A Study on the Types and Characteristics of Visitors' Behavior in a Science Museum - Focused on the Mutual Influence of Family Visitors -

과학관 관람행태의 유형과 특성에 관한 연구 - 가족 관람객 상호작용을 중심으로 -

The purpose of this study was to classify types of family visitors' behaviors more concretely, which could be useful in planning of exhibition spaces in a science museum, with given priority to their behaviors according to interaction between them, and to understand characteristics of the behaviors. With this view, the scope of this study was restricted to subjects, who were family visitors of Gwacheon National Science Museum, consisting of parents and their one elementary school child per family unit. For understanding their behaviors, itinerary tracking and observation method of behavior were conducted. Moreover, for understanding substantial types and characteristics of family visitors' behaviors, multivariate analysis was applied. Accordingly, the results of the study are as follows. First, as a result of factor analysis, two main factors were derived. In other words, they were 'Durability of viewing' as the first and 'Interactivity between family members' as the second, which were shown valid in classification of the types of their behaviors. Second, according to the factors derived, the types of their behaviors were classified into in-depth cooperative viewing, selective independent viewing, interest concentration child-led viewing and consideration parent-led viewing. They were shown valid in topological localization and classification, as a result of analysis of the main factors. Third, in view of common characteristics of the types, it is judged that active orientation prior to regular viewing could encourage visitors coming to the museum for the first time to feel more friendly to unfamiliar exhibition environments, during the initial seek time, and to reduce visual supersaturation. Fourth, it is judged that distributed arrangement of exhibits, which result in continuous standby, could avoid confused visitor circulation by the estimated time required for viewing.