On May 10, we sent an online survey to over 3,000 English speaking active MSIA students to find out how the organization can better serve all of us better. A Spanish versions was sent out this past week to our Latin American students and the Portuguese one is coming soon.
The English survey will close on June 14, but we thought we would give everyone a snapshot update of the responses received thus far. We plan to do a final report later this summer after all of the surveys have closed.
If you plan on submitting a survey or you still want to finishing one that you started, we recommend that you do it now:
First of all, thank you! We’ve had a wonderful response to the survey, 1,029 people started the survey and over 900 people have completed it to date. This has exceeded our expectations and results from the survey are still coming in.
The survey input will assist us in refining and clarifying our approach to making the teachings available. Here’s a brief report on the results so far.
On the first question, How do you find out about news from MSIA? 881 people replied they get their news through emails, 370 hear about it during the Ministers Meeting Updates and the rest of people, either go to MSIA Website, Word of Mouth or Social Media (this question allowed for multiple responses).
For How often do you read New Day Herald articles?, we discovered that most people read the occasional article (645), but that some people read more regularly (176). Around 70 people said that they don’t read any NDH articles.
Over 66% of those surveyed are interested in a print version of the NDH. Great news since a NDH Magazine will be published this July! We’re very excited about having a beautiful print version to share.
When asked How often do you visit the MSIA Website?, 377 people said monthly — we’re happy our ministers are watching our ministers meeting online! Another 222 shared that they visit the website weekly and 72 visit the website everyday!
In response to Do you have any suggestions for improving the MSIA website? many people shared that they love the website, a significant proportion (about 25%) said that they found it difficult to navigate. Here’s an example:
The website is very hard to navigate. It is not user-friendly. It needs a complete overhaul.
On the other end of the spectrum, we’ve been getting plenty of feedback like this:
I seem to navigate [the website] well enough…I’ve appreciated the constant improvement and effort to make the site attractive, easy to use, and an accurate portrayal of MSIA…
Last week, we met with our website developers to share the feedback and explore improvements and new features that will make the MSIA website more user-friendly, especially for MSIA students to access their SATs, the prayer list, and seeding and tithing.
Some other common themes we’re noticing in the survey have to do with improving the MSIA store, a print version of the NDH, concern about access to J-R materials, and fostering a greater sense of community outside of Los Angeles. We’re happy to share that we have projects in the works in all of these areas and will be making some exciting announcements at this year’s Conference of Heaven on Earth.
Regarding how often people attend MSIA/PTS events, we discovered that most people attend 1-6 events per year (423 via Live Stream and 529 in-person). The surprising factor (for us) was that many don’t attend any events at all via Live Stream (194) or In-Person (242).
We also discovered that over 182 people participate in 10 or more events every year via Live Stream and 94 participate in 10 or more in-person.
When someone has a question for MSIA/PTS, most people email (477) or call (469) MSIA Staff, while 259 people visit the MSIA website and 144 contact their local MSIA rep.
For the question How can MSIA make it easier for you to share the Traveler’s teachings with others? 498 people answered that the existing resources work fine, while 181 also asked for more intro events online. In that question, we received many suggestions (over 221 responses). We’re still analyzing and processing all of the comments.
Under How can MSIA better support you in studying and living the teachings of Soul Transcendence? Over 450 people wrote about how grateful they were for all the resources we have available and 249 people gave us some helpful feedback on how we can improve what we do.
The question Is there anything else you’d like to share? opened the door for many of us to share whatever we wanted to say. Again, over 300 people took the time to give us some positive feedback and 104 shared opportunities they saw for us to improve the way we do this work.
Thanks again to all those who have taken the time to share their thoughts. We appreciate all of the feedback that we’ve received.
Love you guys. Thank you for all the great service you do.