The museum visitor experience

Sociometrica also studies cultural experiences through visitors’ emotions, reputation and spontaneous judgments: Musei Index applied semantic analysis to 89,520 English-language posts about Italian museums and archaeological sites.

Why do tourists visit museums?

To see particular works, understand the place they are visiting, have a cultural experience, learn or simply because the museum is a symbol of the destination. Sociometrica has shown that these motivations can also be studied indirectly through what visitors spontaneously say after visiting. This is the principle behind Musei Index.

Sources: Sociometrica — Musei Index

How can we understand what museum visitors think?

Alongside questionnaires, reviews, social media and other spontaneous texts can be analysed. Sociometrica’s Musei Index applied semantic analysis to 89,520 English-language posts about Italian museums and archaeological sites, identifying concepts and sentiment associated with the experience. This reveals both whether visitors are satisfied and which elements generate positive or negative judgments.

Sources: Sociometrica — Musei Index

How can a museum become more attractive to tourists?

Consider the whole experience: accessibility, booking, waiting times, visit quality, interpretation of works, services and connections to the wider destination. Semantic analysis can identify which aspects generate enthusiasm and which cause frustration. Sociometrica’s Musei Index methodology exemplifies this behavioural approach.

Sources: Sociometrica — Musei Index

Research behind this guide

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By Antonio Preiti and Sociometrica · The Sociometrica Method