribute to improving the quality of the national and government-approved museums' digital communication and dissemination on the Internet.  The survey identifies users and non-users of the museums' websites. The analysis includes users and non-users' demographic characteristics, their behaviour and needs as well as their views of the museums' websites and their incentive for and barriers against using the websites.