QBARS - v28n4 The ARS Membership Survey
The ARS Membership Survey
Hank Schannen, Princeton, N. J.
In January, the members of the American Rhododendron Society were requested to complete and return a self-administered questionnaire which was enclosed with the Quarterly Bulletin. Of the 3403 questionnaires sent out, 851 usable forms were returned, a return of 25 per cent, which is about average for a questionnaire of this length and complexity.
The Survey covered five major informational areas:
Overall attitudes toward the ARS - both the National and local chapters.
Attitudes toward a number of specific ARS issues.
Membership interests and activities.
Attitudes toward and readership of the Quarterly Bulletin.
Membership demographics.
Two general types of questions were included in the study:
One being quantitative measurements of membership attitudes consisting of "closed end" questions that have pre-listed response categories;
The second type being a qualitative measurement consisting of "free response", uncategorized, written-in answers in which members frequently expressed themselves at great length.
Reported here are only the "closed end" questions. In effect this article will serve as the ARS "report card" - communicating the quantitative results of the study, but drawing few conclusions. A later article will analyze the "free response" questions with emphasis on the qualitative side of the study.
Perhaps a few words are in order about surveys in general and this one in particular:
1. Regardless of the answer categories (or scales) used in evaluating responses, the most predicative and meaningful answer categories tend to be those which group at the extreme ends of the scale either the positive or the negative end. For example, in this study, the "Excellent" ratings (or "Poor" ratings), the "Agree Strongly" (or "Disagree Strongly") categories are those which are most sensitive in producing attitudinal differences between the total membership and its component groupings. Consequently, many of our analyses are made in reference to differences in the scale-end points.
2. A number of ARS membership sub-groups were broken out and analyzed (although not necessarily reported) in relation to the total ARS respondents. The subgroups included:
Regional groups (South, West Coast, Eastern, Northeast and Midwest)
Length of membership
Ever held ARS office or committee membership
Frequency of attending meetings
Member's interests
Home gardener/not a home gardener
Hybridizer/not a hybridizer
Seed grower/non-seed-grower
Attitude toward ARS - national and local
Attitudes toward the Bulletin
Readership of the Bulletin.
| Overall Attitudes Toward The ARS | ||||
| ARS members were asked what their overall rating would be of how the ARS is performing its functions, both on a national and local level: | ||||
| Rate the ARS | National ARS | Local Chapters |
Although the National ARS was rated "Excellent" or
"Very Good" by a greater number of the members than were the local chapters, it should be pointed out that a number of respondents were not chapter members, or had never attended a chapter meeting. This led to; their inability to evaluate the local ARS chapters and is evidenced by the larger "No answer" category for local ARS chapters. |
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| Excellent | 26% | 26% | ||
| Very Good | 42% | 33% | ||
| Good | 22% | 18% | ||
| Fair | 3% | 7% | ||
| Poor | 1% | 3% | ||
| No Answer | 6% | 13% | ||
| The "Excellent" ratings for the ARS varied by region of the country: | ||||||
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Region
|
Overall ratings of
Excellent for: |
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| National ARS | Local ARS | |||||
| Total | 26% | 26% |
The South, Northeast and Midwest gave the National ARS the highest proportion of "Excellent" ratings, while at the same time tending to give local chapters lower ratings. The West Coast gave the National ARS the lowest regional rating, while providing the local chapters with distinctly higher ratings. |
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| South | 38% | 19% | ||||
| West Coast | 22% | 29% | ||||
| East | 27% | 29% | ||||
| Northeast | 37% | 26% | ||||
| Midwest | 35% | 24% | ||||
| Those who have held office either in the national or in local chapters; or who have served on several committees, tend to rate the National ARS lower: | |
| Rate National ARS Excellent | |
| Held national/local office or served on committees | 22% |
| Never held any office or served on committees | 29% |
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Members were further asked to evaluate the ARS in terms of its current performance compared to the past: |
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| The ARS is... | Total | As in the overall ratings, the South, Northeast and Midwest tend to give the ARS its highest marks on "doing the best possible job", while the West Coast tends to give it the lowest. | ||
