Empowering Volunteers to Conduct a Consumer Survey

With the help of the Oregon State University (OSU) Extension Service, the Small Farmers Association created and has operated the Lincoln County Saturday Farmers' Market since 1978. Located in Newport, Oregon, this market has served the needs of more than 50 farmer-vendors and many thousands of local customers and tourists. When the association learned that its traditional location, the county fairgrounds, might be moved to another community, one central question emerged: How would the customers respond to such a move?

OSU Extension was asked to identify procedures to obtain useful information related to consumer attitudes about the proposed move. We knew that past surveys by the association about such things as the effectiveness of their advertising (the largest line-item in their budget) and interest in new products and services had been failures. Written survey forms distributed to customers coming to the market had elicited very low response rates.

We chose a different methodology for this three-year study that proved successful. Besides gathering information on location preferences, the study provided a rich source of data that helped the association make changes that materially improved operations in 1990, 1991, and 1992. Ineffective advertising was eliminated, steps were taken to end the hectic rush occurring at opening time, and operating procedures were improved to increase customer satisfaction while at the market.

The new approach centered around the use of volunteers, Master Gardeners in this case, to gather data. The volunteers who interviewed market customers were motivated by a personal interest in seeing the market succeed. Most were regular customers of the market, and all needed to donate a predetermined number of community service hours in exchange for their Master Gardener program training. The Master Gardeners were trained to interview market customers one-on-one with the aid of open-ended statements. Each volunteer was instructed on the procedures and techniques for conducting a successful interview. The first interviewers were personally trained by Extension staff. Subsequent interviewers were trained by experienced interviewers under Extension staff supervision. They revealed a great variety of individual interview styles. Central to their success was one key ingredient: a friendly, cheerful approach toward all farmers' market customers.

Each interviewer summarized the responses and provided information to us. The data proved to be statistically manageable and provided a depth of information that wouldn't have been obtained in a standard "check-the-box" format. The use of key words to summarize respondent ideas made it easier for the interviewers to categorize what the market customers were saying.

After the three-year project was completed, we surveyed the interviewers to get information for the future application of this volunteer-interviewing technique. The interviewers indicated the market customers responded enthusiastically to the opportunity to let someone know how they felt about the market. The volunteers also said the open-ended questions elicited a wider variety of responses than they felt would have been obtained using multiple-choice questions. Also, listening skills were critical in determining the central points the customers were conveying. By surveying the interviewers, we also learned that nearly all of the volunteers were satisfied with the level of interview training received, even though one-third had never conducted formal face-to-face interviews before.

In many situations, motivated and trained volunteers like Master Gardeners could be central to cost-effective data gathering. Older youth and 4-H leaders, Master Recyclers, Master Woodland Managers, Home Study Group Members, and others could be empowered through their innate motivation and a modest amount of Extension training to participate in successful consumer surveys. This could help nonprofit groups we serve and improve our own Extension program delivery methods.