Frontiers in Southeast CHRIE Hospitality and Tourism Research, Vol. 3, No. 2

Frontiers in Southeast CHRIE:
Hospitality and Tourism Research
Vol. 3, No. 2

Learning to Do More with Less:
A Case Study in Creative Experiential Learning

John Antun, Ph.D. and Sandy Strick, Ph.D.
School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management
University of South Carolina

" What will happen if we make a big mistake and nobody shows up? Won’t we all end up looking like jerks and will we fail the course? " Devon asked of her classmates as they prepared to begin their fourth class meeting. Devon and her classmates were enrolled in a course entitled Conference and Meeting Planning - HRTA 364. The spring semester was underway and her class was beginning to organize itself around a semester-long project involving the planning and execution of the College’s Annual Career Fair. The professor had described the previous year’s project and distributed copies of that year’s student and exhibitor assessments. It was now time for the class to break into small committees and begin the work of organizing the Annual Career Fair. Devon was clearly uncomfortable with the project and the role she was to play. Yet, her decision to remain in the class and deal with her discomfort was an indication that the experience had triggered what experts in Cognitive Development Theory believe are the conditions necessary for personal development to occur. The first is a " readiness for development to occur and the second, a stimulus to challenge the individual, to upset an existing psychological equilibrium…or upset the individual." (Sanford in McEwen 1996,p.56)

This paper describes one attempt to integrate a combination of nontraditional service learning and active, experiential learning activities into a three credit Conference and Meeting planning course which is offered as part of the undergraduate Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Administration curriculum. Like most hospitality programs today, this school is concerned with creating a pedagogical environment which supports the development of what is generally described as the "people" skills of creative thinking and interpersonal communications.

William Perry (1968) and his associates at Harvard developed a theory that describes this kind of student development as a hierarchical and sequential series of stages. These stages can be described by detailing the ways in which students view themselves in relationship to what they believe knowledge to be. The stages are dualism - in which knowledge is a discreet set of information, imparted by the teacher to the student. Multiplicity -knowledge is merely an opinion and everyone has a right to their opinion. Relativism - knowledge is a broad series of positions and opinions, which can be weighed and evaluated. And, finally commitment - this stage requires the student to evaluate the relative decisions and opinions, to integrate them with what is known and experienced and commit to a particular course of action ( Kloss, 1994).

The goal of this particular course was to expose students to the issues and decisions that are generated from planning a multifaceted meeting and exhibition. Class members are given a considerably large amount of freedom in making their decisions and then acting on their recommendations. They are encouraged to research their opinions and base their positions on sound business practices and scholarly research. Inasmuch as most students are presently working in hospitality industry jobs, they are motivated to share their business experiences relative to the current class discussion. It is expected that often, the considerations of the small student groups will be in conflict with their personal experiences and/or the text. It is the stress created by these conflicts and its final resolution which creates the student behaviors which are consistent with Perry’s theories. Additionally, a significant body of research supports the concept that measures of classroom involvement have generally consistent, positive associations with academic progress measures. The classroom involvement scale measured such factors as how frequently students expressed their own ideas in class ( Terenzini, Pascarella & Lorang, 1982: Volkwein, King & Terenzini, 1986) . This relationship then gives added meaning to the Conference and Meeting Planning designed efforts to engage class members.

The hospitality program offering this course has a medium-sized student body, and offers the typical and traditional blend of industry related courses and internships. Like most other hospitality programs, it is faced with the problems associated with shrinking resources. The University’s administration and the state’s taxpayers are increasingly asking for more to be accomplished with less resources. Although research is stronger and the faculty more qualified than ever before, the stresses caused by within-industry specializations, hypersensitive student marketing demands and the increased demand for technology driven distance education have instigated a broad array of course offerings which often tests the faculty’s limits.

The city in which the University is located does not have a conference center nor any serious convention hotels. In fact, the entire city population is less than one-half million people and the largest hotel only boasts of 260 rooms.

Most of the students are Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Administration majors, while others are enrolled as majors in Business Administration, Journalism and Media Arts. There is a prerequisite for Conference and Meeting Planning, which is the basic Hotel Management course and it is offered every semester.

