NATIONAL RAILWAY MUSEUM AND SPRINGBOARD UK

TEACHERS’ GUIDE TO THE STUDENT RESEARCH ACTIVITY–

Advanced
(These materials have been developed as a result of customised training supported by
the LSDA)

The purpose of the student research activity

This student research activity is designed as an additional activity for students
aged 16-18 undertaking the Advanced Leisure and Tourism Trail at the National
Railway Museum. It should help students to find out more about the NRM and
what customers think of it as a tourist/visitor attraction. The activity is relevant to
Marketing and Customer Service. It is designed for students taking
Advanced/Level 3 qualifications. The information gathered will also be helpful in
carrying out follow-up activities in class.

The brief for the research activity includes suggestions for the range of
information students need to find out, and this approach should make it possible
for students to pool their findings in the classroom, analyse the data, and obtain
some useful results. The questions suggested in the activity draw on some of the
quality criteria from the Customer Service Units of the VCE in Travel and Tourism
and the VCE in Leisure and Recreation. Many students find it difficult to relate the
theory of quality criteria to organisations, and this practical activity may help to
overcome this. More able students are likely to think of a range of additional
questions to ask visitors. If there is time before the research activity, it would be
helpful for students to design their own questionnaires.

It is important that students do not spoil the visits of other customers, however
there should be plenty of opportunities to chat with other visitors. The findings of
students can be pooled on return from the visit and analysed, then discussed.
Students should be encouraged to make a note of whether the people they talked
to were young, old, male, female etc. as this will give an indication of whether
there is a representative sample. Results will depend on the nature and extent of
questions, but should provide some useful insights from primary research.

Preparing students for the student research

activity
These notes should help teachers to prepare their students before they undertake
the research activity. Students should work individually or in pairs. It is better to
avoid working in larger groups, as this might be a nuisance. While carrying out
interviews students must wear name badges and be briefed on how to approach
visitors in an appropriate manner. Teachers must also notify the Education
Department well in advance so this can be authorised by the Visitor Services
Department.

Students should be asked to read through the activity brief so that they have a
chance to prepare their questions before carrying out the interviews.

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If it has not been possible to talk to other visitors during their visit, then students
can devise questionnaires in class on their return, and then interview other
students who went on the visit, plus the teachers who accompanied the group –
all of whom were customers of the NRM. If travelling by coach it would also be
worthwhile asking the coach driver for his/her impressions of this attraction and
how it compares with others.

Suggested approaches and answers

Once back in the classroom, teachers may find it helpful to ask students to work
in groups or as a class in order to pool their findings from the research activity
and analyse the data collected. This is also a good opportunity to discuss
objectives of surveys, approaches to questionnaire design, random sampling,
sample sizes etc.

Students will be interested to learn that the NRM belongs to the Association of
Leading Visitor Attractions (AVLA). This is an association for visitor attractions
that have over half a million visitors per year. Members pay a fee and one of the
key benefits is access to qualitative results produced by AVLA based on Quality
Benchmarking Surveys carried out with members three times a year. In 1997
ALVA commissioned research to develop a standardised survey in order to
measure and track perceptions of the visitor experience at participating members’
sites. Visitors sampled are asked questions about all aspects of their visit
including value for money, enjoyment of the experience, quality of catering,
cleanliness, retail outlets, range of merchandise, ease of finding information/staff
to help, likelihood of recommendation, familiarity with websites, transport used,
number in party, ethnic group etc. The survey results allow the NRM to compare
performance with the general performance of other attractions.

Below is an example of one question from the survey questionnaire used by

ALVA. It includes instructions to the interviewer.

ASK ALL - SHOW WHITE PAGE

7a. How do you rate your visit to [SITE NAME] today in terms of overall value for
money (all things considered)?
7b. And how do you rate your visit to [SITE NAME] today in terms of your enjoyment
overall (all things considered)?
Excellent Good Just OK Poor Very Poor
(Don’t Know)

7a. Value for money ................... … ................… .............. … ............. …............. … ....

7b. Your enjoyment overall ........ … ................… .............. … ............. …............. … ....

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The ALVA survey results are generally very favourable for the NRM. Some
findings are given in the Teachers’ Guide to the student trail activity (b).

Another example of results from the Spring 2004 survey is that 47 % of visitors to
the NRM rated the ‘Friendliness and Welcome from Staff’ as ‘Excellent’, and 53%
rated it as ‘Good’. This compares with the base figures (average of all attractions
surveyed) of 41% and 51% respectively, plus 7% rating ‘Just OK’ and 1% ‘Poor’.

Similarly, of those sampled at the NRM 91% would ‘Definitely’ recommend the
NRM to Friends or Family’, and 9% would ‘Probably recommend’, against base
figures for all attractions of 74% and 21% respectively, plus 4% of ‘Possibly’
ratings and 1% of ‘Probably not’. If students have used similar questions in their
surveys their findings can be compared with the ALVA results.

The NRM also benefits from AVLA membership through participation in meetings
at which members share best practice, access to detailed statistics, financial
benchmarking, and Mystery Shopper visits. NRM staff members carry out 6
Mystery Shopper visits each year at other attractions, in return for which the NRM
receives detailed feedback from 6 Mystery Shopper visits carried out by other
members.

The NRM also carries out its own exit surveys in August each year. These
provide quantitative data.