Highline Heritage Museum
February, 2004 Survey Results

In February of 2004, the Highline Historical Society distributed a survey to 700 members of the Highline community soliciting advice about the exhibit content of the proposed Highline Heritage Museum, now in the planning stage. Surveys were distributed to the members of the Society (which includes a number of pioneer families and long-time residents), staff members of Highline cities, current and retired schoolteachers, honors high school history students and 75 business owners in Highline. Three hundred thirty seven surveys were returned, an extremely large response of 48%.

In the four accompanying charts some of the initial results that provide specific answers have been compiled.

Chart #1 is the response to the question that said: I believe our new museum should have strong historical representation in the following areas. Respondents were asked to rank 17 items from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree. The chart titled “Areas of strong historical representation” reflects the ranking of the Strongly Agree column.

Chart #2 is a bar chart that reflects the respondents’ opinions as to who would be the museum’s primary members and visitors.

Chart #3 is the response to the question that said: I most enjoy museum exhibits with the following styles. Respondents were asked to rank 5 items from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree. The chart titled “Preferred museum exhibit styles” reflects the ranking of the Strongly Agree column.

Chart #4 is the response to the question that said: How important is it for a museum to have…? Respondents were asked to rank 8 types of museum spaces from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree. The chart titled “Importance of types of spaces” reflects the ranking of the Strongly Agree column.

Although the results of the survey were anonymous, respondents were given an option to provide biographical information of a statistical nature. Approximately two thirds of respondents provided their occupation and age. Seventy-eight respondents were under the age of 20 (students). The ages of remainder were evenly distributed by decade, with 13 responding who were over the age of 80.

Some of the representative occupations listed by respondents ranged from teachers (current and retired)(14), to elected officials, librarians, an editor, city employees, current and retired Boeing employees (20), veterinary worker, business owners, accountants, airline workers, housewives, mail carrier, security guard, retired military officers, a receptionist, retired tax consultant, city planner, criminal investigator for the Public Defender, privacy director for a dot com company, pizza store owner, retired and current pilots, retired airline sales exec., an elevator inspector, health care administrator, art specialist, church treasurer, bowling alley owner and a Starbucks employee.