In this article, we reflect on the experience of the implementation and maintenance of an ‘extended’ model of production and dissemination of statistical information about the museological reality in Portugal in place in 2000-2012. We aim to reflect on its main features and challenges, both methodological and political. Among those challenges was the articulation of the research component, on one hand, with the public policies, and with the official statistics on the other. The research device adopted in this model, from which the bdmuseus project was the most important component, settled on a mixed methods strategy which allied the fieldwork and the collection of information through secondary sources to the quantitative/extensive data collection for the permanent census and the characterization of the museums. The model adopted was based on the production and dissemination of series of statistical indicators over a long period of time. Thereby provided to the public governance board of Culture relevant and detailed information in order to maintain updated knowledge of the Portuguese museums’ panorama, essential to the definition, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of public policies. Also, this model supported the sustained and regular update of official national statistics. And, more generally, allowed numerous reflections about the museums in Portugal in several complementary analytical levels.

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Politicas culturais,Estatísticas da cultura,Museus,Rede Portuguesa de Museus