| Doing the best possible job | 45% | |||
| Is much improved - but below expectations | 21% | |||
| About the same as it always | 21% | |||
| Has gone slightly downhill | 3% | |||
| Has declined markedly | -- | |||
| Attitudes Toward Specific ARS Issues | ||||
| ARS members were asked to indicate how strongly they agreed or disagreed with eleven statements that deal with selected local and national ARS issues. | ||||
| Positive Statements |
Agree
Strongly |
Disagree
Strongly |
||
| National ARS should publish more books/pamphlets on rhododendrons | 44% | 3% | ||
| Local chapter meetings are lively and interesting | 34% | 3% | ||
| Major reason I belong to the ARS is to receive the Quarterly Bulletin | 31% | 7% | ||
| Special efforts are made to make new ARS members feel at home | 28% | 6% | ||
| Should be more emphasis on Study Groups in local chapters | 19% | 5% | ||
| Negative Statements | ||||
| Functions and duties of the National ARS are not important to me | 4% | 40% | ||
| Local chapter meetings are mainly social get-togethers | 4% | 35% | ||
| Local chapters tend to be run as cliques | 6% | 24% | ||
| I don't understand much about the functions of the National ARS | 11% | 14 | ||
| I don't understand much about the ARS Plant Awards program | 13% | 13% | ||
| There is not enough communication between Eastern and Western ARS members | 15% | 2% | ||
There is strong support for more publishing efforts on the part of the ARS, for the National ARS itself, for the local chapter meetings and for the Quarterly Bulletin. On the negative side, there is a significant number of members who feel there is not enough East/West communication, nor is there sufficient understanding of the Plant Awards program and the functions of the National ARS.
Membership Interests and Activities
| Members were asked to rate 20 subjects and activities as to their level of interest on a five-point scale ranging from "Extremely interested" to "Not at all interested" | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| In addition to their interests members were asked which specific activities they have engaged in within the past two years: | ||||
| Have you | Percent saying yes | A significant number of those who collected plants and seed in the wild were accounted for by ARS members in the South. | ||
| Propagated cuttings | 79% | |||
| Grown plants from seed | 69% | |||
| Made hybridizations | 35% | |||
| Collected plants in the wild | 30% | |||
| Collected seed in the wild | 22% | |||
| In addition, members were asked to classify themselves according to which description they felt best fit them: | ||
| The description that best fits is... |
Total respondents |
|
| Mainly a home gardener | 71% | |
| A collector of hybrids | 39% | |
| A collector of species | 36% | |
| A propagator | 30% | |
| Primarily a hybridizer | 15% | |
| Primarily a nurseryman | 14% | |
| An educator | 6% | |
| A scientist | 6% | |
| A botanist | 3% | |
| Over half of those responding say they attend three-fourths or more of their local chapter meetings, but nearly a third say they have hardly ever or never attended a local chapter meeting: | ||||
| Attendance at local chapter meetings... | Total respondents | |||
| Attend every one | 33% | |||
| *53% | ||||
| Attend three-fourths | 20% | |||
| Attend about half | 6% | |||
| Attend about one-quarter | 8% | |||
| Hardly ever attend | 13% | |||
| **29% | ||||
| Have never attended | 16% | |||
| *Attend all or 3/4, **Attend none or almost none. | ||||
| Attitudes Toward and Readership Of the Quarterly Bulletin | ||
| The ARS Bulletin is... | Total respondents | |
| Excellent | 48% | |
| Very good | 40% | |
| Good | 10% | |
| Fair | 2% | |
| Poor | 0% | |
| The Bulletin is rated highly by the ARS membership with close to half saying the Bulletin is "Excellent" | ||
| Readership of the Bulletin | Total respondents | |
| Read cover to cover | 58% | |
| Read about three-fourths | 29% | |
| Read about half | 9% | |
| Read about one quarter | 2% | |
| Don't read at all | 1% | |
| Correlated with their high overall opinion of the Bulletin is the membership's high readership of the Bulletin: | ||
| Selected Membership Characteristics | |
| ARS members were asked to provide certain other information about their activities. The following are gleaned from those questions: | |
| 4% | of all respondents have held a national office in the ARS |
| 29% | have held office in a local ARS chapter |
| 32% | have been a member of a local or national ARS committee |
| 17% | are members of a "study group" |
| 31% | have attended one or more annual meetings |
In summary, the membership survey has been a successful undertaking. The results, reported here are only a preliminary "report card" for the ARS provided by its membership. However, this is only a first step; a deeper analysis of the study will be made over the coming months to aid the ARS in determining which directions the membership wants the Society to take in the future.
