Belem Barbosa

Do open day events develop art museum audiences

For museums, developing audiences means both attracting non-visitors to their venues, and improving repeat visitors’ attendance patterns and experience. Audience development strategies encourage museums to create open door events in order to deal with barriers preventing a wider audience from becoming their visitors, and to build stronger relationships with their current visitors. Satisfaction is expected to influence future buying decisions – i.e., intention to return and to recommend. Will a satisfying experience at a museum event improve event goers’ visiting patterns? This research aims to ascertain the effects of attending open day events on the development of art museum audiences. We present the findings of exploratory quantitative research using the personal interview survey method. Our results indicate that open day events have potential to develop audiences, as such events eliminate attendance barriers, attract first time visitors and provide trial experiences for potential museum visitors. However, the positive association between event experience and intention to return to the museum on an ordinary day was not statistically supported by this study.

Man Thou Art Dust: Rites of Passage in Austere Times

In response to recent calls for further cross-disciplinary research on austerity and a deeper sociological understanding of the impact and aftermath of the economic crisis on individuals and societies, this article builds on extant austerity literature through an exploration of its effects on European men. Informed by theories of liminality and rites of passage, this qualitative investigation examines the experience of austerity from the perspective of 11 men through the three liminal stages of separation, transition and reaggregation and investigates its impact on their identity, responsibilities and expectations. Our findings reveal the negative experiences of alienation and outsiderhood alongside positive experiences of communitas, solidarity and comradeship. The study provides a nuanced understanding of modern male Europeans and their ‘rites of passage’ through austere times.

Insights into the expectations of mobility students: the impact of Erasmus in their future professional careers

This work is financially supported by National Funds through FCT – Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia, I.P., under the project UID/CED/00194/2013.

Ethical Challenges in Researching with Children: An Application Adopting a Mixed Method Approach

Applying ethical principles to research is essential to ensure both participants’ universal rights and data quality. From the ethical point of view, researching with children poses additional challenges in designing the research, collecting and analysing data. The ethical principles generally accepted in scientific research are complementary, yet presenting conflicts that must be anticipated and mitigated by the researcher. This article explores the application of ethical principles in research with children, considering the different stages of research and both quantitative and qualitative research, proposing a set of six ethical principles to be applied before, during, and after the collection of data. The text includes examples from research adopting a mixed-method approach which involved 779 participants aged 7 to 15 years old. The study demonstrates that there is a strong interdependence among ethical principles applicable to research with children, not devoid of contradictions. Even widely accepted principles such as informed consent are complex and multifaceted. Moreover, the adoption of mixed methodology, in this particular case, has proven to be able to create ethic synergies, making the research globally more balanced.