Motivations for consuming art and cultural experiences: Report to industry

With a view to obtaining a comprehensive sample of all QVMAG visitors the survey instrument was administered on both QVMAG’s sites, the museum and the art gallery. Volunteers and staff administered the survey on both sites in two sessions, morning and afternoon, with the survey period taking place over 21 days in January 2016. Posters advertising the survey and its purpose, along with tables and chairs, were placed in entrance spaces. Those administering the survey were given training and provided with a manual to assist them in answering questions. In this way we sought to avoid bias in the sample (‘interviewer bias’), where interviewers do not approach respondents randomly, but rather show a preference for a certain type of respondent. In addition, those completing the survey were ‘rewarded’ with a free cup of coffee at the on-site café. In total 2329 visitors completed a survey. This is a significant sample size, and compares very favourably to the sample size of other surveys. For example, Slater (2007) referred to in the Introduction had a sample size of 192. All the completed surveys were entered into a spreadsheet in preparation for analysis. At this point respondents that had not answered every question were removed from the dataset. A total of 2104 viable respondents remained. The survey instrument itself was divided into three major sections. The first concerned contained a combination of quantitative data questions and those where respondents could write comments relevant to their visit. The second section contained 15 questions which were measured on 5-point Likert scales ranging from Not at all to Very much. This section contained the motivation theory-based questions adapted from previous studies by Beard and Ragheb (1983) and Slater (2007). The third and final section obtained demographic data, and also sought comments from visitors about their overall experience which could then be used in support of the quantitative data obtained from the previous sections.