A Report
on
2014 ASURA Survey
Prepared by
Barry McNeill
With Input From
Elmer Gooding Gary Kleemann Glenn Irvin Bill Moor
Table of Contents
Contents
Preface ............................................................................................................................. i
Executive Summary .........................................................................................................ii
Survey Background ......................................................................................................ii
Survey Conclusions ..................................................................................................... iii
Sample Recommendations ..........................................................................................iv
Background ..................................................................................................................... 1
Survey Data .................................................................................................................... 2
Data Preparation.......................................................................................................... 2
Member Survey Cohorts .............................................................................................. 2
Survey Confidence ...................................................................................................... 3
Measuring Effectiveness .............................................................................................. 3
Discussion Tables and Charts ..................................................................................... 4
Interpreting the Data .................................................................................................... 5
Response Percentages ............................................................................................ 5
Rating Averages....................................................................................................... 5
Effectiveness ............................................................................................................ 5
Discussion of Results ...................................................................................................... 6
Demographics ............................................................................................................. 6
What is Most Important? .............................................................................................. 7
Building Membership ................................................................................................... 9
How do Retirees Become Aware of ASURA? .......................................................... 9
Why are retirees joining ASURA? .......................................................................... 10
Why are retirees not joining ASURA? .................................................................... 11
Why are members leaving ASURA? ...................................................................... 12
Better Service ............................................................................................................ 13
ASURA Advocacy Efforts ....................................................................................... 13
Seminars, Travel, Luncheons, and Golf ................................................................. 16
Event Attendance ................................................................................................... 18
Keeping Members Informed ................................................................................... 19
Communication Methods ....................................................................................... 23
Community Outreach Programs ................................................................................ 25
A Few Sample Recommendations ................................................................................ 26
Table of Contents
Advocacy Efforts Need to Be Reviewed .................................................................... 26
Review Membership Recruiting ................................................................................. 27
Review Membership Mailing Policy ........................................................................... 27
Consider Enhancing How ASURA Uses Prime Times ............................................... 28
Consider Enhancing the Use of ASURA Website ...................................................... 28
Board Committee Member Generated Recommendation .......................................... 28
Appendix A - Never Joined Survey ............................................................................... 29
Appendix B - Lapsed Member Survey ........................................................................... 31
Appendix C - Member Survey ....................................................................................... 33
A Report on ASURA Spring 2014 Survey
Preface
This report is an attempt to stimulate Board discussion and to begin the process of the
ASURA Board using the data collected in the 2014 ASURA survey. While the report
discussion covers a number of what appear to be important issues the report should not
be taken as an exhaustive review of the survey data. Nor should the conclusions drawn
from the data given be taken as irrefutable. There are many ways of interpreting the
data and drawing conclusions; the Board will need to think about drawing its own
conclusions. Finally the recommendations at the end of the report are intended to be
more like exemplars than cast in concrete recommendations.
The data reviewed in this report is contained in “Compendium of ASURA Survey
Results” which is located in the ASURA website, https://asura.asu.edu, see “2014
Survey” in the “Publication” menu.
.
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A Report on ASURA Spring 2014 Survey
Executive Summary
The following report presents the results of an ASURA survey sent out in early 2014 to
its members, members who had dropped their membership, aka lapsed, and to ASU
retirees who had never joined the association.
Survey Background
In September 2013 the ASURA Board approved a survey for its members and potential
members to collect data related to three strategic goals:
 Increased Membership,
 Better Service, and
 Review the Community Outreach Portfolio
Over thirteen hundred SurveyMonkey® surveys were sent. Forty-nine Never Joined
surveys, sixty-one Lapsed Member surveys, and one hundred ninety-two Member
surveys were returned which was good enough that an acceptable margin of error was
obtained. Data for cohorts consisting of females, males, those who retired before 2003,
and those who retired after 2002 subsets were also generated. A single data file,
“Compendium of ASURA Survey Data”, was created and is available on the ASURA
website, see “2014 Survey” in the “Publications” menu. In addition to reviewing
response percentages and weighted averages an effectiveness measure was
calculated to quantify the difference between the importance and performance of survey
items. Activities where performance lagged significantly behind importance were given
an orange effectiveness to suggest that further discussion might be appropriate.
The demographics for the Member survey and its cohorts are shown in Table 0. The
members in the Pre 2003 cohort are older and retired sooner than those in the Post
2002 cohort. The percentage of women taking the survey is a bit higher than that of the
membership. A check of the zip codes showed that over fifty percent of the returns were
from members living in the East Valley.
Table 0 – Demographic Information for Member Survey and Its Cohorts
Retirement Cohorts
Gender Cohorts
Member
Survey
Demographic
Pre 2003 Post 2002 Female
Male
Number In Cohort
74
83
95
69
192
Average Age
79
69
72
75
73
Average Retirement Year
1995
2008
2002
2001
2002
% Female
54%
63%
100%
0%
58%
% Receiving ASURA E65%
89%
79%
77%
78%
mail
% Attended an ASURA
65%
65%
71%
61%
65%
Event in Past Five Years
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A Report on ASURA Spring 2014 Survey
Survey Conclusions
After reviewing all the data and conclusions for these individual topics it is possible to
draw the following conclusions about ASURA from the survey.
 Members give ASURA a thumbs up
Taken as a whole, the members have rated most of what ASURA does highly.
They seem pleased with the activities and projects and with the type of
information being provided. Many of the response averages for importance and
performance are at or above 4.0 where 4 corresponds to a rating of “important”
or (done) “well”. There is nothing in the survey responses to suggest the
members might feel some activity should be removed. Even the golf tournament
which received lower assessments than all other activities still managed to have
a response average for importance just under 3 at 2.87, i.e., a response a bit less
than neutral.
 ASURA members are busy
That members are busy was apparent directly or indirectly throughout the survey.
Being busy is cited for not joining or for dropping membership. Interest in getting
information about how to volunteer for ASURA was far down in the list of things
members thought were important to know. Members expressed almost no
interest in any new social /educational activities.
 Members in the newer retirees’ cohort differ from those in the older cohort
For the most part there are only minor differences in the responses of the two
retirement date cohorts. But there are a few exceptions. The newer retirees
appear less concerned about the ASURA advocacy efforts when they joined.
Only 50% of the newer retirees listed the advocacy work as a reason to join
ASURA as compared to 75% for the older cohort. There are significantly more
new retirees who know people who left ASU unhappy or people who are just too
busy to join. The newer retirees assessed the importance of getting health
insurance information higher, a response rating of almost 4.5 compared to 4.0 for
the older cohort. Not surprisingly the newer retirees are more “tuned in” to
electronic communication methods, giving high marks to the importance of
emails and the website. Almost 90% of those in the newer cohort reported
receiving ASURA e-mails versus 65% for the older cohort.
 There is very little difference in gender responses
There is little difference between the female and male responses. It does appear
that women are a bit more comfortable with e-mail and rate its importance higher
than their male colleagues.
 Members are getting old
About half the ASURA membership retired before 2003. The average age of the
survey takers who retired before 2003 is 79. The data from the Lapsed
Membership survey clearly shows that members are dropping out because they
can no longer take advantage of what ASURA has to offer.
 Advocacy efforts are important but need review
It is very clear that members view ASURA’s advocacy efforts both in terms of
retirement plans and health insurance monitoring as the most important activity
that ASURA does. No one thought these activities were unimportant. The
members also assessed the performance in carrying out these tasks as being
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A Report on ASURA Spring 2014 Survey



done a bit above “well”. However the difference between the assessments for
importance and performance was one of the largest of all the activities reviewed
which earned these activities an orange effectiveness ratings suggesting that
these activities be reviewed. The newer retirees rated advocacy performance
noticeably lower than members of the older retirement date cohort.
Cost, Transportation, and Location are not barriers to attending events
When asked what factors dissuade you from attending social events,
“Transportation is difficult” and “The cost is too high” were at the bottom of the list
receiving ratings below the minimum threshold to be considered worthwhile to
consider. The only response above neutral was “I cannot participate”. Location
also did not seem to resonate with members. There were very neutral level
responses to suggestions of spreading the events around the ASU campus or
focusing on the Tempe campus.
Members rate seminars as important
While none of the events reviewed, seminars, luncheons, and travel, were
viewed as one of the more important ASURA activities, seminars were rated as
more important than the other two activities and did just make it into the top five
of important activities. The current seminar effort appears to be a good balance
between importance and performance. Seminars had the best, i.e., smallest,
EDM value of all the events.
Community Outreach Projects are doing just fine
While the awareness of the outreach programs is toward the bottom of the
activity / project awareness table, all three projects are ranked in the top half the
activity / project performance table. The members rated the importance of the
scholarship and video history project as the third and fourth most important
ASURA activity.
Sample Recommendations
While the overall assessment of ASURA is positive there are some recommendations
possible to make ASURA even better.
 Review advocacy efforts
These efforts have an orange effectiveness rating and the Board should review
this activity.
 Review membership recruiting process
The survey results contain a number of issues that the Membership Committee
could consider and perhaps revise the membership efforts.
 Review membership renewal mailing policy
The survey results contain data suggesting that the current renewal mailing
process should be reviewed.
 Consider enhancing how ASURA uses Prime Times
Everyone considers Prime Times as an important communication vehicle. The
question is: Does Prime Times include the information members want? Also
consider increasing awareness of ASURA’s non-social activities.
 Consider enhancing the use of ASURA website
With the newer retirees indicating the importance of the website, the Board could
consider ways to enhance use of the site so the site could become a first place to
look when a member has a question.
