#74: Bridging Theory and Practice: A Design-Based Research Approach to Strengthening Evaluation in Science Museums

This design-based research study examines the relationship between evaluation theory and practice in science museums. Through interviews with six museum evaluators and a broader survey, researchers found that museum evaluators have minimal engagement with formal evaluation theory, relying instead on on-the-job training, templates, and practical tools. This tenuous practice-theory relationship stems from limited formal evaluation training, with most evaluators entering the field through adjacent roles rather than intentional career planning. While evaluators do reference some pragmatic frameworks, they more commonly draw from concrete resources and theories from adjacent fields such as education and psychology. This work-in-progress outlines the first phase of a multi-phase DBR project aimed at co-designing a professional learning tool that strengthens evaluation theory use among science museum evaluators. This research demonstrates how learning sciences methodologies can advance understanding of learning in informal contexts while simultaneously contributing to practice-based theory development in evaluation.