Focused Membership Survey 2014-2015

SUMMARY: October 2015 This survey was conducted differently to focus primarily on integration along with some targeted Events and Community Outreach questions. The questions on integration were post-integration implementation (2015) but the Events and CO questions span over a year.

A PDF version is available ‎

Demographics

Survey Respondents

Active Members - 400

Aes Sedai/Gaidin: 112
Accepted/Soldier: 20
Novice/Recruit: 4
Citizen: 12
Prefer Not To Answer: 19

Ajah/Company Breakdown*

• Includes aspirants

Blue Ajah: 19
Brown Ajah: 19
Green Ajah: 15
Gray Ajah: 9
Red Ajah: 13
White Ajah: 19
Yellow Ajah: 10
Dai M'Hael: 6
Mahdi'in d'ma Dieb: 4
San d'ma Shadar: 4
Val'Cueran: 1
Prefer Not To Answer: 2

Survey Response Rate 41.75%

Survey Completion Rate 35%

Events

Official Tower Events

Did you attend any of the following:	AS/Gaidin	Accepted/Soldier	Novice/Recruit	Citizen	No Answer
B&I Party	4	1	0	0	0
NA Anniversary Party	32	3	0	1	0
NA Fall Ball	4	0	1	1	0
JordanCon	6	0	0	1	0
None	68	14	2	7	1
No Answer	4	2	1	2	18

Main Barriers to Official Events

• Money 40
• Distance 20
• Scheduling Time 15
• Availability 9

Local Tower Events

Main Barriers to Local Events

• Availability of events 35
• Distance 12
• Scheduling Time 11
• Money 7

Outreach

For outreach opportunities, do you think the Tower offers

• Just the right amount: 106
• Not enough: 5
• Too many: 6
• Prefer not to answer: 32

Do you think the Tower offers enough opportunities to donate to the site itself?

• Yes 105
• No 12
• No answer 50

Do we sponsor enough pop-up fundraisers when current events dictate them?

• Yes 112
• No 1
• No answer 54

Integration

	AS/Gaidin	Accepted/Soldier	Novice/Recruit	Citizen	No Answer
Member prior to integration?	107	20	1	7	26
Senior Member prior to integration?	100	5	0	2	26

	Yes	No	No Answer
Demoted to explore other SM path?	2	105	60
Decision to join Tower affected by integration?	0	2	26

Now that integration has occurred, how happy are you with the concept of mixed Ajahs/Companies?

• Very Happy: 75
• Somewhat Happy: 24
• No change: 32
• Somewhat Unhappy: 10
• Very Unhappy: 0
• No Answer: 1

How has your overall opinion of integration changed since the original proposal now that it’s been implemented?

• Very Positive: 14
• Somewhat Positive: 25
• No change: 92
• Somewhat Negative: 2
• Very Negative: 1
• No Answer: 8

Do you feel you had sufficient information on integration to decide whether or not you wanted to explore a different path?

• Yes: 91%
• No: 3%
• N/A: 6%

Do you feel that your voice was given sufficient weight on the integration topic prior to it occurring?

• Yes: 68%
• No: 17%
• N/A: 15%

Senior Membership View

Senior Membership View	Very Positive	Somewhat Positive	No Change	Somewhat Negative	Very Negative	No Answer
How has it affected your Ajah/Company?	28	18	51	7	0	4
Has having both genders in your sitting room affected your Ajah/Company:	12	24	58	7	0	6

“I was quite against it, initially - it seemed like it was being done to bend the rules for a couple key people. But now, after seeing the positive effects for SO MANY people, and the benefit it's brought to our group specifically, I'm a big fan now.”

Ajah/Company activity level

• Increase: 27%
• Decrease: 60%
• No Change: 7%

Both genders in Guest Rooms changed your opinion?

• Yes: 10%
• No: 86%
• N/A: 4%

“So far most of the male guests have not caused a stir. I still think the change is pointless and likely to result in more angst rather than less when the companies end up with more women than men or women commanders. We shall see.”

Ajah/Company Impact

• Always in favor of integration 39
• Minimal impact 16
• No changes 11
• No opinion 6
• Negative impact 8
• Positive impact 4

Junior Membership View

	Warm Reception	Lukewarm Reception	Polite Reception	No Answer
Reception in Sitting/Great rooms?	16	0	4	2
Reception as a guest with Ajahs/Companies with traditionally opposite gender?	9	1	3	7

Use the Abandoned Corridor?

• Yes: 79%
• No: 13%
• N/A: 8%

Importance of JM-only space?

• Extremely important: 32%
• Somewhat important: 46%
• Somewhat unimportant: 5%
• Very Unimportant: 0%
• N/A: 17%

Revamped Mentor Program

• Positive 59%
• No Change 36%
• Negative 5%

Mentor Option Selected

• Both Options: 68%
• Same Gender Option: 14%
• No Answer: 18%

“Since most of the SM pool is divided by genders at this point, I wanted perspective from someone from each side.”

“I asked for a male mentor in addition to my female mentor because I wanted someone that I could ask questions about the different companies.”

“I am considering choosing a company over the Ajahs and my male Mentor is giving me a lot of valuable information regarding what is it like to be a Gaidin.”

“I had a mentor assigned prior to integration. My mentor is basically non-existent on the boards. If I were starting over now I would definitely request both a male and female mentor. “

Additional Comments

With the potential for male Aes Sedai and female Warders, what symbol of title/rank is appropriate for the new group members? (e.g. sashes for male Aes Sedai, etc.)
Up to each individual	32
Symbols for each rank stay same	29
No opinion	14
Sashes for male AS	9
Unified decided by male AS/female Gaidin	4
Each Ajah/Company decides	4

“I honestly don't care. It's up to the individual Aes Sedai to figure out what he wants. If he wants a sash, wear one! If he wants a shawl, wear one! I'm happy either way.”

“If we're fully integrating the groups then fully integrate the groups. All of the same symbols apply. If we wanted to treat the genders differently we should have gone with separate Ajahs/Companies.”

“I'd like to leave that up to individual membership groups although I personally lean towards shawls for all AS and sashes for all Warders.”

How could we improve the decision making process for site-wide changes?

Top Responses:

1. No changes/no opinion
2. Better representation from membership group leaders
3. Less discussion
4. More transparency
5. Address dissenting concerns

“Open discussion prior to decisions instead of discussions after the decision was already made.”

How could we improve communication of major changes?

Top Responses:

1. No changes/no opinion
2. More respectful discussion
3. More information from site officers & admins
4. Mass emails to members
5. Early & frequent communication

“Lots of information posted in site announcements by the Amyrlin/Keeper. Leadership MUST be visible during such times.”

Additional comments about the changes made to the site in the past year

Top Responses:

1. Satisfied with changes made
2. Better site activity levels
3. Disciplinary code of conduct enforced for bad behavior
4. More transparency needed
5. Adhere more to the books

“I want to make clear that I am 100% for integration and think it is kind of embarrassing that it took as long as it did for us to get here. But I am not in support of the way the decisions were made.”