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A Report on ASURA Spring 2014 Survey
Background
During the summer of 2013 Barry McNeill, then ASURA President, sent out a request to
the Board and Committee chairs for ideas about what ASURA might hope to achieve by
surveying its membership. A number of helpful suggestions and comments were
received with the result that at the September Board meeting Barry recommended
conducting a survey that would address three important strategic goals:
 Increased Membership,
 Better Service, and
 Review the Community Outreach Portfolio
The objective for the survey was to obtain information that would inform the Board as it
considered actions to address the strategic goals.
The Board approved developing three surveys: one for members, one for those who
had dropped membership, aka lapsed, and one for those ASU retirees who had never
joined ASURA. Four question writing groups were created, headed by Elmer Gooding,
Bill Moor, Gary Kleemann, and Glenn Irvin. Each group created a set of possible
questions which were reviewed and a consistent question format was developed, see
Appendix for surveys.
After looking at several possibilities including Google® and Toulna’s Quick Survey®
SurveyMonkey® was selected as the best product for the surveys and the Board
approved a one year subscription. Drafts of the three surveys were created using the
questions and the agreed upon question format. The Never Joined and Lapsed Member
surveys were both one page long; the Member survey was nine pages long.
Once the surveys were completed they were tested by the ASURA Office Staff and
Board members. The testing uncovered a few minor issues. The main concerns related
to the format of the paper version of the Member survey which had been printed off the
SurveyMonkey® site. The concerns were resolved by creating a MS Word® version of
the Member survey. The Never Joined and Lapsed Member paper surveys were mailed
out in early January; the Member surveys were delayed until mid-February to permit the
members to receive their spring Prime Times which discussed the survey.
The Never Joined surveys were limited to retirees who had retired within the past three
years, had an Arizona address, and had never joined. The Lapsed Member surveys
were limited to those members who live in Arizona and had been a member sometime
in the past 5 years. The Member survey was sent to all currently active members and
was divided into two groups, those who receive e-mail and those who only receive
ASURA information by US mail. The US mail only members received a paper survey.
Stamped return envelopes were provided for all paper surveys. Table 1 shows the
number of surveys sent as well as the return rates.
To take advantage of the data analysis tools provided by SurveyMonkey® it was
necessary to enter all the returned paper surveys into SurveyMonkey®. Linda Van Scoy,
Jeannette Robson, Nancy Lesko, and Carol Moore did the bulk of this work. The final
survey was entered on April 8.
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A Report on ASURA Spring 2014 Survey
Table 1 – Data on Surveys Sent & Returned
Number
Survey Type
Sent
Never Joined – US Post Invitation
485
Lapsed Member – US Post Invitation
251
Member – e-mail Invitation (online)
412
Member – US Post Invitation (paper)
192
Member – Total
604
Number
Returned
49
61
134
58
192
%
Returned
10.1
24.3
32.5
30.2
30.1
Survey Data
SurveyMonkey® summaries were created for each of the three surveys, downloaded as
Excel® files, and reviewed. The summaries were collected together in a single MS
Word® document, “Compendium of ASURA Survey Results”, which is available as a
separate document on the ASURA website, see “2014 Survey” in the “Publications”
menu.
Following is a discussion of the data including data preparation, what data cohorts were
created, a review of the data confidence, how effectiveness was calculated, an overview
of the tables and charts used in the discussion, and finally some general comments
about how the data were interpreted in the discussion.
Data Preparation
While the generic SurveyMonkey® summary tables contained the data needed for the
most part, the following modifications and additions were made.
 The Rating Average was recalculated to remove “No Opinion” from the average
for those questions which had “No Opinion” as a possible response.
 The standard deviation was calculated for questions that had Rating Averages.
 For pairs of questions where importance and performance were asked, an
effectiveness calculation was made, see “Measuring Effectiveness” below.
 The item response data for each question were sorted from most frequent to
least frequent or most important to least important.
 Comments were organized by topic. In some cases a comment could go in more
than one topic. In such cases the comment was either split between two topics or
repeated in both topics.
Member Survey Cohorts
To study possible differences in subpopulations of the Member survey data the
following cohorts of the Member survey were generated:
 gender cohorts (female, male)
 two retirement date cohorts (retired before 2003, retired after 2002), and
 a cohort for members who do not receive ASURA emails.
Data for a fourth cohort, survey response method, online or paper, was also created but
the results were not particularly interesting and have not been included in this report.
Table 2 shows the size of these cohorts along with an approximate size for these
cohorts in the current ASURA member database. The ASURA Membership values are
approximate since they were determined after the survey was taken and the database is
dynamic. The gender numbers in the ASURA database are based on counting first
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A Report on ASURA Spring 2014 Survey
names in the database as either male or female. The sum of the two gender cohorts
and the two retirement cohorts do not add up to the total survey size since not everyone
answered the gender or retirement date questions.
Table 2 Size of Several Member Survey Cohorts and Approximate
Corresponding ASURA Membership
Cohort Approximate Equivalent ASURA
Cohort
Size
Database Membership
Male
69
287
Female
95
303
Retired Pre 2003
83
301
Retired Post 2002
74
305
Do Not Receive ASURA Emails
38
109
Took Survey Online
134
412
Took Paper Survey
58
192
Survey Confidence
It is important to have a sense of how well the survey results reflect the views of the
entire group. The website http://greatebrook.com/survey_statistical_confidence.htm has
a discussion of this topic which includes a chart that can be used to give an estimate of
confidence as a function of the population size and the return rate. Table 3 shows the
predicted error margins for a 95% confidence level where a 95% confidence means that
if the survey were given 100 times, in 95 cases the response average would fall within
the margin of error bounds about the survey mean.
The error margins for the Member survey and its various cohorts are all around 10%.
These values are well within the mark and should allow for good generalizations. The
error margins for the other two surveys are not quite as good but good enough that
reasonable generalizations should be possible.
Table 3 – Margin of Error for ASURA Surveys and Cohorts
(95% confidence)
Survey
Margin of Error
Never Joined
+/- 13%
Lapsed
+/- 11%
Member Total
+/- 6%
Member Online Survey
+/- 11%
Member Paper Survey
+/- 7%
Male Cohort
+/- 10%
Female Cohort
+/- 8%
Pre 2003 Cohort
+/- 9%
Post 2002 Cohort
+/- 10%
Measuring Effectiveness
There were three sets of questions in the survey that dealt with the importance of
something and how well that something was done. For example, how important is it to
have seminars and how well are the seminars done. Effectiveness is a measure of the
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A Report on ASURA Spring 2014 Survey
balance between importance and performance. An effective activity is one where the
importance and performance match, i.e., importance and performance are either both
high, low, or in between. Two measures of effectives were calculated, the Effectiveness
Distance Measure or EDM and the Ratio of importance to performance.
The EDM measure was developed by Gary Kleemann as part of his PhD dissertation
and is the distance from the importance equals performance line on a Performance
versus Importance plot. An EDM value of zero for an activity would mean the
importance and performance matched for the activity. EDM is calculated as:
𝐸𝐷𝑀 = √
(𝐼𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑅𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑒 𝐴𝑣𝑔. −𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑅𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑒 𝐴𝑣𝑔. )2
2
The EDM measure does not indicate whether the importance is bigger or smaller than
the performance and so the following ratio was also calculated.
𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜 =
𝐼𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑅𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑒 𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒
𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑅𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑒 𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒
If the ratio is less than one then the performance is greater than the importance; if the
ratio is greater than one then the importance is greater than the performance.
Discussion Tables and Charts
The discussion uses a number of tables generated from the data in the Compendium. In
many cases the discussion tables show only a portion of a Compendium table and
combine data from several Compendium tables. Table 4 shows a sample discussion
table. In Table 4, data taken from the Compendium for Questions 4, 5, and 6 related to
Activity #2 have been combined it into a single table. The discussion often addresses
not only the Average Rating but also the relative position of the item within the
Compendium table from which it has been extracted. This information is shown in the
Rank column. For example in Table 4 the rank of 1 for Q5 means that of the ten
activities assessed in Question 5 Activity #2 was at the top of the list, i.e., in this case
viewed by the survey takers as the most important.
Table 4 – Sample Discussion Table for Activity #2
Rank
Average
Question
(out of 10)
Rating
Q4 – Awareness activity #2
1
4.21
Q5 – Importance of activity #2
1
4.79
Q6 – Performance of activity #2
3
4.33
Effectiveness
Ratio
EDM
Q5/Q6 – Activity #2
<1
9
.340
Chart 1 shows how most of the cohort data are presented. The two bars are the
response averages for the cohorts; the line shows the Member survey average. When
both the gender and retirement date cohorts are on one plot the cohort bars are
separated by a black survey average bar.
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A Report on ASURA Spring 2014 Survey
Chart 1 – Sample of Summary Data Presentation Used for Cohorts
Question 1 - Retirement Cohort Comparisons on How Learned
About ASURA
Pre 2003
Post 2002
Survey Average
45.0%
40.0%
35.0%
30.0%
25.0%
20.0%
15.0%
10.0%
5.0%
0.0%
ASU preretirement
meetings
ASURA invitation
letter
ASURA website
"Prime Times"
ASU event or new
article
Word of mouth
Interpreting the Data
There are essentially four types of data: demographic, response percentages, rating
averages and effectiveness tables. The demographic data is pretty much selfexplanatory but the other data types require some additional explanation.
Response Percentages
The first three questions in all the surveys requested the survey taker to select all that
applied from a list, e.g., select all the reasons for joining ASURA. Since multiple
answers are encouraged and there is no raking of the answers it is not possible to tell
which one of responder’s answers was the most important to the responder. Hence
sorting the response percentages does not necessarily sort the list from most to least
important. The question then is: What is the minimum response percentage that still
shows the item should be considered? The following discussion assumes 30% for this
minimum threshold percentage.
