Using the personal interview technique, the Milwaukee Public Museum has made a tightly controlled statistical analysis of visitor response to a series of variations on a central anthropological theme: concepts versus specimens, extensive versus minimal labeling, many specimens versus a few selected pieces, color versus monochrome presentations. Analyses have also been made of factors influencing information retention. All told, such concerns as participant characteristics, reasons for visiting the museum, needed facilities, manipulation of museum space, traffic and use patterns, visual communication, the planning and evaluation of exhibits, visitor attitudes toward West African art, and applications of programed instruction and teaching systems procedures in a museum setting, have been investigated since 1953. (A bibliography and 22 tables and illustrations are included.) (ly)