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Results of 1997 WODC Membership Survey

Background

In February of 1997, questionnaires were mailed to all WODC members along with their annual membership renewal notices. A total of 393 questionnaires were distributed: 243 to individual members and 150 to family members. By September of 1997, 168 replies were received. The excellent response rate of 43% helps assure good accuracy when applying the results to the entire membership.

Section I: About Yourself

1. How many years have you been a WODC member?

The x-axis shows the length of membership. Answers ranged from 1 to 60 years. The y-axis shows the corresponding percentage of the 166 members who responded to this question. For example, 17% of members have belonged to WODC for one year.

Nine members answered "don't remember" or "long time." Two others did not answer the question at all. Neither group is represented in the chart.

2. Do you belong to other outdoor organizations? If yes, please list those in which you are most active.

The pie chart combines the answers to these two questions. Twenty-six percent answered "No", and are show as being a member of "No Other" organizations. Seventy-four percent answered "yes". They are broken down according to the number of other organizations they belong to. "Not specified" identifies the fraction of members who do belong to at least one other organization, but did not list them by name.

This chart identifies the specific organizations to which WODC members belong. The x-axis shows the fraction of respondents that belong to each organization. For example, 45% of WODC members also belong to the AMC.

The chart shows all organizations to which at least two respondents belong. "All Other" totals the 30 other organizations to which only one respondent belongs. "Unspecified" shows the 14 respondents who said they do belong to other organizations, but did not list them.

3. Do you volunteer for any of these organizations? If yes, which ones, and in what capacity.

Out of 168 respondents, 35% volunteer for at least one other organization. (Response to the second part of this question was difficult to summarize and is not included here.)

4. What is your age?

5. Where is your primary residence?

The question asked for city and state. Only the state is shown here. All states with two or more members are listed in the chart. States with only one member are combined in "All Other."

Those living in the "Wonalancet area" were asked to skip to question 9.

If outside the Wonalancet area, do you have a seasonal home/camp in the area?

The size of the "No answer" category is primarily due to the people who skipped to question 9, as requested.

6. During what months of the year do you visit the Wonalancet area?

136 respondents answered this question. The chart shows the fraction of 136 that specified each month. Those living in Wonalancet were asked to skip this question, which accounts for a lower response rate than on other questions.

7. How far is your primary residence from the Wonalancet area?

The question asked for a specific distance, in miles. The results have been combined into the groupings shown. For those who did not answer this question, the distance was estimated based on the primary residence given in answer to question 5.

8. When was the last time you visited the Wonalancet area?

Out of a total of 168 respondents, 143 answered this question. (Those living in Wonalancet were asked to skip this question.) The chart shows the percentage of 143 that checked each category. Of the 25 who did not answer this question, most indicated that they live within 20 miles of Wonalancet.

9. How many times did you use the trails in the Wonalancet area last year?

All 168 respondents answered this question. 87% indicated that they had used the trails at least once in the last year.

10. How many times did you back-country camp in the Wonalancet area in the last 2 years?

All but one respondent answered this question. Only 22% had camped in the Wonalancet area in the last two years.

10B. Where did you camp?

Of the 22% who had back-country camped in the last two years, this chart shows where they camped. All locations cited in at least two replies are listed individually. The "All Other" category is composed of 20 distinct locations, each cited only once. The total of all locations is more than 100% because many people cited multiple locations.

Section II: Membership Information

11. How did you find out about the WODC?

166 respondents answered this question. Many people checked more than one category, resulting in a total percentage greater than 100.

The respondents that wrote in "family" or "friend" have been included under "Word of Mouth". Those that wrote in the name of another organization have been included in "Other Org." The 15 remaining answers did not fit any of the categories and are shown as "Other." Of these, 9 were "long time members" and 2 saw newspaper articles.

12. How many other WODC members do you know?

162 people answered this question.

13. Have you ever attended a WODC Annual Meeting?

All 168 respondents answered this question, with 52 in the affirmative.

14. For family memberships, how many people do you include in that membership?

Of the 168 surveys returned, 67 (40%) indicated a family membership by answering "2" or more. This compares favorably to WODC membership records, which lists 38% of memberships as families.

Totaling the number of people in the 67 family responses yields 185 persons, for an average of 2.76 people per family. Using this average, and the actual membership counts from February 1997, we can project the number of individuals represented by all WODC memberships:

243 Individuals x 1 = 243
150 Families x 2.76 = 441
Total number of persons 684

15. What WODC activities are you interested in volunteering for?

Out of 168 surveys returned, 88 indicated a willingness to volunteer in at least one category, with 77 providing their name and address.

Section III: WODC Programs & Activities

In this section, members were asked to rate the importance of various Club activities and programs on a scale from 1 (Most Important) to 4 (Not Important.) The results are represented in two forms:

1) The "raw" response to each question is shown by a series of bars that represent the percentage of 1, 2, 3, and 4 ratings that each item received. This percentage is based on the 163 people that answered at least part of this section.

Example: On question 16, the WODC Map & Guide was rated "most important" by 79%, "very important" by 14%, "somewhat important" by 5%, and "not important" by 1%. The clustering of responses indicates a consensus (or lack thereof) on each item. The bars are shorter on some graphs than others due to a lower response rate and/or wider distribution of answers.

2) To gauge the overall importance of each activity, an average "score" was calculated using the following scale:

1 (Most Important) = 100%
2 (Very Important) = 67%
3 (Somewhat Important) = 33%
4 (Not Important) = 0%

The average score for each item is shown by a solid box which is marked with the actual score. When evaluating the overall scores, remember the scale as defined above. A 33% score is not a negative rating. It still means the item received a "Somewhat Important" rating.

Example: On question 16, the overall score for the WODC Map & Guide was 91%.

16. Importance of Member Services

Although merchandise received the lowest "somewhat important" rating, this was associated with comments like "good if it brings in revenue."

17. Importance of Trail Activities

18. Importance of Advocacy Activities

19a. Importance of WODC Programs

19b. Best Day & Time for activities

The chart shows the breakdown of the 129 people who answered at least part of this question.

20a. Do you support the WODC's traditional pedestrian use only policy?

The response to this question was overwhelming, with ten people providing emphasis such as "absolutely!" Only four members answered "No", and only one of those suggested a motorized use.

There were, however, 18 suggestions from both groups for "other uses":

9 (5%) Mountain Biking
4 (2%) Horses
2 (1%) Handicapped use
1 Goats
1 Snowmobiles

Five people (3%) also suggested Skiing. Others probably considered skiing to fall under "pedestrian use" and therefore didn't suggest it separately.

20b. Would you support acquisition of land or building for WODC clubhouse?

Judging from several comments, some respondents answered "No" because they took this question to mean financial support. This implies that somewhat more than the reported 48% would support a clubhouse in theory, while less than 48% would provide direct financial support.

20c. Percentage of respondents who provided their name and/or address

The questionnaire allowed respondents to provide their name and address, if they wished. A surprising 77% did so.