My (working) Research Question

Human beings have a desire to touch things.  To hold an object can allow us to gather more information about it using our senses, and give us a greater appreciation for it.  As museum professionals however, we know that oftentimes, museums aren't sites that can easily facilitate this desire.  Most of the time, museum objects aren't allowed to be touched due to their rarity, fragility, or other factors that require limited human contact with them.  There are of course exceptions, such as teaching collections and interactives that incorporate the object, but for the most part, museums are "no touch zones."  How can we as museum professionals, create solutions to fulfill the human desire to touch?  Does this desire interfere with the museum experience, or is the public acclimated to the environment of museums enough that it doesn't affect their experience?  For my thesis project, I would like to examine these ideas through the use of facsimiles, mainly those that are 3D printed or created through other relatively cheap and easy methods.
The ultimate goal of my thesis project is to answer the question: "Can facsimiles of museum objects help fulfill the desire of visitors to touch items on display?"  In order to answer this question, I will be conducting a two-part project.  In the first part, a selected object will be reproduced using 3D printing or another method available at RIT.  The AMPrint Center has some interesting ways of creating objects, and depending on what I chose to reproduce, a method other than 3D printing might be best. The goal of this phase is to create a facsimile that mirrors the original object as closely as possible, from its size, to its weight, to any textures the object might have.  This might not be possible given the available technology, but ideally, I would like for the reproduction to be as similar as possible to the original in order to effectively serve as a surrogate for it.
In the second phase of my project, the reproduced object will be placed on display in a local institution, alongside the original object.  Visitors will be encouraged to interact with the reproduction, and a visitor study survey will be conducted into how, if at all, interacting with the object enhanced their museum experience.  Did they have an initial desire to touch the original object?  Did the facsimile help to fulfill that desire?  Did it make the desire to hold the original object stronger? 
Time permitting, I would like to do this project twice; once at an institution that tends to encourage interactivity for the visitors (such as the RMSC), and once at an institution that usually doesn't allow visitors to interact in the galleries (such as the MAG).  I think this could uncover some really interesting information about what a visitor expects out of a museum visit, and how museum professionals can work to meet those expectations.

From Beth Compton: "Replicas of an ulu artifact (Ikaahuk Archaeology Project). From left to right: white 3D print, colour 3D print, handmade replica (by Tim Rast), and the original artifact excavated from Banks Island, NWT. Photograph by Beth Compton." Click here for source