Private research
Research an association conducts without a sponsor.
Private research is a study the association pays for and owns. No sponsor takes part, and the association decides what is conducted, with whom, and what is published. Private research usually comes in one of two kinds: inward facing studies that answer the association's own questions, and syndicated studies that measure the whole field.
The two kinds of private research
Inward facing studies
An inward facing study asks members about the association itself. Member satisfaction studies, needs assessments, member forecasts, and event evaluations are the studies associations request most often.
The association evaluates the findings and acts on them. Some associations publish a summary to members, some publish a full report, and some keep the study for staff and board use only.
Syndicated studies
A syndicated study measures the field rather than just the association. Salary surveys, employee retention surveys, and benchmarking surveys are the most common syndicated studies.
The association gives the results to its members as a benefit of membership and charges non-members a fee for access. A syndicated study therefore raises the value of membership and earns revenue at the same time.
The studies associations request most often
A member satisfaction study measures what members think of the association.
It reports which services members use, which services they value, and what they would change.
A needs assessment reports what members want the association to provide.
It covers continuing education, certification, publications, and events.
A membership retention study reports why members join and why members leave.
It can also ask former members and eligible non-members what they think of the association.
An event evaluation measures what attendees thought of a meeting or a course.
It also reports what those attendees would attend next.
A salary survey reports what people in the field are paid.
Pay is reported by job level, by years of experience, by certification, by region, and by the size of the organization. A salary survey is usually syndicated.
A benchmarking study reports how organizations in the field work.
A member compares its own practice with the practice of organizations of its own kind and size. A benchmarking study is usually syndicated.
Two ongoing studies, each offered under a new name
The OUTLOOK Survey
The OUTLOOK Survey asks members what they expect in the period ahead, and repeats key questions each period, so that the association can report what its field expects rather than only what it has already done.
The Omnibus Survey
The Omnibus Survey asks a core set of questions in every period and adds questions that one sponsor or one department wants answered in that period, so that several budgets share the cost of one fielding.
What the association receives
An interactive dashboard of the findings.
The dashboard opens in a web browser, filters the results by any group the study measured, and reports which differences between groups are statistically significant.
The written summary of findings.
The findings state what the respondents said, reported by question and by group.
A presentation to staff, the board, or all.
The presentation states what the findings mean for the decisions the association is making.
The survey data file.
The audited response file is delivered with the study, so that the association can analyze the data again later. For Syndicated research, the association receives the raw data. For member research, the association receives redacted raw data.
The association decides what is published.
An inward facing study can stay inside the association. A syndicated study is published to members and offered to non-members for a fee.
A note on repeating a study
A study repeated on a schedule reports change over time.
A satisfaction study, a salary survey, or a benchmarking study repeated each year, or each quarter, produces a series of measurements rather than a single reading. The dashboard for a repeated study reports each period and the change between periods, and it tests whether a change between periods is statistically significant.
A syndicated study repeated on a schedule also produces a renewable revenue line, because each edition is sold again to non-members.
Ask what a study of your own membership or your own field would involve.
The scope, the schedule, and the price depend on what is asked and how many people are invited to answer. A conversation of thirty minutes is usually enough to determine all three.