Abstract
This study discusses the complex nature of visitors' evaluation of an historical district, and proposes a theoretical framework and qualitative methods to elicit relations between visitors' mental states and the district's features. The combination of Repertory Grid Analysis and Laddering Analysis with the use of photographs as stimuli is discussed and demonstrated. Results show that these methods can shed light on the varied nature of visitors' evaluation. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.