The big QST survey

[Rus Healy NJ2L]

Yes, folks who were wondering, we had the QST reader survey
done by a professional survey organization called Readex. I can't
describe the process in great detail because I wasn't directly
involved, but I can tell you that Readex guaranteed a certain
percentage of responses that provides a more than adequate
margin for statistical significance in the results, and they
exceeded that guaranteed return rate by a large margin. The 
response rate (885 of the 1100 surveyed members sent in usable
responses) meets the guidelines established by the Advertising
Research Foundation to minimize the impact of non-response bias.
Maximum sampling error was about 3% at the 95% confidence level.

The survey was conducted by mail and sent to a representative 
cross-section of the League membership (age, license class, 
etc). The average number of years licensed was about 14.

The results were quite interesting, comprising a 90+ page report.
More details are sure to be forthcoming; many of our gut feelings 
about QST content were confirmed, while others were dispelled. I,
for one, am rather disconcerted at how many people want to see 
less contest coverage in the magazine. You can be sure that Dave 
wouldn't have mentioned it in his editorial if it wasn't a 
significant response--he's one of us (contesters), after all!

--73, Rus

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Rus Healy, NJ2L
QST Senior Assistant Technical Editor

1.8 through 2304 MHz--and climbing!
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