Rating Averages
Many of the Member survey questions require the user to give their opinion using a
rating scale from one to five. In the following discussion response averages over 4.0 will
be considered support; response averages at 2.5 and below will be considered no
support.
Effectiveness
The Member survey, Gender cohorts, and Retired Date cohorts each have three
effectiveness tables. The effectiveness tables show whether the effectiveness ratio is
greater or less than 1 and the EDM value for each item in the list of items being
reviewed. There are a variety of ways of looking at this effectiveness data. The
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A Report on ASURA Spring 2014 Survey
approach used in the discussion uses the EDM table ranking rather than the EDM value
to determine what is discussed. Specifically only the following two cases are addressed.
 Items that fall in the upper third of the EDM values in the table will be marked in
green and represent items that are probably fine.
 Items that have Ratios greater than 1 and EDM values in the lower half of the
EDM table will be marked in orange and are treated as items that probably
deserve further discussion.
Discussion of Results
Two approaches to discussing the survey results are:
1. reviewing the data based on question number, or
2. reviewing the data based on topic / issue.
These two approaches are different because many of the questions contain information
about several different topics / issues. Since the survey was undertaken to help with
specific topics / issues the discussion primarily uses the second approach. The
discussion has been organized into the following five sections:
1. Demographics
2. What is Most Important
3. Building Membership
4. Better Service
5. Community Outreach Projects
Demographics
Table 5 shows demographic information for the Member survey and its cohorts. The
data are pretty much as expected. The members in the Pre 2003 cohort are older and
retired sooner than those in the Post 2002 cohort. The table does show a possible bias
in the data; the percentage of women submitting surveys, 58%, is higher than the 51%
of women in the association, see Table 2 for the female/male mix for the current
ASURA membership.
Another possible source of bias is home location. Chart 2 on the next page shows the
percentages of returned surveys by zip code. Thirty-two of the returned surveys did not
have any zip code. Over fifty percent of the surveys came from retirees living in the East
Valley with over 30% coming from Tempe.
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A Report on ASURA Spring 2014 Survey
Table 5 – Demographic Information for Member Survey and Its Cohorts
Retirement Cohorts
Gender Cohorts
Member
Survey
Demographic
Pre 2003 Post 2002 Female
Male
Number In Cohort
74
83
95
69
192
Average Age
79
69
72
75
73
Average Retirement
1995
2008
2002
2001
2002
Year
% Female
54%
63%
100%
0%
58%
% Receiving
65%
89%
79%
77%
78%
ASURA E-mail
% Attended an
ASURA Event in
65%
65%
71%
61%
65%
Past Five Years
Chart 2 - Percentage of Returned Member Surveys Broken
Down by ZIP Code
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Arizona
Phx Metro
East Valley
Tempe
Phx -Scott.
West Valley
What is Most Important?
Before drilling down into the issue data, to get an overview of the members’ opinions
about what is important, a review of the responses to Questions 5 and 8 follows.
Questions 5 addresses the issue of the importance of doing a variety of projects /
activities; Question 8 addresses the importance of supplying a variety of different types
of information. Tables 6a and 6b show the entire Member survey response averages,
sorted from highest to lowest average.
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A Report on ASURA Spring 2014 Survey
Table 6a – Results for Importance of Ten ASURA Projects / Activities
Question 5 - ASURA is interested in knowing your opinion on how
important it is for ASURA to continue the following activities & projects
How important is it for ASURA to advocate for retirees with the state
legislature, the state retirement programs, and with ASU?
How important is it for ASURA to monitor existing health insurance
programs for University retirees, to provide the best possible health
insurance coverage for its members?
How important is it for ASURA to do the Scholarship program?
Rating
Average*
4.79
4.74
4.3
How important is it for ASURA to do the Video History Project?
4.03
How important is it for ASURA to have Seminars?
3.96
How important is it for ASURA to do the Adopt-A-Family program?
3.87
How important is it for ASURA to have Retirees Day?
3.81
How important is it for ASURA to have Luncheons?
3.73
How important is it for ASURA to do Travel Programs?
3.61
How important is it for ASURA to have a Golf Tournament?
2.87
Table 6b – Results for Importance of Thirteen Information Types
Question 8 - ASURA would like your opinion on the importance of
supplying the following types of information:
How important is it for ASURA to supply you with information to help you
make good decisions about your health insurance program?
How important is it for ASURA to supply you with information to help you
keep abreast of current health issues?
How important is it for ASURA to supply you with information which helps
you decide whether to vote in an ASURA Board election?
How important is it for ASURA to supply you with information which helps
you decide whether to attend an ASURA event?
Rating
Average*
4.26
4.04
4.02
4.00
How important is it for ASURA to supply you with information to help you
decide whether to contact your legislator in connection with upcoming
legislation that affects you or ASU?
4.00
How important is it for ASURA to supply you with ASU obituaries?
3.91
How important is it for ASURA to supply you with information which helps
you feel connected to ASU and your former colleagues?
How important is it for ASURA to supply you with information which helps
you decide whether to renew your membership?
How important is it for ASURA to supply you with information which helps
you decide whether to make a donation to one of the Community
Outreach projects?
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3.88
3.8
3.71
A Report on ASURA Spring 2014 Survey
Table 6b Continued
How important is it for ASURA to supply you with information which helps
you decide whether to volunteer with ASURA?
How important is it for ASURA to supply you with information to help you
make living choices for yourself or your relatives, such as an assisted
living choice?
How important is it for ASURA to supply you with information to help you
use computers and other technology?
How important is it for ASURA to supply you with information to help you
manage your financial plan?
3.42
3.16
3.04
2.94
What do Tables 6a & b tell about what is important?
 Advocacy tops the list of important activities
Table 6a shows that advocacy efforts are far and away the most important two
activities. The next two activities are two outreach projects. The first event
activity, seminars, shows up as the fifth most important activity with a rating just
under 4.00, i.e., just under “important”. The golf tournament is the least important
but it still has an average over the 2.5 threshold.
 Health information tops the list of important information topics
Table 6b shows that health related topics were assessed as the most important
types of information ASURA supplies. Information on current health issues is
really tied for second place with three other information types. The bottom items
in Table 6b have ratings around 3 or neutral. Even so these values are above the
2.5 threshold.
Building Membership
Building membership was one of the three strategic goals. The following discussion
looks at the following aspects of this issue:
1. how retirees become aware of ASURA,
2. why retirees join ASURA,
3. why retirees do not join ASURA, and
4. why members let their membership lapse.
How do Retirees Become Aware of ASURA?
The first question for both the Never Joined and Member surveys asked responders to
indicate all the ways they initially heard about ASURA. Table 7 shows the most
frequently selected answers for these two surveys and the two cohorts. To appreciate
the data in Table 7 it is important to remember:
 The Never Joined cohort consists of people who have retired within the past
three years while the Member cohort includes people who retired as long ago as
1972 and have been members of the association since its inception in 1991.
 While invitation letters to new and recent retirees have been sent out for many
years, the process was only formalized with HR in 2008 assuring that all retirees
are contacted by mail.
 Participating in the pre-retirement meetings is a relatively new effort initiated by
Elmer Gooding in the last four years.
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A Report on ASURA Spring 2014 Survey
Table 7 – Response Percentages for Ways Retirees Learned About
ASURA
Gender Cohorts Retirement Cohort
Never
Answer Option
Member
Pre
Post
Joined
Female
Male
2003
2002
ASU Pre-retirement
59%
43%
52%
34%
45%
44%
Meeting
ASURA Letter
57%
23%
24%
25%
27%
21%
Word of Mouth
8%
35%
31%
40%
31%
36%
A review of the data in Table 7 shows:
 Pre-retirement meetings are working for everyone
The percentages selecting the pre-retirement meeting exceeded the 30%
threshold for all surveys and cohorts, indicating that these meetings are helpful in
getting the word out. The Never Joined survey almost doubled the threshold at
59%, i.e., the pre-retirement meetings are very successful. While the
percentages were lower for the Member survey and its cohorts, the preretirement meeting was still the most frequently selected answer at well over
40% for all but the male cohort.
 ASURA letter is important
The ASURA letter was cited by 57% of the recent retirees, well above the 30%
threshold. Interestingly the current members do not remember the ASURA letter,
responding with percentages in the low 20s for the most part.
 Word of mouth is important
The Member survey shows that word of mouth is an important part of the mix in
learning about ASURA with all cohorts showing percentages above the 30%
threshold.
Why are retirees joining ASURA?
The first question in the Lapsed Member survey and second question in the Member
survey asked why the person had initially joined ASURA. Table 8 summarizes some of
the data from these two question.
Table 8 – Response Percentages for Reasons Why Joined ASURA
Gender Cohorts
Retirement Date
Lapsed
Answer Option
Member
Pre
Post
Member
Female
Male
2003
2002
ASURA Advocacy
35-44%1
61%
55%
70%
76%
50%
Stay in Touch with
35%
33%
35%
30%
31%
31%
Colleagues
ASURA Social /
15%
28%
37%
18%
28%
29%
Educational Activities
Asked by Colleague
--2
16%
15%
15%
8%
22%
First Year Free
--2
11%
13%
6%
1%
17%
1The Lapsed Member survey listed several different advocacy activities
2This question was not on the survey
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A Report on ASURA Spring 2014 Survey
A review of the data in Table 8 suggests:
 ASURA advocacy is important reason retirees join ASURA
ASURA advocacy was selected by more than 30% of the responders in all the
surveys, i.e., advocacy efforts are an important attractor. The 61% response rate
in the Member survey indicates advocacy is very important reason retirees
joined. The retirement cohorts show a distinct dropping off of the importance of
advocacy. While members who retired after 2002 still show advocacy as the
most frequently selected reason for joining ASURA, the percentage is
considerably less than for the older retirees.
