Several months ago, I invited Action readers to participate in an online survey to give us an idea of how well you think we’re doing. Responses trickled in. The reviews were positive, but the sample was so small for so many months that I could not consider it an accurate indication of what the readership at large was thinking.
Last month, we ran the survey inside the print version of Action. The trickle became a torrent, and now we have a sample that more accurately reflects the demographics of the membership at large in terms of age, type of disability (with slightly more of a bias in this sample toward people with MS, compared to the membership), veteran status, and length of membership. It’s not a perfect reflection-women make up a little less than half of the membership but about three-quarters of the respondents, for example-and it should be noted that a selfselected survey will not yield the same sort of accuracy as a randomly selected one. But several strong trends among this group suggest that our readership is probably in agreement on a few key points.
One of those, I’m gratified to see, is a mostly (very) positive opinion of Action. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the most positive, 30% rated Action an 8, 24% rated it a 10, 68% rated it 8 or better, and 86% rated it 7 or better. Pluralities spend a lot of time reading Action each month: 39.3% report spending more than an hour with an issue (this question was asked online only); 43.1% say they often read Action cover to cover. And a plurality (32.1%) keep their Actions in case they want to refer to them in the future.
Some other surprising bits of information I’ve gleaned from the survey: While two thirds were not interested in seeing articles unrelated to spinal cord disorders, that left a third who said they would be interested in such off-topic subjects. Almost 40% said they thought people without an SCD would be interested in reading Action, and most share articles with their family members, caregivers, doctors and others without an SCD.
Thanks to those who have participated in the survey. We value your input highly and pledge to use it to make Action better and better still.
Christofer D. Pierson
Managing Editor
