Abstract
The recent International Council of Museums discussion about the new museum definition encapsulates the significant changes that the sector has faced in the last decade. These transformations are also reflected in a methodological turn that has invested museum studies through promoting a growing implementation of interdisciplinary research methodologies. Being organisations, the work of museums is also based on daily administrative and institutional processes, thus methodologies employed to investigate everyday policies and organisational life-worlds can be pivotal in understanding museum practices and their evolution as a whole. Focusing on the use of social research methods, this paper shows the potential of the application of these approaches to the analysis of museum practices. The study explores the use of quantitative content analysis in the study of museum collections and qualitative ethnographic observations conducted in museum spaces both with visitors and museum professionals. The discussion is drawn on theory as well as on empirical researches conducted as part of two PhD projects: one investigating the art museums’ context in South America and the other examining large-scale EU-funded museum partnership in Europe. The heterogeneity of the case-studies analysed allows arguing how these methodologies also respond to diverse cultural contexts offering new modalities of representations. The paper shows how using social research methods contribute to addressing issues of social inclusiveness and advocating a more democratic and participatory culture in today’s museum practices. Through embracing interdisciplinary approaches, museum research can adapt to the current social responsibilities of museums and effectively contribute to the future.
Presenters
Catalina Urtubia FigueroaGraduate Teaching Assistant, School of Education, Communication, and Society, King's College London Elena Terranova
PhD Candidate and Graduate Teaching Assistant, Culture, Media, and Creative Industries, King's College London, United Kingdom
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Interdisciplinary Museum Studies, Social Research Methods, Interdisciplinary Research Methods
Digital Media
This presenter hasn’t added media.
Request media and follow this presentation.