 Staying in touch with colleagues is why retirees join ASURA
Staying in touch with colleagues was the only other reason that achieved a
percentage above the 30% minimum threshold. About a third of the responses in
both surveys indicated staying in touch was important.
 Mixed bag on ASURA social / educational activities
Educational and social activities did not achieve the 30% minimum threshold
except for the female cohort where at 37% it is an important factor in joining.
 Asked by colleague to join is possibly important
While the response percentages are considerably below the 30% threshold, it is
easy to think that this personal contact was in fact the primary reason for joining.
If this is true then 22% of the post 2002 retirees joined because they were asked.
 First year free has an impact
The low response rates for the first year free are a bit misleading since many of
those in the survey did not have this option when they joined. At the time the
survey was sent about 10% of the members were Introductory, i.e., first year
free. Given the small size of the population who actually had this option the 17%
response rate for the Post 2002 cohort seems encouraging.
Why are retirees not joining ASURA?
The second and third questions in Never Joined survey and third question in the
Member survey address the issue of why retirees are not joining. The most reliable data
is for the Never Joined survey; the Member survey data is probably less reliable since
around 45% of the responders skipped the question.
Table 9 – Response Percentages for Reasons Why A Person Has Not Joined
ASURA
Gender Cohorts1 Retirement Date1
Never
Answer Option
Member1
Pre
Post
Joined
Women
Men
2003
2002
Busy / would not / could
48%
48%
47%
49%
35%
63%
not participate
Had not heard about
30%
--2
--2
--2
--2
--2
Free First Year
Unhappy with ASU
25%
35%
39%
34%
15%
54%
The dues are too high
13%
7%
10%
5%
3%
13%
1This question skipped by about 45% of responders
2Question was not on survey
A review of the data in Table 9 suggests:
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A Report on ASURA Spring 2014 Survey

People are too busy to join
All survey groups agree that being busy is the overwhelming reason for not
joining ASURA. The response percentages far exceed the 30% minimum
threshold for being considered important. At a response rate of 63% this issue
seems more important for the more recent retirees, 63% vs 35%. Several of the
comments in the Never Joined survey further confirm the too busy reason for not
joining.
 Unhappy with ASU appears to be an important reason for not joining
Thirty-five percent of the ASURA members reported knowing a colleague who
will not join ASURA because of dissatisfaction with ASU. The percentage rises to
54% for those who have retired since 2002. The response percentage for the
Never Joined survey failed to reach the minimum threshold level but this could be
because those unhappy with ASU saw no need to take the ASURA survey.
 ASURA can expect some retirees to join when less busy
In the Never Joined survey the responders were asked if they agreed with the
statement: I will join ASURA when I have more time. The average response was
3.72, a bit less than half way between “maybe” and “yes” for the statement. This
is a reasonably positive response.
 First year free might be attractive
The only other reason for not joining to reach the 30% threshold on the Never
Joined survey was not knowing about the free first year. This level of response
shows some interest in the idea of a free first year.
 Dues are not an issue
There is always concern that dues are keeping members away. Table 9 shows
that this is clearly not an issue. Only 13% of the Never Joined indicated dues
could be a problem. Further when asked their opinion about the statement: I
might join ASURA if the dues were lowered to $20 the average response was
3.38 or just above “maybe”.
Why are members leaving ASURA?
Question 2 in the Lapsed Member survey asked for reasons the person did not renew
their membership. Question 3 asked them to indicate a level of agreement for several
statements about what it would take to rejoin. Table 10 shows some of the data
collected for these two questions.
A review of Table 10 and the comments from Question 2 show:
 Members are getting old
The major reasons for not renewing were the inability to take advantage of the
ASURA opportunities, 65%, and/or inability to attend, 47%. This second reason
is clearly related to getting old. There were not many comments but about half of
them dealt directly with getting old, e.g., not being able to drive, being ill, taking
care of an ill partner, etc. The larger percentage for the first question could be the
presence of younger lapsed members who dropped out because they were too
busy and not because they were too old. About quarter of the current lapsed
members retired on or after September 01, 2009.
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A Report on ASURA Spring 2014 Survey
Table 10 – Data Related to Reasons Members Dropped ASURA Membership and
Might Rejoin
Response %
Question / Statement
or Rating
Average
1. Did not renew since could not take advantage ASURA
65%
opportunities
2. Did not renew since can no longer attend
47%
3. Did not renew because due were too high
14%
4. Did not renew because ASURA did not deliver advocacy efforts
8-4%1
promised
5. I might rejoin when I have more time (1=No, 3=Maybe)
3.11
6. I might rejoin if the dues were lowered to $20 (1=No, 3=Maybe)
2.35
1Several questions addressed this reason



Lapsed members might rejoin when not so busy
The response to statement 5 in Table 9 indicates there are at least some lapsed
members who would consider rejoining. There were not a large number of
responses to this question but six said “no”, six said “yes”, 4 said “maybe” and 2
selected a response between “maybe” and “yes”.
Lowering dues will not bring back members
Only 14% reported leaving because of high dues, well below the 30% threshold
to be considered important. Further lowering the dues does not appear to be a
way to get members to rejoin. The rating average for the dues statement is 2.35
which is less than “maybe”.
Failure to deliver promised advocacy efforts not a reason for leaving
There were several questions related to failure of ASURA to deliver advocacy
efforts on legislature, retirement, health insurance, and ASU. All these questions
had response averages below 10%, well below the 30% threshold.
Better Service
The survey was designed to collect data to help with the second strategic goal: better
service. There are a number of “services” that could be looked at. The following
discussion focuses on:
 Advocacy Efforts
 Seminars, Luncheons, Travel Programs, and Golf Tournament
 Event Attendance
 Keeping Members Informed, and
 Technology
ASURA Advocacy Efforts
It is clear from the previous discussion that ASURA’s advocacy efforts are an important
reason retirees join. Parts of Questions 4-6, 8, and 9 concern advocacy. Tables 11a & b
show the survey results for the parts of these questions related to advocating for retiree
benefits with the state and university. The EDM values come from two different tables,
one for the Q5 and Q6 questions and one for the Q8 and Q9 questions.
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A Report on ASURA Spring 2014 Survey
Table 11a – Member Survey Average Ratings and EDM Values for Items Related
to ASURA Legislative Advocacy Efforts
Average
Rank
Question
Rating
Q4 – Awareness of advocacy for retirement programs
1 out of 10
4.21
Q5 – Importance in advocating for retirement programs
1 out of 10
4.79
Q8 – Importance to supply information about upcoming
4/5 out of 13
4.00
Legislative action
Q6 – Performance in advocating for retirement programs
3 out of 10
4.33
Q9 – Performance in supplying information on upcoming
11 out of 14
3.68
legislative action
Effectiveness
Ratio
EDM
Q5/Q6 - Advocating for retirement programs
>1
9 out of 10
.340
Q8/Q9 - Supplying information about upcoming
>1
10 out of 13
.224
legislative action
Table 11b – Member Survey Average Ratings and EDM Values for Items Related
to ASURA Health Insurance Advocacy Efforts
Average
Rank
Question
Rating
Q4 – Awareness of monitoring of health insurance plans
6 out of 10
3.97
Q5 – Importance to monitor health insurance plans
2 out of 10
4.74
Q8 – Importance to supply health insurance information
1 out of 13
4.26
Q6 – Performance in monitoring health insurance plans
2 out of 10
4.39
Q9 – Performance in supplying health insurance information
7 out of 14
4.08
Effectiveness
Ratio
EDM
Q5/Q6 - Monitoring health insurance plans
>1
7 out of 10
.260
Q8/Q9 - Supplying health insurance information
>1
5 out of 13
.127
A review of Tables 11a & 11b shows:
 ASURA’s legislative advocacy efforts are important, Table 11a.
The members are aware of the advocacy efforts and feel these efforts are very
important. Advocating for retirement benefits had the highest response average
for both awareness and importance. In fact for the importance question there was
not a single “Not Important” response. The members also feel that these efforts
are being carried out close to very well with a response average of 4.33. As
mentioned previously, members are not dropping out because of a perceived
lack of effort relative to advocacy efforts which these results support. A review of
the Retirement Date cohort data shows very little difference between the cohorts
and the survey average.
 ASURA’s legislative advocacy efforts have an orange effectiveness rating.
The effectiveness for both the retirement program advocacy, Q5 & Q6, and
delivery of information about legislative actions, Q8 & Q9, are orange, a signal
that further review of these activities may be warranted. The orange rating is a
result of importance significantly exceeding performance.
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A Report on ASURA Spring 2014 Survey




Monitoring health insurance and supplying information on current health
issues are important, Table 11b.
As pointed out earlier keeping up with the health insurance issues is viewed as
very important by the members. Only advocating for retirement programs has a
higher importance. As was the case with the retirement plan advocacy, there
were no “Not Important” responses for the importance question.
Information about health insurance plans is important
The importance of getting information about the insurance plans received the
highest response average, 4.26, of all the types of information ASURA makes
available to its members.
ASURA’s monitoring of health insurance programs is orange, Table 11b
While both monitoring health insurance plans and supplying information of
current health issues had effectiveness ratios greater than 1, only the monitoring
activity is orange because of its poor EMD ranking.
