D ATA C OLLECTION AND A NALYSIS

This research choses methodological triangulation for the sake of data richness as well as its creditability and validity from cross verification of the three sources of evidence—semi-structured interviews, direct observation and documents (Flick 2007). Here the interview data is used as the primary source for subsequent evaluations while the other two serve as different vantage points for a supplement, validation or interrogation of the main evidence. The details of relevant data collection are explained as below:

 Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the visitors and managers of the three cases in order to acquire in-depth personal and institutional narratives for a later analysis of their underlying motives, beliefs, attitudes and preferences within the necessary framework (Kvale 2007). Two interview guides worked as the fundamental layout for both stages of interviews (see Table 3.1 and 3.2). The listed themes and related basic questions were only referred at every topical transition during an interview, which in turn allowed considerable flexibility and openness for more specific lines of inquiry emerging during the process of the conversations.

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Table 3.1 The interview guide for visitors

General info Which museums have you visited here?

What brought you there?

Where are you from?

Experience How was your visiting experience there?

What impressed you most? How and why?

Which museums do you like most? Why?

Which one would you visit again or recommend to others? Why?

Compared to other leisure options, what do you think of it?

Learning Do you think the museums enhance your related understanding better?

Did their exhibitions raise your learning interest? How and why?

Perceptions What do you think of the integrity of the museums with the surroundings? Why?

Any differences in your perception of Liverpool before and after the museum visits?

What are they and why?

Table 3.2 The interview guide for managers

Exhibition What are your principles of exhibition development? Why?

How do you decide what to be interpreted and how it is presented?

How often do you review and renew your exhibitions?

How do you balance different expectations between local and nonlocal visitors?

Learning How do you live up to your educational role?

Perceptions How do you think of your role in shaping cultural identity and image of Liverpool?

Comparison What is your relationship with the other museums here?

How do you think the museum experiences they offer?

As for the choice of the interviewees, this study used purposive sampling, and 27 visitors were interviewed based on a geographical convenience of the clustered museums and the adjoining waterfront. The first criterion of a proper visitor interviewee was that he or she must have visited at least two of the cases for an immediate cross-comparison. Secondly, given that the collections of the cases all center on urban heritage closely related to a specific locality and people, the places

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of origin and age groups were the other two criteria for an insight into visitors’

perceptional discrepancy of the museum experiences resulted from their different levels of connections to Liverpool and their age-related memories. As such, the interviewees were roughly divided into three categories with similar proportions as much as possible: local residents, nonlocal British and foreigners as well as the young, middle-aged and elders. Children and organized school trips were not considered here in view of their general inclination and less relevance to the research issues. At the end of the investigation, the background distributions of the interviewees in terms of places of origin and age groups were 13 local residents, 5 nonlocal British and 9 foreigners as well as 13 youngsters, 6 middle-aged and 8 elders (see Table 3.3). The length of a visitor interview was expected around 15 minutes, considering such length shall be sufficient for inducing rich descriptions with appropriate interviewing techniques and may not over interfere with an interviewee’s schedule. Yet it turned out to vary between 2 to 40 minutes according to the interviewees’ will. As for the managerial interviews, 6 key interviewees were selected on account of their representativeness and functions in museum operations which can be categorized into top management, education and curatorship (see Table 3. 4) The objective is to find out the ideologies and goals behind the operational concepts for the research issues. The actual length of interview ranged from 30 to 45 minutes according to the interviewees’ availability.

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Table 3.3 The visitor interviewee table based on the interview order

Visited Museums Place of Origin Age Group Code

MM, ML, BS ¹ Foreigner Young V1

MM, ML Local resident Middle-aged V12

MM, ML Local resident Middle-aged V13

MM, ML, BS Local resident Middle-aged V14

MM, ML Local resident Elder V15

ML, BS Nonlocal British Middle-aged V16

MM, ML, BS Local resident Young V17

MM, ML, BS Nonlocal British Middle-aged V27

1The above abbreviations “MM”, “ML” and “BS” respectively stand for the Merseyside Maritime

Museum, the Museum of Liverpool, and the Beatles Story.

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Table 3.4 The managerial interviewee table

Institution Title Code

National Museums Liverpool Director of Marketing & Communications M1 National Museums Liverpool Curator of Contemporary Collecting M2

National Museums Liverpool Senior Education Manager M3

Museum of Liverpool Executive Director M4

Beatles Story Managing Director M5

Liverpool City Council World Heritage Officer M6

 Direct observation was conducted before the interviews to establish an on-the-spot awareness of the museum current exhibitions, operations and visitor reactions. The researcher spent 4 days to monitor all aspects of the three cases that seemed relevant to the research issues, and the observed museums were unaware that they were being examined. The resulted data recorded by the field notes and pictures could not only provides real-time information and alternative perspectives but also facilitated the researcher’s sensitivity and judgement for subsequent interviews and data analysis (Angrosino 2007).

 Documents were also used for building a contextual knowledge of the three cases and answering the research questions. The data from the official museum websites, museum publications, local newspapers as well as academic and governmental reports offers the research the institutional and public textual narratives. Meanwhile, the museum guest books also allow for supplementary information to the visitor’s point of view.

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With regard to the data analysis, the raw data of the above methodological triangulation was all organized into conceptual categories by simple coding in order to effectively distinguish the evidence that could provide clues to the research questions.

As to the specific methods for each source of evidence, the conversations in the interviews were firstly transcribed into texts and coded according to the research rationale mentioned in Chapter 2.5. The coded data was then studied through narrative analysis which analyzed the use of language and the meaning embedded in the verbal texts so as to draw out the implied phenomenon and possible reasons. On the other hand, the data from direct observation and documents was examined through content analysis where the researcher systematically identified and analyzed the characteristics of the contents, including the words, meanings, pictures, symbols, themes or any other messages that seemed to communicate, and thereby made necessary inferences for the research questions.

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