Working at the Intersection: A Demonstration of Descriptive Intersectional Analyses

Abstract

This methodology review was designed to demonstrate the additional nuance and guidance that demographic data can provide when using intersectional descriptive analyses to understand visitors and non-visitors. Using data from planetarium email lists (one per regional organization in the United States), as well as through a market research survey of residents in each area, both traditional and intersectional descriptive analyses are used to describe and compare those who did and did not visit four types of informal science institutions (ISIs) in recent years (natural history museums, planetariums, science or technology museums, and zoos or aquariums). The results confirmed several patterns found in other studies focused on ISIs and demonstrate the additional nuance that can be gleaned from intersectional descriptive approaches.

Keywords:

• Demographics
• intersectional
• informal science institutions

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 To our knowledge, the only study of planetarium visitation in the literature was generated from the data used for this demonstration paper (Peterman et al., 2022).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by NASA TEAMS II (grant no. #80NSSC20M0028).

Notes on contributors

Karen Peterman

Karen Peterman, PhD, is President of Catalyst Consulting Group, where she leads research, evaluation, and strategic planning related to STEM education programs. Her work in informal education contexts has included studies of museums, science festivals, citizen science programs, and public engagement with science.

Jane Robertson Evia

Jane Robertson Evia, PhD, is a Collegiate Associate Professor in the Department of Statistics at Virginia Tech. Jane’s research areas include statistics education, science communication, and data visualization. She is a Fellow at the Virginia Tech Center for Communicating Science, where she conducts informal education research.

Keshia Martin

Keshia Martin, MEd, MS, is a Research Associate with Catalyst Consulting Group, where she supports research and evaluation of STEM education programs.

Sally Brummel

Sally Brummel, MEd, is the Planetarium Manager of the Bell Museum. She has worked in planetarium education, production, and logistics for over 20 years and has managed projects supported by the Minnesota legislature, the American Alliance of Museums, and NASA.

Holly L. Menninger

Holly Menninger, PhD, is Interim Executive Director of the Bell Museum. Menninger has extensive experience in the areas of informal science learning and public engagement with science, particularly leading museum interpretive efforts and university-based public science programs.