This event has been held and sponsored by the Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Administration school since the early 1980’s. The college in which the Hospitality program is housed had assumed sponsorship of the Career Fair. The majors served by this college are somewhat eclectic and include Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Administration, Retailing, Sport Management and Administrative Information Management. It is usually scheduled for a one-day period early in the Spring semester. The actual date is often determined by the fair’s site management. The location of the Career Fair is the lobby area of the University’s performing arts center. Historically, one of the Thursdays in March has been selected. Conference and Meeting Planning is only offered during the Spring semester and the College’s Career Fair is always the semester’s class project.

The lack of convention and meeting business resources convenient to the University and its students’ poses a special challenge to the HRTA school offering this course. That is, because the pedagogical strategy of choice is that of experiential and active teaching-learning as compared to the more traditional lecture format.

The literature directed towards teaching in higher educational institutions generally states that " teaching must and will change" if it is to meet the needs of the heterogeneous student population of the 1990’s (and now the millennium) (Fuhrmann & Grasha, 1991). A fundamental shift appears to be occurring in regard to ideas of teaching in higher education; this is a move away from the dominant, and traditional, instructional paradigm towards a more flexible learning paradigm. This approach is said to enable post secondary educational institutions to maximize their ability to respond to the needs of an increasingly diverse student body, without increasing resources or decreasing quality (Barr & Tagg, 1995). Several of these learning strategies have been combined in the design and execution of Conference and Meeting Planning - HRTA 364. They are:

The design of the course focuses on the management perspective towards conference and meeting planning activities. This is accomplished by a combination of assigned readings, Career Fair committee work and classroom discussion. Considering the learning theories described above, these activities are presented in a manner consistent with the sequential nature of Perry’s learning theory and Kolb’s model.

The first action step in organizing the career fair is the selection of committees. Students are allowed as much freedom as possible in making these selections. An upperclassman who had completed the course the previous year is recruited to act as the class facilitator and recorder, earning an independent studies credit.

Each year the students prepare a " duties" list for the committee members working on the next year’s career fair. These lists are distributed to the committees and the work begins. Some class time is provided for committee reports and updates. The upperclassman working on the career fair acts as the coordinator for these activities.

There are two primary factors which add genuine value to the class members’ Career Fair experience. First, the committees are given considerable autonomy in making the decisions relative to their "assigned" missions. The committee "duties assignment" fulfills the "dualism" stage of the students’ experience, while the committee deliberations allow the committee members to move through the next stages at their own pace. Being a participating member of a committee enables each student to learn from each other and test their intra-personal skills in a non-threatening environment. The second factor is the artful discussion of each committee’s deliberations following the actual event. This discussion is crafted by the professor and takes into its design Perry’s sequential stages of development as well as the major instructional points embedded in the syllabus for Conference and Meeting Planning. Further, the discussion of these events over the balance of the semester allows each student a more adaptable time line for learning. This time line then allows the class members to integrate the expected learning objectives according to their individual abilities and skills. Assessment is organized around the stakeholders: Student - too often student assessment is confused with student grades. As compared to assessing if the pre-stated instructional goals have been met. This course allows for 25% of the grade to be determined by the class member’s participation in the project and the class discussions. An additional 25% is dedicated to Career Fair committee work and a written report about that work. The last 50% of the grade is determined by written examinations relative to the text book readings and student extrapolations of the text and the skills learned in executing the Career Fair. The second part of student assessment has to do with how the students assess the teacher, the course material and the learning that took place. The chart shown below identifies a summary of the class members’ responses to standardized evaluation questions. The norm against which the class members’ responses is compared is the entire population of the college’s students responding to these questions for the semester - Spring 1999.

The normative group for the first box representing the 16 questions regarding teaching excellence and volume of work reported on a Likert scale of 1 to 5, with 1 identifying courses that did not have good teaching and 5 as the best teaching. The college as a group reported as mean of almost 10% lower than the Conference and Meeting Planning Class. This percentage drops to 5 % for the student’s assessment of learning.

