Mystery Shopping

Mystery shopping is a great method for providing qualitative and quantitative feedback on establishments and bureaucratic organizations.  Unfortunately, I was unable to discover a "mystery shop" assignment for my thesis research from here in the United States.  However, I was still interested in learning the method firsthand so I devised a new objection for this particular method: "mystery shopping" the Smart Museum on the campus of the University of Chicago.

I visited the Smart Museum with my family who were visiting Chicago from Indianapolis.  I instructed them to pose as regular visitors to understand what steps the museum must undertake to improve their service and visitor satisfaction.  Overall, the mystery shopping was a very interesting exercise.  My family’s experiences left me with many ideas to enhance the visitor’s experience at the Smart Museum of Art, including additional interactive exhibits and more family-friendly material.  

To be honest, I really enjoyed "mystery shopping" because the whole process made me feel like a spy on an secret mission.  From what they told me, my family also enjoyed the thrill of being undercover at a museum.  The method produced useful visitor feedback for the museum as well.


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