Most museum professionals are familiar with the terminology of “front-end” and “formative” evaluation. But for higher ed and performing arts folks, a little translation is required: they tend to think in terms of "exploratory research" and "concept testing," instead.
(There’s also “summative” or outcomes evaluation, but since that’s usually done with surveys, we’ve filed it under quantitative methods.)
Front-end evaluation is about exploring what visitors want to learn or experience in an exhibit or education program you’re creating and is done at the beginning of a project, before you’ve made many content or design decisions. Formative evaluation is about testing the effectiveness and appeal of what you’re creating and is done when things are still in draft, planning, or design stages.
Of course, those functions are necessary in the performing arts and higher education, too; they’re just called by different names (like “exploratory research” and “concept testing”). Both are crucial for any organization developing new forms of engaging or communicating with its audiences—from a new website or an alternative subscription package to a major rebranding or innovative new exhibit. Front-end and formative studies bring your audiences into the conversation about what’s possible and what’s working best...while there’s still time to benefit from their input.
Successful cultural and educational organizations tend to do front-end or exploratory research early in the game, to inform the staff’s preliminary brainstorming about the project. Too often, “front-end” research really becomes formative evaluation of concepts they’ve already developed, at which point the audience’s own expectations and ideas are relegated to the background. To paraphrase the old joke about voting in Chicago: evaluate early and often.
Front-end and formative research usually involve qualitative techniques like interviews or focus groups, sometimes with an element of ethnography (observation). The goal is to identify the relevant issues and understand how people respond, which are things that qualitative research does well. Sometimes, though, it’s appropriate to use quantitative—that is, survey-based—evaluation techniques. The right tools depend on what kind of the project you’re evaluating, who the target audience is, and other situational factors.