Exhibitors - Over the years evaluative questionnaires have been distributed to the companies exhibiting at the career fair. These anecdotal responses were then complied and distributed to the students in the following year’s class. On average, most exhibitors were pleased with the Career Fair. Various responses made prescriptive suggestions which some committees took under consideration. The final question has always asked if the exhibitor would like to participate the next year. Over time a full 82% of those exhibiting indicated that they would be pleased to return. Their remarks included comments such as they: " loved the student participation", "want to hire those students who planned the event," "would rather the fair was earlier in the semester", "liked the exhibit space" and other even more innocuous statements.

Conducting an officially sponsored College Career Fair has enabled the professor of Conference and Meeting Planning - HRTA 364 to offer a "real life" experience to the enrolled class members which they otherwise would not have had. This practical experience, when leveraged with a skillfully crafted syllabus and course design, provides an instructional platform. This platform is then used build educational and professional experiences designed to further the class members critical thinking and human relations skills utilizing the developmental learning theories of Perry and Kolb.

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Catherine H. Price, Ph.D.
University of Southern Mississippi
and
Suzanne K. Murrmann, Ph.D.
Virginia Polytechnic and State University

Meetings as a strategy for adults to continue their professional development are a phenomenon that has emerged in the last half of this century. As the profession developed, practitioners focused on the logistical aspects of planning conventions and many of the systems used today were developed during the 70s, 80s and early 90s. A more recent trend has emerged, with meeting managers becoming specialists in the creation of "learning environments", the application of adult learning theories, and the design of multi-dimensional programs with combinations of interactions that support diverse attendee interests. Given this new focus, and the current lack of research in this area, this study investigated the activities that commonly occur at meetings, including networking, technical and professional education sessions, leadership and civic type activities. It also determined the importance of each to attendees. Included in the research was an identification of demographic variables that could be used by meeting managers to profile their membership and more scientifically design programs and activities that corresponded to their members’ preferences. The results of the study are described below. It is important to note that this is a first step into a new research area for the meeting and convention industry. We hope that it will encourage associations to participate in similar studies and that other researchers will add to this body of knowledge.

Five associations participated in this study: The American College of Emergency Physicians, The American School Food Service Association, Critical Care Nurses, The Council on Exceptional Children and the Texas Society of Association Executive. The associations were selected for their diversity using the following criteria: 1) the education, i.e. training, licensing and certification, required of members to practice in the field, 2) the necessity for collaboration among members, 3) the degree to which adherence to professional standards is required, and 4) the professional benefits of industry recognition. Four thousand five hundred surveys were mailed to a sample of these associations' members who attend their annual meetings. A total of 700 association members return their surveys and were included in the study.

The survey included a 35-item scale measuring the importance of 4 categories of motivational factors for attending annual meetings. Respondents were asked to indicate the importance of each using a 5-point Lickert scale ranging from very unimportant to very important. This scale was developed by the authors and tested for validity and reliability in previous studies. In those studies, the reliability coefficients for the scale’s sub-dimensions reached or exceeded 70. The survey also included items used to collect information about the respondent’s meeting activities, demographics and preferred learning methods at annual meetings.

Confirmatory factor analysis was employed to verify the sub-dimensions or categories of motivational attendance factors previously reported in the literature. Subsequent to this, cluster analysis was performed on the data to identify clusters of members that shared preferences for certain categories of meeting attributes. Additional analysis, using member demographics, isolated unique differences in clusters such as age and gender.

The study revealed that when evaluating the opportunities and activities that occur during a meeting, the association members tended to group them into five major categories; those having "Association-based" values, "People-based" values, "Competency-based" values, "Civic-based" values, and those with "Profession-based" values. Table 1 includes the 5 categories along with specific activities and opportunities that formed each group. The research confirms past work done on meeting attributes which showed that association members view education and training, in the form of profession-based and competency-based meeting activities as the most important activities available to them at their annual meetings. In addition to these, there are several other categories of meeting activities that fulfill the expectations of association members. These categories have been shown to differ in terms of importance for distinct groups of association members. They include activities that are association based such as participating in policy and goal development for the association, people-based, i.e. activities related to networking and the promotion of ideals for the good of the association, profession and society.