Retirement cohorts have different view of advocacy performance
Chart 3 shows the differences in view of how well the retirement program
advocacy and health insurance monitoring are being done. The differences are
not large but do show that the older retirement date cohort rates the performance
higher than the newer cohort. This might be the result of responding more to the
way things used to be rather than to what they are today. The older cohort has
members from a time when ASURA was actively lobbying the legislature and
often had one or more members down at the Capital to attend hearings and
occasionally give testimony. On the health insurance side Dick Murra was widely
known to be available for insurance questions. The recent retirees are not
sensing this same level of commitment.
Chart 3 - Retirement Date Cohort Comparisons of
Performance of Advocay Efforts
Survey Average
Pre 2003
Post 2002
4.5
4.45
4.4
4.35
4.3
4.25
4.2
4.15
4.1
Advocating for retirement programs
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Monitoring health insurance plans
A Report on ASURA Spring 2014 Survey
Table 12 – Member Survey Average Ratings and EDM Values for Items Related
to Seminar, Travel, Luncheon, and Golf Activities
Average
Rank
Awareness, Importance, Performance Question
Rating
Q4 – Awareness of Seminars (3=somewhat, 5=very aware)
5 out of 10
3.98
Q4 – Awareness of Travel Programs
4 out of 10
4.08
Q4 – Awareness of Luncheons
3 out of 10
4.11
Q4 – Awareness of Retirees Day
2 out of 10
4.15
Q4 – Awareness of Golf Tournament
9 out of 10
3.53
Q5 – Importance of Seminars (3=neutral, 5=very important)
5 out of 10
3.96
Q5 – Importance of Travel Programs
9 out of 10
3.61
Q5 – Importance of Luncheons
8 out of 10
3.73
Q5 – Importance of Retirees Day
7 out of 10
3.81
Q5 – Importance of Golf Tournament
10 out of 10
2.87
Q8 – Importance to supply event information
4/5 out of t3
4.00
Q6 – Performance of Seminars (3=neutral, 5=very well)
9 out of 10
3.94
Q6 – Performance of Travel Programs
6 out of 10
4.10
Q6 – Performance of Luncheons
8 out of 10
4.06
Q6 – Performance of Retirees Day
7 out of 10
4.09
Q6 – Performance of Golf Tournament
10 out of 10
3.60
Q9 – Performance in supplying event information
2 out of 14
4.27
Effectiveness
Ratio
EDM
Q5/Q6 Seminars
>1
1 out of 10
.024
Q5/Q6 Travel Programs
<1
8 out of 10
.338
Q5/Q6 Luncheons
<1
6 out of 10
.230
Q5/Q6 Retirees Day
<1
3 out of 10
.189
Q5/Q6 Golf Tournament
<1
10 out of 10
.511
Q8/Q9 Supplying Event Information
<1
9 out of 13
.189
Interest in Event & Travel Opportunities
Local 1 day trip (1=no interest, 3=some interest)
1
2.99
Local overnight trip to AZ site of interest
2
2.61
Seminars, Travel, Luncheons, and Golf
Information related to the various ASURA events is located in questions 4 – 9 and the
Effectiveness tables for questions 5 & 6 and 8 & 9. Table 12 shows the results for the
pertinent parts of these questions. The rankings are either out of a set of 10 ASURA
activities including advocacy efforts and the outreach programs or out of a set of 13/14
types of information supplied to members.
Note: While data for Retirees Day is shown in Table 12, since the Events Committee
recommended eliminating Retirees Day, this data are not discussed here but are
discussed in the September 2014 Events Committee report to the Board.
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A Report on ASURA Spring 2014 Survey
Table 12 shows:
 Seminars are the top event activity
Of the four social / educational activities assessed the seminars were the highest
ranked in all categories: awareness, importance, performance, and
effectiveness. Seminar effectiveness is green suggesting that no further review is
warranted at this time.
 Events are not the most important of the various surveyed ASURA
activities
All the events have Importance response averages less than 4. Four is a good
rating but three of the events are at the bottom of the importance ranking and
seminars are only one step away from joining the others at the bottom. So while
members have rated the importance of events at just below “important” they are
not as important as other activities.
 Events are ranked as the least well performed of the various surveyed
ASURA activities
The members rated the delivery of all the event types in the bottom half of the
Performance table. As was the case with importance the actual values are good
hovering around 4.00 or done well but the members feel that other activities are
actually done better.
 The Golf Tournament has especially low values
The awareness, importance, performance, and effectiveness values for the golf
tournament are all at the bottom or next to the bottom. The golf tournament has
historically been a way to raise money. Only the Adopt-A-Family program had a
lower awareness and so it is reasonable to think many of the responders knew
little about the tournament’s fund raising feature and hence it’s very low response
averages.
 None of the events are orange
Aside from the seminars which are green, the other events have EDM rankings in
the bottom half of the table. What saves them from being orange is that these low
ranking EDM events all have Ratios less than one, i.e., performance exceeds
importance. Had the effectiveness ratios been greater than 1 then all would have
been orange.
 Event Information is working
The three items marked Q8, Q9, and Q8/Q9 address event information. The
members ranked the performance very high, second out of 14 types of
information. The effectiveness of supplying event information is in the bottom two
thirds of EDM values but since the effectiveness ratio is less than 1 this activity is
not marked orange.
Chart 4 shows how the various cohorts responded to the event information
questions. Women responded more positively than men and the newer
retirement date cohort rated the importance higher than the older cohort.
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A Report on ASURA Spring 2014 Survey
Chart 4 - Comparison of Cohort Response Averages to
Importance & Performance of Supplying Event
Information
3=neutral, 5=very important/very well
Female
Male
Survey Average
Pre 2003
Post 2002
4.6
4.4
4.2
4
3.8
3.6
3.4
Importance
Performance
Event Attendance
The concern that event attendance might be dropping because of decisions about cost,
etc. prompted the inclusion of questions 7, 16, and 17. A review of the data from these
questions shows:
 There do not appear to be strong barriers to attendance, question 7
Question7 asked members to indicate reasons for not attending events. The
question listed the following had six reasons:
1. For personal or geographic reasons I cannot participate (3.07)
2. The time / date of event is not convenient (2.88)
3. I am just not interested in social activities (2.87)
4. Parking is not easy (2.67)
5. Transportation is difficult (2.44)
6. The cost is too high (2.27)
The response average is shown in parentheses and none of these reasons
generated a very positive reaction. Of these only the first had a response
average above 3, where 1= strongly disagree and 3=neutral. The last two had
response averages below 2.5. It seems clear that cost and transportation are not
keeping large numbers away from events.
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A Report on ASURA Spring 2014 Survey


Campus location for events is likely not an important factor in attendance
Question 16 addressed event location in an effort to see if this could be a
problem. The members were asked to respond, disagree/agree to the following
four location statements:
1. Should spread activities around to all of the campuses (3.35)
2. Should do more activities on ASU's campuses (3.23)
3. Should focus activities on the Tempe Campus (3.18)
4. Should do more activities off campus (3.13)
All of the response averages were above 3, i.e., a neutral response, but not by
much. This makes it hard to say much other than nothing in the question stirred
any strong feelings one way or the other. The most positive response was to
spread the events around to the various campuses but this is somewhat offset by
the response to the third item which suggests focusing on the Tempe campus.
The conclusion is that campus location is not a big factor in event attendance.
This conclusion needs to be tempered by the fact that over 50% of the surveys
were submitted by members living in the East Valley.
Members are not interested in new activities beyond day trips in AZ
Question 17 asked members to indicate interest in a broad list of activities, some
existing, some new. The response was a big “not interested”. Only two activities
managed to score above the 2.5 minimum threshold where 1=no interest and
3=some interest. The two that made the cut are shown in Table 12.
There were some small variations with the gender cohorts. Women typically
expressed a higher level of interest for the events averaging about 0.10 points
more than men. Three of the activities had women response averages that were
more than 0.20 above the men’s average. The Habitat for humanity activity had
the biggest difference of .37 but the average was still below the 2.5 threshold.
The differences in the Retirement Date cohorts was a little larger with the newer
cohort expressing a higher interest than the older cohort. The average difference
in response averages was 0.17. As was the case for the gender cohort the
Habitat for Humanity item had the biggest difference at 0.41 but again failed to
reach the 2.5 threshold.
Keeping Members Informed
ASURA provides its members with information on a variety of general interest topics
and administrative reminders. Questions 8 and 9 assess thirteen types of information,
six related to general interest topics, Table 13a, and four related to administrative
reminders, Table 13b. The other four deal with advocacy and events which have
already been discussed. These two tables include much information and there are a
number of different ways to look at this data. Following are a few observations.
