1 995 Tree-fruit Survey 



William M. Coli, Roberta Szala, Wesley R. Autio, Daniel R. Cooley, 

 Karen I. Hauschild, and Ronald J. Prokopy 

 University of Massachusetts 



In the late winter/early spring of 1995, the Ex- 

 tension Tree-fruit Team sent out an extensive sur- 

 vey to 210 Massachusetts tree-fruit growers. Al- 

 though an attempt was made to survey only com- 

 mercial-scale growers, results later revealed that a 

 sizable number of responses were received from in- 

 dividuals managing very small fruit plantings. 



The principal purpose of the survey was to as- 

 sess growers' opinions of the Tree-fruit research and 

 extension program focus and delivery methods, and 

 to determine if growers sought changes either in 

 methods of delivery or in specific subjects covered. 

 An additional purpose was to understand better the 

 nature and extent of Massachusetts fruit grower 

 adoption of integrated pest management (IPM). This 

 latter purpose is compatible with expectations of the 

 USDA as part of the National IPM Initiative, a na- 

 tionally-coordinated attempt to secure increases in 

 Federal funding for research and extension outreach 

 related to pest management, including the devel- 

 opment of biologically-based practices, and other al- 

 ternatives to pesticide use. A key element of the 

 National IPM Initiative, is that growers and other 

 key stakeholders play an active role in the develop- 

 ment of priority research, extension, and training 

 needs which must be addressed if enhanced, volun- 

 tary IPM adoption is to occur in important produc- 

 tion systems. In this and other articles, we will sum- 

 marize the specific results of this survey. 



The Survey Itself 



Based on previous experience in our group, we 

 chose to use the Dillman Total Design Method of 

 Mail and Telephone Surveys as the survey method. 

 By now, I suspect that most readers have received 

 other Dillman-type surveys on other subjects. 

 Dillman-method surveys are popular because they 

 typically generate very high response rates. With- 

 out going into all the details of the method, two key 

 elements are worth mentioning: a carefully-designed 

 cover letter, and frequent follow-up mailings. 



If you are like us, you probably have received 

 the sort of survey which asks you to send in some 

 sort of information because it is useful to the person 



sending the survey. Based on careful research, 

 Dillman determined that one would get a far better 

 response if the cover letter convinced the reader 

 that they should complete the survey 6ccause it was 

 useful to members of some group to which the re- 

 sponder belonged (e.g., Massachusetts commercial 

 fruitgrowers). In addition to the design of any cover 

 letters, another characteristic of a Dillman survey 

 is the use of follow-up mailings. Most of us have 

 received surveys which, as busy individuals, we put 

 on a pile that we will deal with "later". Unfortu- 

 nately for the surveyor, later often never comes. 

 Again based on his research, Dillman determined 

 that response rate increased with a post card re- 

 minder sent to all recipients one week after the ini- 

 tial mailing. An additional mailing to current non- 

 respondents three weeks after the initial, includ- 

 ing a slightly more urgent cover letter and another 

 copy of the survey, and a similar follow-up at seven 

 weeks also increase response rate. 



Partly due to the method used, and certainly 

 due to the time so many of you took to complete the 

 questionnaire, the survey described here benefited 

 from an outstanding response rate of 75% (158 com- 

 pleted surveys out of 210 sent). A response rate of 

 this size is considered necessary if the investigator 

 is to have confidence that s/he is accurately por- 

 traying the opinions of the entire population 

 sampled (i.e. all Massachusetts commercial fruit 

 growers), rather than simply a small, and poten- 

 tially unrepresentative, subset. The Tree-fruit Team 

 extends its sincere thanks to all respondents. Your 

 help in completing this survey hopefully will en- 

 able us to target better the key research and exten- 

 sion needs you have identified. 



How the Survey Data Were Handled 



As surveys were received, responses to each 

 question, and demographic data about the respon- 

 dent and the farm itself were entered electronically 

 into a database. After data were checked for entry 

 errors, responses from each individual survey were 

 sorted into four size categories according to the to- 

 tal acreage in tree fruits: Very Small (i.e., less than 



Fruit Notes, Summer, 1996 