Cluster analysis was performed on the data to identify clusters of association members that shared preferences for certain categories of meeting attributes. The attendees clustered into 5 relatively distinct groups that were labeled Loyalists, Learners, Idealists, Enthusiasts and Networkers. Though all five groups differ in terms of the importance they place on meeting activities, there are some commonalties that can be seen. As reported earlier, educational activities are seen to have critical importance to all groups, with programs impacting long-term career objectives of primary importance (see Table 2). A review of the mean importance placed on other meeting categories however, reveal significant differences among the clusters.

Loyalists made up 12.6% of the study’s respondents. They have labeled them the Loyalists of associations because of their active attendance. Of this group, 78% attended their previous year's meeting. They value all aspects of meetings equally with what can be called moderate enthusiasm. Even though profession-based activities are of high importance to them, they are still the lowest scoring group on this measure. This is a highly educated group of individuals with 65% having post graduate degrees. You should expect slightly more males than females in this group. An association can probably expect to find more of their members in this group if their profession or industry attracts the "baby boomer generation", i.e. those individuals born between 1946 and 1964. Older individuals, those born prior to 1946, tend to be underrepresented in this group. When members of this group do not attend, the single most important reason given is a conflict with work requirements and responsibilities.

Eighteen percent of the respondents fell into the cluster labeled Learners. Approximately 60% of this group did not attend their most recent annual meeting. This group does not actively attend meetings, but when they do they place relatively high importance on competency-based and profession-based educational activities. When compared to the others, this group felt that association participation, networking (people-based) connections and ideals promotion were of very little value. Classic educational opportunities appear to be the only elements of meetings that draw this group. Its demographic profile is similar to the loyalist group in terms of education and gender, highly educated and slightly more male than female. Age does not appear to be a factor in the profile of this group. What keeps these people away? Cost, location and work responsibilities.

Baby boomers tended to be present in higher numbers in the third cluster, the Idealists. Similar to the Loyalist cluster, lower numbers of mature association members were present. This group is labeled the Idealists because of the relatively high value that they place on the opportunity to promote projects of value to associations and societies. Twenty percent of meeting attendees fall into this group. It is interestingly however, that only 50% of this group attended their last association meeting. The reasons given for non-attendance were cost of registration, the location, and family responsibilities, with the most important associated with work responsibilities. Again this group is highly educated with 68% indicating post doctorate degrees. There were slightly more females than males in this group.

The Enthusiasts, the largest cluster, made up 27% of meeting attendees. They are active attenders with 77% indicating presence at their last association meeting. It appears that enthusiasm is not dictated by education since this group spans all levels, however, age may play a role in membership in this group since those born before 1946, e.g. the mature age group, are more significantly represented here than baby boomers or those born after 1964. This group was given its name because they highly value all components of the meeting. The importance placed on meeting components is significantly higher than that for the Loyalists. This group may indeed be the most critical evaluator for an association's annual meeting since it indicates high levels of importance on all the aspects of an annual meeting. Moreover, it is the largest and tends to have attendance rates as high as those for Loyalists. There are more females than males in this group. While they indicate that cost and work responsibilities keep them away from meetings they do so significantly less frequently than other groups.

The final group, Networkers, made up 21% of meeting attendees. Sixty-seven percent attended their last annual meeting. This group had the fewest number of postgraduate degrees. The group tends to be younger, with a larger than expected number of "Generation X'ers", i.e. individuals born after 1964. Since they are just starting their careers (the group indicates a mean of 4.7 years in their profession as compared to those in the mature group who have been in their profession for approximately 23.1 years (mean of group) they place high importance on the personnel interactions that occur at meetings as their name implies. These are active attenders with 67% attending their last annual meeting. There were slightly more males than females in this group. There are a number of reasons that this group may not attend a meeting; cost and work responsibilities are the most often cited reasons however, location and family responsibilities are also noted.