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A Report on ASURA Spring 2014 Survey
Table 13 a– Member Importance & Performance Ratings and EDM Values for
Items Related to Providing General Interest Topic Information
Rank
Average
Q8 Importance (3=neutral, 5=very important)
(out of 13) Rating
Current health issues
2
4.04
ASU obituaries
6
3.91
ASU and former colleagues
7
3.88
Aid in making living choices, e.g., assisted living
8
3.16
Computer & Technology
9
3.04
Financial Planning
10
2.94
Q9 Performance (3=neutral, 5=very well)
Current health issues
8
3.84
ASU obituaries
1
4.64
ASU and former colleagues*
5
4.19
Aid in making living choices, e.g., assisted living
11
3.28
Computer & Technology
13
2.96
Financial Planning
12
3.11
Effectiveness
Ratio
EDM
Current health issues
>1
7
.141
ASU obituaries
<1
13
.522
ASU and former colleagues
<1
8
.192
Aid in making living choices, e.g., assisted living
<1
3
.096
Computer & Technology
>1
1
.052
Financial Planning
<1
4
.129
*Combined score of two related questions
Table 13 b– Member Importance & Performance Ratings and EDM Values for
Items Related to Providing Administrative Information
Rank
Average
Q8 Importance (3=neutral, 5=very important)
(out of 13) Rating
Vote in Board election
3
4.02
Renewing membership
8
3.80
Make a donation to Community Outreach Program
9
3.71
Volunteer for ASURA
10
3.42
Q9 Performance (3=neutral, 5=very well)
Vote in Board election
3/4
4.21
Renewing membership
3/4
4.22
Make a donation to Community Outreach Program
9
3.79
Volunteer for ASURA
10
3.75
Effectiveness
Ratio
EDM
Vote in Board election
<1
6
.148
Renewing membership
<1
12
.305
Make a donation to Community Outreach Program
<1
2
.096
Volunteer for ASURA
<1
11
.237
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A Report on ASURA Spring 2014 Survey





Members want to keep abreast of current health issues
Table 13a shows that of the six general information topics only “current health
issues” received an importance rating of “Important”. Two of the other types of
information, “ASU obituaries” & “information about ASU and former colleagues”,
were close to 4.0. Current health issues actually ranked as the second most
important of the thirteen different types of information assessed.
Current health issues has an orange effectiveness rating
Of the ten different types of information delivered only the information associated
with keeping up with current health issues has an orange effectiveness rating,
suggesting further review.
Low performance rankings do not necessarily mean there is a need for
performance improvement
The four types of information most effectively provided are in these two tables,
shown in green. The performance ratings for these four information types are
among the lowest scores in the table. The effectiveness rankings are good
because these information types also have low importance, matching the low
performance.
Gender differences in responses exist but are not great
A review of the cohort data in the Compendium shows that women rated the
importance of having the information higher than the men for most of these
information types while conversely men tended to rate performance of delivering
the information higher than women.
Newer retirees tend to view having access to information as a bit more
important than do the older cohort members.
Chart 5 shows the Retirement Date cohorts’ responses to the question of
importance in getting the various types of information. The differences in the two
cohorts is not great but generally the newer retirees rate the information
importance higher than those in the older retirement data cohort. As one might
expect the older cohort rated the importance of receiving Obituaries noticeably
higher than the newer cohort. The newer cohort rated both Board elections and
keeping abreast of current health issues above 4.00 both of which were greater
than the older cohort’s evaluation.
21
A Report on ASURA Spring 2014 Survey
Chart 5 -Retirement Cohort Response Averages for the Importance in Delivering Various
Types of Information
(3=neutral, 5=very important)
Pre 2003
Post 2002
Survey Average
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
Renew
membership
Decide to
volunteer with
ASURA
Decide to
Decide to vote in Feel connected ASU obituaries Keep abreast of
donate to an
ASURA Board to ASU / former
current health
ASURA project
election
colleagues
issues
22
Manage your
financial plan
Make living
choices for
yourself or
relatives
Using computers
and other
technology
A Report on ASURA 2014 Survey
Chart 6 - Member Awareness, Importance, and
Performance Response Averages for Various
Communication Methods
(3=neutral, 5=very aware / important / well)
5.0
Awareness
Importance
Performance
4.5
4.0
3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
"Prime Times"
ASURA E-mails
Snail Mail
ASURA Website
Telephone with
Office
Communication Methods
Questions 10-15 address the issue of communicating with members. Five different
communication methods are assessed: Prime Times, ASURA E-mails, Snail Mail,
ASURA Website, and Telephone communication with the ASURA Office. Three different
web based communication technologies are also reviewed. A review of the following
charts, tables and cohort data in the Compendium shows:
 Prime Times is best of the communication methods
Chart 6 shows that of the five communication types Prime Times had the highest
response average for awareness, importance, and performance. It also had the
smallest EDM value giving it a green rating.
 ASURA E-mail is important
Of the remaining four communication types Chart 6 shows that only “ASURA Email” has an importance average of 4.0. E-mails also have the second best
performance average at just above 4, i.e., “well”.
 Performance exceeds important for all five communication methods,
Chart 6
In all cases the members have indicated that they feel the performance of the
communication methods exceeds their view of how important it is to have the
communication method available. This means the effectiveness ratios are all less
than one and hence none of the communication methods has an orange
effectiveness rating.
23
A Report on ASURA 2014 Survey


Cohorts show only small variations
For the most part the cohort responses mirrored those of the Member survey.
There were a few variations:
o The newer Retirement Date cohort rated the two electronic communication
methods, e-mails & website, as more important with a higher performance
rating than did the older cohort.
o Conversely the older cohort rated the importance and performance of
Prime Times and Snail Mail higher than the newer cohort.
o There is less variation in the gender cohort; the biggest difference being
women rated e-mails noticeably more important than the men.
Frequency of Prime Times and ASURA e-mail is about right
Table 14 shows the rating average for ASURA e-mails was very close to 3.00,
i.e., “About Right”. The Prime Times’ response average was a bit below 3.00,
moving slightly toward wanting a little higher frequency. Nobody selected “Too
Many” for Prime Times. Both response averages had relatively small standard
deviations, the smallest of any question in the survey. There were a number who
had no opinion or skipped the question but the vast majority of those who
answered selected “About Right”. The cohort data did not vary much from what is
shown in Table 14.
Table 14 – Response Data for Question 13 Asking About the Frequency of
ASURA e-mails, and Prime Times
Answer Options
Too
Few
About
Right
Too
No
Rating
Many Opinion Average*
Stand.
Dev.
ASURA E-mails
3
5
110
9
2
44
3.02
0.52
Prime Times
13
7
132
2
0
20
2.80
0.60
answered question
skipped question


174
18
Members are comfortable with using e-mail and browsing the web
Chart 7, next page, shows the response averages for Question 14 which
addressed technology comfort. The Member survey averages for both
technologies is at or above 4.0, i.e., “Comfortable”. The survey average for using
e-mails is almost 4.5. The cohort response averages are similar to the survey
average but the chart does show that women and the newer retirement date
cohort are a bit more comfortable with the technology than the men and older
cohort.
Members do not want to use Facebook for ASURA Information
Table 15, next page, clearly shows that while almost thirty percent of those
surveyed indicated they were active Facebook uses only ten percent want to
receive ASURA information via Facebook.
24
A Report on ASURA 2014 Survey
Chart 7 - Response Averages for Comfort Level in Using Two
Communication Technologies
(3=somewhat comfortable, 4=comfortable, 5=very comfortable)
Female
Male
Survey Average
Pre 2003
Post 2002
5.0
4.5
4.0
3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
Using E-mail
Browsing the Web
Table 15 – Response Data for Facebook Question
Answer Options
No
Yes
% No
% Yes
I am an active Facebook user.
125
50
71%
29%
I would like to receive information from ASURA
via my Facebook account.
157
17
90%
10%
Community Outreach Programs
The third and final strategic goal was to collect data to allow the ASURA Board to
review its three Community Outreach programs: scholarship, video history, and adopt-afamily. Table 16, next page, shows the results taken from Question 4, 5, and 6. A review
of the table shows:
 All three projects are doing well
While the awareness of the community outreach projects is in the lower half of
the list of ASURA projects / activities, the performance of these projects is in the
upper half. Of the ten projects / activities surveyed in Questions 4-6, the
scholarship project has the third highest importance response average of 4.30,
well above “Important”. Only the two advocacy activities have higher importance
averages.
 Two of the projects have green effectiveness ratings
The scholarship and adopt-a-family projects ranked second third in the
effectiveness table for the projects / activities and hence the green rating. Only
seminars had a smaller, i.e., better, EDM value.
25
A Report on ASURA 2014 Survey
Table 16 – Member Response Averages, Ratings and EDM Values for Items
Related to Community Outreach Projects
Rank
Average
Q 4 Awareness (3=somewhat, 5=very aware)
(out of 10) Rating
Awareness of Scholarship
7
3.91
Awareness of Video History Project
8
3.74
Awareness of Adopt-A-Family
10
3.49
Q 5 Importance (3=neutral, 5=very important)
Importance of Scholarship
3
4.30
Importance of Video History Project
4
4.03
Importance of Adopt-A-Family
6
3.87
Q6 Performance (3=neutral, 5=very well)
Performance of Scholarship
4
4.23
Performance of Video History Project
2
4.35
Performance of Adopt-A-Family
5
4.11
Effectiveness
Ratio
EDM
Q5/Q6 Scholarship
>1
2
.035
Q5/Q6 Video History Project
<1
5
.221
Q5/Q6 Adopt-A-Family
<1
3
.169
A Few Sample Recommendations
The survey collected much data. The previous discussion gave possible interpretations
of the data. Following are some recommendation exemplars which will hopefully
stimulate the Board’s discussion of the data.
Advocacy Efforts Need to Be Reviewed
The survey shows that advocating for retirees benefits, retirement and insurance, is the
most often selected and probably the most important reason why retirees join the
association. Once in the association the members rank these activities first and second
in importance.
So what has ASURA done in the advocacy area the past few years?
 ADOA & ASRS Health Insurance Open Enrollment seminars
 No legislative liaisons
 No ASRS liaisons
 Tri-University meeting with ASRS, retirement and health insurance
 Nothing with the University
Except for open enrollment this seems like a fairly low advocacy effort.
