InputsFundingFunding covers all financial inflow of a science

Inputs

Funding

Funding covers all financial inflow of a science center, this can be in many ways but includes governmental funding, access fees and supporting partners. As with every sort of institute a science museum will not survive without financial support to perform its daily functioning. Given that a science center needs funding for staff, exhibitions and publicity, it can be stated that science centers with high quality in these aspects, also have a healthy financial system.

Staff and volunteers

Employees of the science centers play a significant role in the whole experience of the visitor, as they come in contact with them from the very first moment at the desk or in the facilities, such as a cloakroom or gift shop.

Apart from that, there are guides or people who look after a particular section about which they should be able to provide relevant information about. Knowledgeable, kind and willing staff is usually key to any kind of institution, including the science centers.

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They should be able to provide accurate information and answer all possible questions during an exhibition. Mondo describes the human element as an indicators regarding the relationship between the visitor and the service provider. Employee behaviour will impact customer service quality, so they are trained to be responsive and empathic (Mondo 2014).

If we know how visitors would want the staff to operate and whether their wishes are answered or not by a science center; that would provide us with information to determine whether improvement is necessary and/or the quality is high enough for VSC membership.

Hence our first subquestion on this dimension;

1. Staff/Inputs

What expertise and level of professionality do visitors expect from a science center employee?

Outputs

Exhibitions & exhibits

This is the alfa omega of the science center. It is the main reason why visitors come and what the staff is working on. It can differ between target groups, as some of the exhibitions can be made especially for children. However, in general it should provide scientific, expert information to the visitor in an understandable way, so that it can educate them. Quality of the scientific center is in this case represented by how interesting the content is and how it is perceived by the customers. The environment where the exhibition is situated also affects the overall feeling. It is described by Mondo as an indicator that refers to a more subjective view of the location's comfort and enjoyment. It considers the atmosphere of the service, physical design or decorative elements (Mondo 2014).

Programs

Science centers, whether or not they have an exhibition, usually offer a variety of programs. Those can be specialized for people with disability or elderly people in terms of accessibility, price and even the content itself. There can be programs for young children with the exhibitions adjusted to their level. The children can learn about a topic often in a playful, creative way, which makes it for them easier to remember and therefore is a welcomed change in contrast with the regular school lessons. Science centers often come with the opportunity of youth programs which can help to decide about future careers of participants. There is evidence that these programs encouraged youngsters to scientific studies and later pursuing a scientific career (Woolnough 1994). It can be also an opportunity for science communities to meet, discuss and share the knowledge. The variety and level of mentioned programs affect all kinds of people, even from scientific spheres, and shapes the quality of scientific center.

Website/Software

All of the necessary information, including the prices of tickets, current exhibitions or events which are in the program of the museum are most often obtained from the internet. Science centers nowadays should have a well-arranged website with all kinds of information the visitor might look for. It is an important aspect of how the public sees the whole institution.

Present-day, the online presence of a museum is no longer just for providing information about visiting the museum, as from the twenty-first century there is a phenomenon of digital museums that might be visited by users in everyday life described by Paul F. Marty. Museum professionals can provide expertise information uniquely designed for the needs of visitors. Most frequently they look for online images of artifacts or collections (64 % of museum visitors are very likely to use these images), as well as they want to use the web site for research materials (where 62,4 % of visitors would likely use the online archives in their daily lives) (Marty 2008).

Publications

Scientific centers should also focus on doing research and publishing scientific articles, as it should be the forefront of advocating the relevance and importance of any type of research presenting it to the public. Research supports any kind of centers activity such as running educational activities or acquiring and disposing objects. Also policies are shaped by research and it helps the center to maintain a respectful reputation (Museums, Galleries in Scotland 2019).

Business activities

Income of the science center comes from various ways including internal and external business enterprises. Others are governmental funding, donors or visitors (Garnett 2002). The income of a museum is used for its daily tasks, thus to provide salary for the staff, to develop new programs and to upkeep the current content. As more money means more opportunities for science centers to develop, a science center will always strive to attract business partners to increase their income.

Media

This represents the effect of science centers on the local/national/international media coverage such as TV, radio, internet or printed news. The impact of science centers can be also measured by how frequently it appears in any type of media. If media mentions scientific centers, their exhibitions or programs, this definitely raises awareness, from which a center can profit by gaining on popularity and importance. However, it depends on the context of its media appearance. The role of social media is described by Lisanne den Admirant. It is further emphasized by the more frequent presence of social media within high-cultural organisations. Hence, the necessity arose to engage a prospective and current audience through social media. Nowadays, it should be an integral part of the communication mix (Admirant 2014).

2. Outputs

- What kind of content do different visitors and directors value the most in a science center?

- What content, offered in the science center, online and through science communication, do visitors and directors think determines the quality of a science center?

If this information contradicts with what type of content science centers offer, then this is indicative for a degree of quality that would not be high quality.