Since skill and career based education have been shown to be most important to meeting attendees, respondents to our survey were asked for their experience with various forms of learning methods and the benefits of them. The findings of our study support classic theory developed on adult learning. Adults find that they benefit from different types of learning methods when compared to their younger counterparts. In general, they find self-paced and one-on-one learning methods to be of more use to them, and perceive higher benefits accruing from these types of methods, even though benefits can also be derived from traditional group learning experiences. The study reveals that the sharing of best practices, by "perceived" experts and fellow association members is without question the single most beneficial learning method for the group regardless of how they are presented. Respondents ranked non-traditional learning methods, i.e. those not often experienced by most members, such as one-on-one consultation with experts in their field, small group interactions with such experts and hands-on computer usage highest (see Table 3). These were followed by more traditional meeting activities, such as demonstrations, small group interaction, case studies and the like, that are experienced by more members but still allow for smaller groups and discussions. Though the traditional mediums such as lectures and panel discussion were viewed as beneficial, they were not ranked as high as the above mentioned small group approaches to learning.

Though not surprising, it is interesting to note that those association members indicating that they had never experienced certain learning methods, in every instance, rated such methods as less beneficial when compared to their counterparts who had engaged in those learning experiences. Moreover, those who had more experience with a variety of learning methods at their annual meetings attended more often. Demographics do not appear to play a significant role in terms of member perceptions of the benefits of these different types of learning methods. However, our findings do show that those belonging to Generation X do have slightly less experience with newer non-traditional learning methods, most likely because they have not attended as many of their annual meetings as the other age groups.

Cluster membership likewise does not appear to make a difference in learning method preference. All five groups indicated non-traditional learning methods to be of most benefit. The Enthusiast group, however, tends to rate all learning methods as more beneficial than the other groups, while the Loyalists and Learners tend to rate methods as a whole less beneficial than the remaining three groups. This finding would be of particular concern to an association that is composed of a significant number of Learners.

The study’s importance lies in the creation of a benchmark for measuring the attributes attendees value when deciding to attend association meetings. Foremost is the quality of the educational program from both competency-based and profession-based perspectives. But there are additional factors, which differentiate attendees that were revealed in the cluster analysis.

While attempts were made to link generational theory to the study results, age did not significantly differentiate the attendees so that it could be a singular measure. In part, this may be due to the fact that the dominant age of meeting attendees falls within the baby boomer population group. Despite this, generational research does offer some characteristics common to age groups.

Associations with a larger mature population, a generation that likes to and can afford to travel, may expect to find a large number of enthusiasts. The generational literature suggest that this age group critically evaluates the credibility of associations and speakers when making attendance choices. Beyond the professional content, topics of importance are often of a self-help nature such as dealing with aging parents. At the same time they are likely to have grandchildren accompany them to the meeting. They have excellent personal communication skills and like to learn by interacting with others. This is an active vital generation who’s members often view themselves as being in their 40s rather than 60s.

In contrast, associations that have more young members (34 and younger), will find them streetwise, very practical, and seeking out information as opposed to hype. This generation is more heavily represented in the networking cluster. They do not respond to authority so inviting nationally recognized experts in a field will not be as important as providing opportunities for interacting with their professional colleagues. Celebrity testimonials are also not as effective as peer testimonials. As this group becomes the dominant population for attending meetings, associations may expect less loyalty to one association and they may not be as active in associations if they do not provide meaningful growth opportunities during meetings. This group values personal interactions; building "friendships" may be the link to loyalty to an association. They like to be challenged rather than spoon-fed. This generation is comfortable with interactive technology, will respond positively to local civic projects such as Professional Convention Management Association’s Feed the Needy program, and are quality concious.

Baby boomers, who fall across all clusters, have been described as inwardly focused, creating the image self indulgence and high self-esteem. They are creative, entrepreneurial and very independent. They are discriminating where quality is concerned and are not likely to tolerate programs that do not meet their high standards. Topics of interest to these attendees, beyond that directly related to their professional needs are investments and time management. They are busy and accustomed to "quick fix" learning demonstrated by the popularity of such books as The 60 Second Manager. For a group as large as the baby boomers, it is important to also consider where attendees fall along the generational timeline. The closer an association’s attendees are to the prior or post generation, the more their preferences will reflect the characteristics of that generational group.

