We’re all ears at the Houses of Parliament

Research Problem

The Houses of Parliament were in the process of developing audio guides for visitors, but research was required to understand the content and delivery type that would best meet the needs of those visitors. In addition, they sought to understand the barriers to visiting the Houses of Parliament and how they can attract new visitors in the future.

Approach

BVA BDRC conducted several stages of research to tackle this problem. The first stage focused on non-visitors, and included an audit of ALVA Visitor Benchmarking Survey data. Findings from the audit were used to target respondents for the second stage of the research – non-visitors to the Houses of Parliament who were visiting other attractions in the area on that day.

Following the non-visitor research, the study then focused on visitors to the Houses of Parliament. We conducted exit interviews amongst audio guide and person-led guide visitors, and qualitative depth interviews with audio guide users after their visit. Visitor depth interviews were conducted using a Visitor Diary approach – a methodology that is designed to deliver granularity of response.

Outcomes

The research outlined some clear barriers to visiting the Houses of Parliament, as well as clear recommendations on how the current audio guide could be improved, and how a new audio guide should perform. The research will be central to Parliament’s new digital development.

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