Only three of the twenty-eight items assessed received an orange effectiveness
assessment and two of these were for advocacy activities. The orange assessment is
an indication that the importance and performance are out of balance, in a sense
ASURA is promising more than it’s delivering in the advocacy area.
26
A Report on ASURA 2014 Survey
The Board should discuss ways to address this. Possible ideas include:
 Consider new advocacy efforts, e.g., campus parking, reduced athletic ticket
prices
 Better inform members about what ASURA is actually doing, e.g., standing
article in Prime Times about Board actions
 Other
One additional piece of data to consider. Table 8 showed that newer retirees are not
listing advocacy efforts as being as important a reason for joining as their older
colleagues have.
Review Membership Recruiting
The Board or Membership Committee could review the data in the “Building
Membership” portion of the report and see if there are some ideas about how the
recruiting process might be enhanced. For example personal contact appears to be
important in awareness and joining so what things could be done to utilize this? Also
what might be done to ameliorate the negative feelings recent ASU retirees have about
ASU?
Review Membership Mailing Policy
The current ASURA membership renewal or joining policy1 is:
In April of each year, mail membership solicitation information to:
1. All who have retired from ASU in the current and prior 3 fiscal years, to the
extent that we can identify them and to the extent that we have functional
mailing or e-mail addresses for them.
2. All others (spouses of deceased members, associate members) who are
current members or who have been members in the prior 3 fiscal years.
Given what is known about recent retirees and lapsed member, i.e., they are either
getting old and/or are busy, should this policy be updated? Several things to consider:
 Is four years too long to keep trying if a member has never joined? How long
after retirement might “too busy” no longer be an impediment? Both the lapsed
members and never joined retirees responded at the neutral to neutral plus level
on the statement “I might join ASURA if I have more time to take advantage of
what ASURA has to offer”.
 Should lapsed member be given a way to indicate they would like to be dropped
from the mailing? Should those who have never joined also be given the option
of dropping off the mailing list?
 Should mailing address be considered, e.g., if out of state and not joined should
they continue to be asked to join as long as in state retirees?
 Other
1
See November 12, 2008 Board Minutes for Policy
27
A Report on ASURA 2014 Survey
Consider Enhancing How ASURA Uses Prime Times
Prime Times is ASURA’s communication flagship but is it delivering the type of
information the members want / need? If the answer to this question is that members
would like to read about activities and/or information that they view as important then
Prime Times would need, to some extent, have articles on:
 advocacy efforts both retirement and health insurance,
 the scholarship program,
 the video history project,
 seminars,
 current health issues,
 information on upcoming Board elections,
 information on events, and
 information about whether to contact a legislator about upcoming legislative
action
 other
Consider Enhancing the Use of ASURA Website
As a means of communicating with ASURA members the survey data shows the
ASURA website with lower response averages for awareness, importance, and
performance than Prime Times, ASURA e-mails, and snail mail. The data also shows
that the newer retirees, i.e., those who retired post 2002, are more comfortable with
electronic communication technology. So the question is: given the apparent changing
demographics should an effort be made to increase the use of the website?
One possible way to do this would be to piggyback off the success of Prime Times by
pointing from Prime Times articles to a more complete version of the article on the
website.
Board Committee Member Generated Recommendation
28
Appendix A – Never Joined Survey
PO Box 873308
Temp, AZ 85287-3308
ASURA Survey for ASU Retirees Who Never Joined
This short survey has 3 questions related to why you have never joined ASURA and an
opportunity for comments. Please answer the questions by placing an X in the
appropriate box.
1. ASURA would like to know where you heard about ASURA (please mark all
that apply):
☐ I heard about ASURA at ASU’s retirement planning meetings and publications.
☐ I heard about ASURA in a letter from ASURA.
☐ I heard about ASURA from ASURA’s website.
☐ I heard about ASURA in "Prime Times", ASURA’s newsletter.
☐ I heard about ASURA from an ASU event or news article.
☐ I heard about ASURA by word of mouth.
☐ I don't remember.
☐ I don't really know anything about ASURA.
Other (please specify)
2 I have not joined ASURA because (please check all that apply):
I was not aware of ASURA's programs of advocacy for retirees with the state
☐
legislature.
I was not aware of ASURA's programs of advocacy for retirees with the
☐
retirement agencies ADOA & ASRS.
☐ I was not aware of ASURA's programs of advocacy for retirees with ASU.
I was not aware of ASURA's monitoring of existing health insurance programs for
☐ University retirees, to provide the best possible health insurance coverage for its
members.
I was unhappy with ASU when I retired, and didn't want to be part of anything
☐
“ASU”.
☐ I haven't heard about the free introductory year.
☐ I think the dues are too high.
I cannot or would not take advantage of the seminars, events, and travel that
☐
ASURA offers.
☐ I don't know anyone who is an ASURA member.
☐ I don't see the benefit.
Other (please specify)
29
Appendix A – Never Joined Survey
3 I might join ASURA if:
Strongly
Disagree
The dues are lowered to $20 or less per
year
Someone I know, like, or admire
encourages me to join
I have more time to take advantage of what
ASURA offers
Other (please specify)
Strongly
Agree
Neutral
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
4 Please supply any comments you have that could help us do a better job of
recruiting and serving retirees
30
Appendix B – Lapsed Member Survey
PO Box 873308
Temp, AZ 85287-3308
ASURA Survey for ASURA Members with Lapsed Membership
This short survey has 3 questions related to why you have not renewed your
membership in ASURA and an opportunity for comments. Please answer the questions
by placing an X in the appropriate box.
1. I originally joined ASURA because (please check all that apply):
I wanted to lend my support to ASURA’s efforts to advocate for retirees with the
☐
state legislature.
I wanted to lend my support to ASURA’s efforts to advocate for retirees with the
☐
state retirement programs (ADOA & ASRS).
I wanted to lend my support to ASURA’s efforts to advocate for retirees with
☐
ASU.
I wanted to take advantage of ASURA's monitoring of existing health insurance
☐ programs for University retirees, to provide the best possible health insurance
coverage for its members.
ASURA seemed like a good way for me to stay in touch with former colleagues
☐
from ASU.
☐ ASURA seemed like a good way for me to meet people.
☐ ASURA offered seminars, events and travel that were of interest to me.
☐ I thought ASURA would provide me with useful information.
☐ The dues were reasonable and I thought it would be worth giving it a try.
Other (please specify)
2. I did not renew my membership because (please check all that apply):
☐ I felt the dues were too high.
☐ I found that I did not take advantage of the opportunities that ASURA offered.
☐ I found that I did not like the opportunities that ASURA offered.
☐ I could no longer attend ASURA events.
I didn't think ASURA delivers what it promises in the way of advocacy for retirees
☐
with the Legislature.
I didn't think ASURA delivers what it promises in the way of advocacy for retirees
☐
with the state retirement agencies (ADOA & ASRS).
I didn't think ASURA delivers what it promises in the way of advocacy for retirees
☐
with ASU.
I don’t think ASURA's delivers good monitoring of existing health insurance
☐
programs.
☐ I didn't get much useful information from my membership.
Other (please specify)
31
Appendix B – Lapsed Member Survey
3 I might rejoin ASURA if:
The dues are lowered
Someone I know, like, or admire encourages
me to join
I have more time to take advantage of what
ASURA offers
Other (please specify)
No
☐
☐
Maybe
☐
☐
Yes
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
4 Please supply any comments you have on why you originally joined ASURA
and why you are no longer a member.
32
PO Box 873308
Temp, AZ 85287-3308
ASURA Survey for ASURA Members
ASURA is surveying its members to collect information to help the ASURA Board with its strategic
planning.
The survey will take about 20 minutes to take and has six sections, each section dealing with a
different aspect of what ASURA does. You answer questions by marking the appropriate box.
Section 1: Questions Pertaining to Initially Joining ASURA
1. ASURA would like to know how you initially learned about ASURA (please check all that
apply)
☐ I initially learned about ASURA at ASU’s retirement planning meetings and publications.
☐ I initially learned about ASURA in a letter from ASURA.
☐ I initially learned about ASURA from ASURA’s website.
☐ I initially learned about ASURA in "Prime Times", ASURA’s newsletter.
☐ I initially learned about ASURA from an ASU event or news article.
☐ I initially learned about ASURA by word of mouth.
Other (please specify)
2. ASURA would like to know what prompted your initial decision to join ASURA (please
check all that apply)
I initially joined ASURA to support its efforts to advocate for retirees with the state
☐
legislature, the state retirement programs, and with ASU.
I initially joined ASURA to stay in touch with former colleagues from ASU and to meet
☐
people.
I initially joined ASURA to take advantage of ASURA offered seminars, events and
☐
travel opportunities.
☐ I initially joined ASURA because a colleague asked me to join.
I joined to lend support to ASURA's community outreach programs, such as the ASURA
☐
scholarship, the video history project, and Adopt-a-Family.
☐ I initially joined ASURA because the first year was free.
Other (please specify)
33
Appendix C –Member Survey
3. I know former ASU colleagues who haven’t joined ASURA because (please check all that
apply)
They are not aware of the value that ASURA provides to retirees, e.g., advocacy with
☐
the State Legislature and retirement programs, advocacy for ASU discounts, etc.
They were not aware of ASURA's monitoring of existing health insurance programs for
☐ University retirees, to provide the best possible health insurance coverage for its
members.
They were unhappy with ASU when they retired, and now don’t want to be part of
☐
anything “ASU”.
☐ They feel the dues are too high.
☐ They don’t think they would attend ASURA events.
They are not aware of the value that ASURA provides to the community, e.g. through
☐
scholarships, the video history program, and Adopt-a-Family.