While these generational descriptions provide guidance in both program planning and targeting markets, individuals are also influenced by many factors such as gender, race, education, and income. Based on the random selection of attendees for this survey, 76% of the respondents were female. This raises questions about the percentage of females who are attending meetings in relation to males and the gender influence in feedback to associations, such as meeting evaluations. Ninety-two percent of the respondents were white. As the population increases in ethnic diversity, associations may need to re-design programs to be more responsive to individual population groups found within their associations. This is an important area for future research. From an educational perspective, each association has a predominance of certain educational levels depending on the requirements of the profession and the scientific versus service nature of the field. Income is correlated to education in many professions. For this study, 64% of the respondents had salaries under $60,000. This raises questions about the budgets of the attendees’ employers and the rising costs of meeting attendance.

When looking at individual associations, in contrast to the total survey sample, professional affiliation was significant in determining cluster affiliation. For example, health care professionals fell heavily into the enthusiasts and net workers cluster. Nurses were enthusiasts and idealists. Physicians tended to fall less frequently into the enthusiasts cluster and more strongly into the learner cluster. Association executives highly value networking while the respondents affiliated with an association dealing with children were highly represented in the idealists cluster. Therefore it is incumbent upon each association to evaluate their own membership and avoid generalizations to the degree possible.

This study is a beginning effort to understand what individuals’ value about the meetings they attend. For too long the focus of meeting and convention research has been on the external aspects of a meeting such as the site, ease of air travel, cleanliness and safety. That research has been directed to hotels and convention bureaus in more effectively marketing their products. This study has taken a different approach in looking at the internal aspects of meetings--program content, delivery methods and activities to determine whether there are predictive variables that associations can use in planning for their unique memberships.

An Empirical Study of University Students’ Awareness of Alcohol-Related Issues

Most research on alcohol consumption among college students has focused on under age drinking and substance abuse (Wechsler et al., 1994). Several schools in the nation have channeled alcohol education to students with the purpose of lessening the different social, physical and legal problems associated with alcohol abuse and under age drinking (RWJF, 1999; Anderson and Milgram, 1997; Wechsler et al., 2000; Aguire-Molina and Gorman, 1996; Sallis and Owen, 1996; Wechsler and Weitzman, 1996). However, college students’ awareness of comprehensive issues related to alcohol consumption and its various effects has not been well emphasized in awareness programs and the social sciences literature. Research on alcohol abuse has revealed that the average number of drinks consumed by college students per week has a direct effect on the GPA level; the higher the average number of drinks consumed per week, the lower their GPA (American College Health Association, 1996). In addition, many sexual assault incidents at universities were found to be alcohol-related; over two-thirds of men connected to sexual assaults at one university were consuming alcohol at the time of the incident and half of the female as well (American College Health Association, 1996).

The objective of this study is twofold; first, to measure college students’ awareness of alcohol-related issues in the following areas: 1. regulations, 2. recommendations, 3. physical impacts, and 4. legal responsibilities. Second, to explore the possibility of a relationship between students’ awareness level of the above listed alcohol-related issues and variables such as gender, age, and educational status (year in school). The conceptual framework is shown in Figure 1.

