by AMANDA KRANTZ, RANDI KORN, AND MARGARET MENNINGER

Understanding visitors is a necessary and complex undertaking. In this article, we present K-means cluster analysis as one strategy that is particularly useful in unpacking the complex nature of museum visitors.

Three questions organize the article and are as follows:

1. What is K-means cluster analysis?
2. How is K-means cluster analysis conducted?
3. Most importantly: What are the applications of K-means cluster analysis for museum practitioners?

To answer these questions, we present five steps that are vital to conducting a K-means cluster analysis.

We also present three cases studies to demonstrate differences among the results of three K-means cluster analyses and provide practical applications of the findings.