Evaluation and research
Currently, the visitor studies research community has largely relegated behavioristoriented
research to the background and seeks to employ methods that are more consistent
with constructivist views of education, adapted from general social science
research practices applied to educational research. Thus, conversational analysis
(Leinhardt et al. 2002) and socio-cultural theory (Leinhardt et al. 2002; Paris 2002),
as well as concept mapping (chapter 19) and other naturalistic methods, are considered
more appropriate to investigating learning in museums than experimental
design approaches (Hein 1997; see also chapter 22). However, it is important to
acknowledge that only behavior, not mental processes, are directly observable by
common social science methods, and all analytic tools require interpretation by
humans who always bring cultural biases to their analysis.