Each of the above listed areas plays a role in formulating and shaping a college student’s comprehensive awareness level; therefore, ignoring one of them would certainly lead to an incomplete evaluation and would consequently generate incomplete educational and training programs in regard to strengthening students’ alcohol awareness level. The regulation component measures subjects’ knowledge of issues related to the following: 1.blood alcohol concentration level (BAC) in the state at which a person is considered legally intoxicated according to the Mississippi Alcoholic Beverage Control Division (ABC); 2. the legal age in the state to possess, purchase or consume alcohol (according to ABC); 3. the illegality aspect in the U.S. to sell or give alcohol to minors and intoxicated people; 4. the possibility to purchase alcohol on voting days; and 5. the possibility of an injured party by an intoxicated driver to sue and win a case against the bar where the latter consumed alcohol (based on the Dram Shop Act) . The recommendation component measures subjects’ knowledge of the USDA/USDHHS guidelines on healthy consumption of alcoholic beverages (USDA & USDHHS, 1995). The physical impact component measures subjects’ awareness of alcohol’s impacts on the body such as: high-fat foods’ slowing effects of alcohol absorption by the body, the depressant nature of alcohol, and the causes of hangover by the amount of drink and not by the type of drink (Educational Institute of AH & MA, 1993). The legal responsibility component measures subjects’ awareness of hospitality establishments’ obligations to provide an alternative "safe" means of transportation to prevent guests from driving while intoxicated (Educational Institute of the AH & MA, 1993).

The study was conducted at the University of Southern Mississippi – Hattiesburg campus - during the Fall semester of the academic year1999-2000. A total of 213 students were randomly selected. Those who administered the survey followed the techniques pertaining to proper on-site intercept methodology procedure. Subjects had to be at least 18 years old and U.S. citizens; the sample had an equal representation of students based on the following variables: gender, and educational status (year in school). In regard to age, 107 students fall in the "18-20" age category and 106 are in the "21 years old and above" one. An internal consistency reliability test was not applied since the nature of the questionnaire is testing knowledge and therefore questions should not yield internal consistencies. A descriptive analysis was conducted to reveal the subjects’ overall mean scores on the different areas: 1. regulations, 2. recommendations, 3. physical impacts, and 4. legal responsibilities.

Cross-tabulation of the age variable was conducted to reveal the total number of subjects in age category one (18-20 years old) and those in age category two (21 years old and above). Independent t-test was performed to explore the possibility of a relationship between students’ awareness level of the different alcohol-related issues and the variables of gender and age. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied to explore the possibility of a relationship between students’ awareness level of the different alcohol-related issues and the variable of educational status (year in school).

The descriptive analysis technique revealed that overall students’ awareness level of alcohol-related issues in the areas of regulations (` x = 70.61, SD = 23.51) as well as USDA and USDHHS recommendations (` x = 79.81, SD = 40.23) tends to be higher than of those under physical impacts (` x = 76.99, SD = 24.61) and hospitality organizations’ legal responsibilities when serving alcohol (` x = 58.65, SD = 49.35). The results of t-test analysis portray some relationships between age and knowledge of regulations t(205)=2.56,p=.011; those in age category 21 and above tend to be more aware of alcohol-related regulations issues (` x = 73.88, SD = 22.51) than those in age category under 21 (` x = 65.20, SD = 24.72). The results of ANOVA portray some relationships between students’ awareness of alcohol issues related to recommendations and the educational status variable F(4/205)=2.67,p=.033; sophomores (` x = 93.47, SD=24.96) tend to be more aware of such issues than juniors (` x= 68.08, SD = 47.12). This research revealed that there was no significant relationship between students’ awareness level of alcohol-related issues and the gender variable.

Students who are under 21 lack knowledge in the area of alcohol regulations. This study’s overall implications reveal the importance of incorporating and emphasizing more on alcohol’s physical impacts and hospitality organizations’ legal responsibilities toward guests when serving alcohol in on-campus alcohol awareness programs and wellness courses. It may be that local hospitality establishments, such as bars, need to be more active in educating college students on such aspects through sponsoring on-campus awareness programs; such initiatives could strengthen their stand in the community. Based on the study’s results, there seems to be misconceptions about alcohol’s physical impacts among college students; wellness and awareness programs need to work more on the inclusion of this area and clarify misunderstandings by students. In regard to age, those who are in age category under 21 need to be more targeted by alcohol awareness programs on the issue of regulations. This group needs to be made aware of such a component, regulations, before they learn about it from their own mistakes when they reach 21 and become eligible to consume alcohol in public places. In other words, just because they are under-age does not mean they should know less about regulations. In regard to sophomores knowing more about the component of recommendations than juniors may be attributed to the fact that students in the recent years are being more exposed to such an issue in awareness-related programs or wellness courses than previous periods; that may be considered a positive trend.

