Survey Reveals General Satisfaction with MPSA Conference |
In the fall of 2007, individuals who submitted proposals for the MPSA conference and visitors to the MPSA web site were invited to complete a brief web survey. The survey was designed to gather opinions about specific aspects of the conference and about adding a journal as an MPSA member benefit. More than 1,000 people responded (the survey was designed so each person could respond only once).
Most respondents said they heard about the conference by word of mouth (32%), e-mail (32%), or a postcard sent by the association (32%). Asked about the proposal acceptance rate, a majority of respondents (39%) said it should remain the same, and 27% said it should be increased somewhat. Fewer respondents (15%) said the acceptance rate should be decreased somewhat.
A majority of respondents (54%) indicated the panel presentations of papers were useful or very useful, and 56% thought the number of panels should remain the same. Fewer respondents (22%) said they found the poster presentations of papers to be useful or very useful, although 62% thought the number of poster presentations should remain the same.
Regarding attendance at sessions, 23% said it was “good,” 44% said it was “average,” 17% said it was “poor,” and 17% said they had not presented or attended a conference before. Compared with other conferences, 22% of respondents said there had been no problems with presenters, discussants, or chairs not showing for a session; 37% said there were a “few” problems with no-shows, and 15% though there was a problem.
Most respondents (83%) indicated that they would like for MPSA to add a new journal to its member benefits package. Of these, 69% felt a new journal should cover a subfield, and 14% said it should be a specialty journal. The greatest percentage of respondents (54%) indicated the journal should cover political institutions, followed by American politics (45%), and policy (40%).
The greatest percentage of respondents – 34% -- said they work in the Midwest, followed by the East (25%), the South (17%), the West (14%), and other countries (11%). Sixty-two percent of respondents indicated they were current members of MPSA.