Older, Wealthier and with a Bit to Think About: The 2007 Croquet Association Survey of Croquet Players

In 2002 the CA Marketing Committee conducted a successful survey of croquet players. Besides providing a lot of useful information about players - their backgrounds, attitudes and opinions - which was potentially important in formulating strategy and plans, it enabled croquet to better package itself when the CA or clubs were applying for grants or seeking sponsorship.

A report was produced and circulated, and a summary paper, Healthy, Wealthy and Wise, was published in The Croquet Gazette.

It was decided to conduct a similar survey five years on. The objectives of the 2007 survey included:

• a refreshing of the data in the 2002 survey, for ongoing use, to attract sponsors and serve as a foundation for strategy and plans;
• to measure what has changed in the intervening five years;
• to focus on what its Associate members want from the CA - both to satisfy existing Associates and to obtain clues of how to increase membership numbers.

1600 paper questionnaires were mailed out with Fixture Books to Associates in early January and a further 350 were sent to non-Associates. This time an online option was also provided, available on the CA website.

By the end of February 716 responses had been logged (an excellent 37% return rate) and analysis was started. In fact, the final figure was well over 800. 68% chose to respond by mail and 32% online. 102 of the responses were from non-Associates.

Analysis was undertaken in two stages. The first, called Primary Analysis, considers the responses to each question in turn. Tables and graphical representations were generated to present the results. The second stage is referred to as Secondary Analysis. Here specific issues were addressed, by considering several responses together and, in some cases, additional data from outside the survey.

Throughout the analysis, but particularly in the secondary stage, the data was interpreted with a degree of subjectivity, conclusions were drawn and recommendations were made. All of the opinions expressed in the report and in this summary are those of the author (Kevin Carter) and do not necessarily represent the views either of the CA as a whole or of the CA Marketing Committee.

You can download the Contents and Summary (8 pages / 70kB) or the full report (71 pages / 505kB).

The survey data was refreshed by the 2012 survey.
The 2002 survey is still available also.

These publications are © The Croquet Association. All rights are reserved and no part of the publications may be copied in full or in part without the prior written consent of The Croquet Association.