Other (please specify)
Section 2: Questions Pertaining to Current ASURA Activities and Projects
4 ASURA is interested in knowing your level of awareness for following ASURA activities &
projects:
Somewhat
Very
Unaware
Aware
Aware
How aware are you of ASURA's Video History
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
Project?
How aware are you of ASURA's Scholarship
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
program?
How aware are you of ASURA's Adopt-A-Family
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
program?
How aware are you of ASURA's efforts to
advocate for retirees with the state legislature,
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
the state retirement programs, and with ASU?
How aware are you of ASURA's efforts to
monitor existing health insurance programs for
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
University retirees to provide the best possible
health insurance coverage for its members?
How aware are you of ASURA's Seminars?
How aware are you of ASURA's Travel
Programs?
How aware are you of ASURA's Luncheons?
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
How aware are you of ASURA's Retirees Day?
How aware are you of ASURA's Golf
Tournament?
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
34
Appendix C –Member Survey
TO HELP WITH QUESTIONS 5 & 6 THE FOLLOWING EXPLAINS A BIT ABOUT ASURA'S
COMMUNITY OUTREACH PROGRAMS.
The Living History Video Project records video interviews with retired and former employees of ASU
who have a significant history with the university. There are currently over 90 interviews.
The ASURA Reentry student scholarship awards $10,000 for two semesters to cover tuition, fees and
related expenses.
The Adopt-a-Family program selects two needy families, one from the Tempe School District and one
from ASU and provides the families with clothing, food and holiday gifts at Thanksgiving, Christmas,
and Easter.
5 ASURA is interested in knowing your opinion on how important it is for ASURA to continue
the following activities & projects:
Not
Very
Neutral
Important
Important
How important is it for ASURA to do the Video
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
History Project?
How important is it for ASURA to do the
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
Scholarship program?
How important is it for ASURA to do the Adopt☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
A-Family program?
How important is it for ASURA to advocate for
retirees with the state legislature, the state
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
retirement programs, and with ASU?
How important is it for ASURA to monitor
existing health insurance programs for
University retirees, to provide the best possible
health insurance coverage for its members?
How important is it for ASURA to have
Seminars?
How important is it for ASURA to do Travel
Programs?
How important is it for ASURA to have
Luncheons?
How important is it for ASURA to have Retirees
Day?
How important is it for ASURA to have a Golf
Tournament?
35
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
Appendix C –Member Survey
6 ASURA is interested in knowing your opinion on how well ASURA is accomplishing the
following activities & projects:
Not
Very
No
Neutral
Well
Well
Opinion
How well is the Video History Project
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☒
being done?
How well is the Scholarship program
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
being done?
How well is the Adopt-A-Family
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
program being done?
How well is ASURA advocating for
retirees with the state legislature, the
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
state retirement programs, and with
ASU?
How well is ASURA monitoring existing
health insurance programs for
University retirees, to provide the best
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
possible health insurance coverage for
its members?
How well are the Seminars being
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
done?
How well are the Travel Programs
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
being done?
How well are the Luncheons being
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
done?
How well are the Retirees Day being
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
done?
How well is the Golf Tournament being
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
done?
7 What factors below dissuade you from participating in ASURA social events?
Strongly
Strongly
No
Neutral
Disagree
Agree Opinion
The cost is too high.
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
Transportation is difficult.
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
Parking is not easy.
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
The time / date of event is not
convenient.
I am just not interested in social
activities.
For personal or geographic reasons I
cannot participate
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
36
Appendix C –Member Survey
Section 3: Questions Pertaining to Types of Information
8 ASURA would like your opinion on the importance of supplying the following types of
information:
Not
Important
Very
Important
Neutral
How important is it for ASURA to supply you with
information which helps you decide whether to
renew your membership?
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
How important is it for ASURA to supply you with
information which helps you decide whether to
volunteer with ASURA?
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
How important is it for ASURA to supply you with
information which helps you decide whether to
attend an ASURA event?
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
How important is it for ASURA to supply you with
information which helps you decide whether to
make a donation to one of the Community
Outreach projects?
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
How important is it for ASURA to supply you with
information which helps you decide whether to
vote in an ASURA Board election?
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
How important is it for ASURA to supply you with
information which helps you feel connected to
ASU and your former colleagues?
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
How important is it for ASURA to supply you with
ASU obituaries?
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
How important is it for ASURA to supply you with
information to help you make good decisions
about your health insurance program?
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
How important is it for ASURA to supply you with
information to help you keep abreast of current
health issues?
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
How important is it for ASURA to supply you with
information to help you decide whether to contact
your legislator in connection with upcoming
legislation that affects you or ASU?
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
How important is it for ASURA to supply you with
information to help you manage your financial
plan?
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
How important is it for ASURA to supply you with
information to help you make living choices for
yourself or your relatives, such as an assisted
living choice?
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
How important is it for ASURA to supply you with
information to help you use computers and other
technology?
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
37
Appendix C –Member Survey
9 ASURA would like your opinion on how well it is supplying information on a number of
topics:
Not Well
Neutral
Very
Well
No
Opinion
How well does ASURA supply Information
for deciding whether to renew your
membership?
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
How well does ASURA supply Information
for deciding whether to volunteer with
ASURA?
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
How well does ASURA supply Information
for deciding whether to attend an ASURA
event?
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
How well does ASURA supply Information
for deciding whether to make a donation to
one of the Community Outreach projects?
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
How well does ASURA supply Information
for deciding whether to vote in an ASURA
Board election?
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
How well does ASURA supply Information
to help you feel connected to the
association (ASURA)?
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
How well does ASURA supply ASU
obituaries?
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
How well does ASURA supply Information
to help you make good decisions about
your health insurance program?
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
How well does ASURA supply Information
for help you keep abreast of current health
issues?
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
How well does ASURA supply Information
for help you decide whether to contact my
legislator in connection with upcoming
legislation that affects me or ASU?
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
How well does ASURA supply Information
to help you manage your financial plan?
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
How well does ASURA supply Information
to help you make living choices for yourself
or your relatives, such as an assisted living
choice?
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
How well does ASURA supply Information
to help you use computers and other
technology?
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
38
Appendix C –Member Survey
Section 4: Questions Pertaining to Communication Methods
10 ASURA is interested in knowing your level of awareness of the following communication
methods:
Somewhat
Aware
Unaware
Very
Aware
How aware are you of "Prime Times"?
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
How aware are you of ASURA information E-mails?
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
How aware are you of ASURA direct mailings (post
office)?
How aware are you of the ASURA website
(http://asura.asu.edu)?
How aware are you of telephone calls to/from the
ASURA Office?
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
11 ASURA would like your opinion on how important each of the following communication
methods is in providing you with information:
Not
Important
How important a source of information is "Prime
Times"?
How important a source of information are ASURA
E-mails?
How important a source of information are direct
mailings (post office)?
How important a source of information is the
ASURA website?
How important a source of information are
telephone calls to/from the ASURA Office?
Very
Important
Neutral
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
12 ASURA would like your opinion on how well each of the following communication methods
provides you with information:
Not
Very
No
Neutral
Well
Well
Opinion
How well does "Prime Times" supply you
with the information you want?
How well do E-mails from ASURA supply
you with the information you want?
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
How well do direct (post office) mailings
from ASURA supply you with the
information you want?
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
How well does the ASURA website supply
you with the information you want?
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
How well do telephone calls to/from the
ASURA office supply you with the
information you want?
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
39
Appendix C –Member Survey
13 ASURA is interested in your opinion on the frequency of two of its primary communication
methods:
About
Too
No
Too Few
Right
Many
Opinion
How would you rate the frequency of
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
"Prime Times"?
How would you rate the frequency of
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
E-mails?
14 How comfortable are you with each of the following technologies?
Never
Somewhat
Use / Do
Comfortable
How comfortable are you sending /
☐
☐
☐
receiving e-mails?
How comfortable are you browsing the
☐
☐
☐
web?
Very
Comfortable
☐
☐
☐
☐
15 ASURA is considering using Facebook as an additional means of communicating with
members. To help us evaluate this, please tell us:
No
Yes
I am an active Facebook user.
☐
☐
I would like to receive information from ASURA
☐
☐
via my Facebook account.
Section 5: General Questions
16 I feel ASURA:
Strongly
Disagree
Strongly
No
Agree Opinion
Neutral
Should do more activities on ASU's
campuses.
Should do more activities off campus.
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
Should focus activities on the Tempe
Campus.
Should spread activities around to all of
the campuses.
Is doing about the right number of
activities.
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
40
Appendix C –Member Survey
17 What interest might you have in the following event & travel opportunities with ASURA?
No
Some
Strong
Interest
Interest
Interest
Local one-day trip to Arizona site of interest
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
Local overnight trip to Arizona site of interest
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
3 – 7 day trip to site of interest in the
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
Southwest or west coast
Week long or longer trip to site of interest in
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
the United States or Canada or Mexico
International trip for one or two weeks
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
International trip for three weeks or longer
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
A picnic at a park with games, etc. for young
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
and old
An ASU tailgate party
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
A Habitat for Humanity - ASURA volunteer
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
group
A wine and cheese get together
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
A baseball outing
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
A local casino visit
☐
☐
☐
☐
☐
Section 6: Demographic Questions
18 Numerical Demographic Information
Age:
Official Retirement Date
Zip code of principle residence
19 Gender:
☐ Male
☐ Female
20 Do you receive e-mails from ASURA?
☐ Yes
☐ No
21 Have you attended an ASURA event within the past five years?
☐ Yes
☐ No
22 Please add on the back of this page any additional comments on how ASURA might better
serve you.
41