Virtual Museum Questionnaire
My name is Rina Kolomisky. I am a student at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, in Haifa, in Israel. Under the supervision of Professor Rivka Oxman, I am writing my master’s degree thesis on the subject of designing virtual environments. I would appreciate it if you would complete a questionnaire to help us understand your opinions and thoughts about possible activities that could take place in the environment of a virtual museum. The results of the questionnaire will be used for purposes of this research thesis only. Your answers will be completely confidential and anonymous. Thank you for participating in this study.
To help you answer these questions, I would like to describe a virtual museum. A virtual museum is a 3D interactive site on the internet, which can be accessed from any physical location through a computer.
Now I would like to ask you several questions about activities that could occur in a virtual museum.
Question 1
Have you ever visited a virtual museum?
a) Yes
b) No
Question 2
How would you like a virtual museum to appear? (Check all that apply)
a) Like a museum that is found in the real world
b) Like a museum found in the world of fantasy and imagination
c) Other (please write your answer in the box)
Question 3
How do you feel about the possibility of being able to see other visitors to a virtual museum? (Check one box only)
a) I want to see other visitors
b) I don’t want to see other visitors
Question 4
How do you feel about the possibility of being able to speak to other visitors at a virtual museum? (Check one box only)
a) I want to speak to other visitors
b) I don’t want to speak to other visitors
Question 5
Which of the following activities would you like to be able to do in order to examine objects on display in a virtual museum? (Check all that apply)
a) View the object
b) Rotate the object
c) Touch the object
d) Enlarge the object
e) Hear information about the object
f) Read information about the object
g) Other (please write your answer in the box below)
Question 6
How do you feel about the possibility of physically interacting in a virtual museum? (Check one box only)
a) I want to be able to physically interact
b) I don’t want to be able to physically interact (go to question 8)
Question 7
Which of the following types of physical interaction would you like to be able to do in a virtual museum? (Check all that apply)
a) Write comments
b) Leave oral comments
c) Use of footsteps
d) Being able to sign your name
e) Registering complaints
f) Other (please write your answer in the box below)
Question 8
In our virtual museum we have three sections for various activities:
1. An exhibition section where one can find exhibits of ancient art-work
2. A conference-rooms section for discussions about art
3. A store-gallery for viewing, buying and selling modern art-work from a variety of artists.
Please grade the level of importance of each of the above sections of a virtual museum. Grades are from a low level of importance (1) to a very high level of importance (5).
Less
1
2
3
4
5
More
An exhibition
A conference-rooms
A store-gallery
Question 9
What additional sections would you like to see in a virtual museum? (Please write your answers in the box below)
Next I want to ask you several questions about possible activities in the exhibition section of a virtual museum.
Question 10
How do you feel about the possibility of viewing the restoration state of an art object in the virtual museum? (e.g. reconstructed caryatid of the Erechtheum?) (Check one box only)
a) I like this idea
b) I don’t like this idea
Question 11
How do you feel about the possibility of seeing an art object set in a replica of its actual historic location and context? (e.g. ancient caryatids in Erechtheum in ancient Athens)
Question 12
What do you think of the possibility of seeing an ancient art object set in a replica of its modern day location and context? (e.g. ancient caryatids in Erechtheum set in modern Athens)
Question 13
What types of activities would you expect to find in the exhibition section of a virtual museum? (Please write your answer in the box below)
Next I would like to ask you several questions about possible activities that may occur in the Conference-rooms section of a virtual museum.
Question 14
How do you feel about participation in thematic meetings held in a virtual museum? (e.g. discussions about art, etc.) (Check one box only)
b) I don’t like this idea (go to question 16)
Question 15
In your opinion what types of conference-rooms should be included in the conference-rooms section of a virtual museum? Following are descriptions of 3 types of conference-rooms.
1. Private conference-room is a closed conference-room for only a few invited participants to discuss items of interest in the art world.
2. Friends’ conference-room is a conference-room for friends to discuss works-of-art.
3. Open conference-room is a conference-room that is open to all interested persons for the purpose of discussing works-of-art.
Please indicate below the importance of each type of conference-room in a virtual museum, from a low grade of 1 to a high grade of 5.
Private conference-room
Friends’ conference-room
Open conference-room
Question 16
How do you feel abut participants in open conference-rooms making presentations? (Check one box only)
Question 17
What do you think about the possibility of inviting persons who have participated in a conference-room discussion about a work-of-art to visit the location of this art-work? (e.g. taking a virtual tour, following a discussion of caryatid in a conference-room of a virtual museum, of the art-work’s historic or modern location) (Check one box only)
a) I like the idea
Question 18
What types of activities would you expect to find in the conference-rooms section of a virtual museum? (Please write your answer in the box below)
The following section of the questionnaire deals with activities you would expect to find in the store-gallery of a virtual museum.
Question 19
How do you feel abut the possibility of viewing, purchasing and/or selling modern works-of-art in a virtual museum? (Check one box only)
Question 20
How do you feel about the possibility of speaking to an artist whose work-of-art you like in the store-gallery section of a virtual museum?
Question 21
How do you feel about the possibility of visiting an artist’s virtual studio in order to view his entire collection?
Question 22
What do you think of the possibility of viewing works-of-art that you are thinking of purchasing from a virtual museum, in your personal type of setting (home, outside, etc.)
Question 23
What types of activities would you expect to find in the store-gallery of a virtual museum? (Please write your answer in the box below)
I would now like to ask you a few personal questions to help us interpret the results of the questionnaire.
Question 24
What is your gender?
a) Male
b) Female
Question 25
What is your age?
a) under 18
b) 18-24 years
c) 25-34 years
d) 35-44 years
e) 45-54 years
f) 55-64 years
g) 65 or older
Question 26
What is the highest level of education you have completed?
a) Grade school (grades 1 - 8)
b) High school (grades 9 - 12)
c) High school graduate
d) Some college or technical school
e) Bachelor’s degree or higher
Question 27
What is your profession/occupation? (Write your answer in the box below)
Question 28
Please check one of the boxes below to indicate the amount of time you usually spend using the internet (Check one option only)
Never used
Used every day
Question 29
May we contact you at a later date for follow-up questions?
a) yes (please provide your email address)
b) no
This is the end of the questionnaire. Thank you very much for participating in this study.