An Examination of Crime and Tourism in South Carolina

Edward H. Coon III and Camp lane
School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management
University of South Carolina

The state of South Carolina recently acknowledged that tourism is the leading industry in the state. To ensure that the tourism industry continues to thrive in South Carolina, the state must manage and plan for the many advantages and disadvantages of this industry.

A study was conducted to investigate the relationship between tourism and crime to determine if the two, in fact, are directly or indirectly linked to each other. This was done by examining the levels of tourism and crime rates in all 46 counties of South Carolina.

Crime statistics were obtained from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (S.L.E.D.) agency’s annual Uniform Crime Report for 1998. Criminal data was divided into seven offenses including: murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, breaking and entering, larceny, and motor vehicle theft. The first four of these offences are classified as violent crimes, while the offenses of breaking and entering, larceny, and motor vehicle theft are classified as nonviolent crimes. Criminal offenses are classified according to standard definitions used throughout the United States.

The Uniform Crime Report (UCR) gave a crime index, which is a total of all of the offenses per county. The index represented the total number of crimes officially reported to the police and does not represent the crimes not officially reported. For the purpose of this study, crime rates were presented as crime rates per 1,000 population for each county.

Tourism activity of each county was measured by a tourism index formula developed by Dr. David Pearlman, School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management, University of South Carolina and Bill Evans, Director of Economic Research, United States Travel Data Center. Pearlman used Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes to measure the number of employees for three major sectors, which play major roles in tourism activity. These sectors include: eating and drinking establishments (SIC #5800), hotels and lodging establishments (SEC #7000) and amusement and recreational establishments (SIC # 7900). Then, using the U.S Bureau of the Census’s publication of County Business Patterns, the number of employees for each of these three sectors were determined for each of South Carolina’s 46 counties. A tourism activity index figure was calculated by adding a weighted portion of each of these three SIC employment figures.

The study showed that a relationship does exist between crime rates and tourism activity for the counties of South Carolina. Results showed that six of the top ten crime counties were also in the top ten tourism activity counties.

There seems to be a relationship between some violent crime: rape and robbery had five counties each in the top ten tourism counties. Murder and aggravated assault had two counties each in the top ten tourism counties.

There seems to be a greater relationship between non-violent crimes and tourism activity: Larceny had eight counties, breaking & entering had six counties and motor vehicle theft had five of the top ten tourism activity counties.

Counties with high crime rates and high tourism activity should look into why this is occurring. Further studies should be conducted as to address this problem. For example, identify the counties with high tourism and lower crime rates and research why they are successful in lowering the crime rate while still maintaining a high level of tourism. Larceny and breaking & entering had the highest non-violent index among the top ten tourism activity counties. Police agencies should take note of this and develop crime prevention programs for their respective county.

Electronic Commerce:
Friend or Foe to Travel Agents in the New Millennium?

David Pearlman, Ph.D. and Tharun Pathapati
School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management
University of South Carolina

Electronic commerce is booming because of faster and newer technologies being introduced. People are becoming more and more net savvy and have more ways to conduct business safely over the Internet. Currently there are hundreds of new dot-com companies opening every week. Everyone says that the information superhighway is changing the way today’s modern businesses need to operate. On-line travel will be a $20 billion industry by the year 2001, compared to $2.5 billion in 1998 (Travel Weekly, May 12, 1999). With statistics like this, it is clearly apparent that E-commerce is the wave of the future. With changes in the marketplace, there are winners and losers

Consumers are being enticed to book travel services on-line. Due to decreased commission rates travel agents have to sell more, just to earn the same. Since travel agents are losing sales to non-traditional travel product sales agents, traditional travel agents have begun charging their customers a service fee. The purpose of this study was to conduct a baseline study of the size and impact of electronic commerce activity on southeastern United States travel agents. The study helps understand operational changes that travel agents might have made concerning charges and services to help further business. The study also reveals the impact on corporate business and individual business clientele from traditional to electronic travel planning and purchasing.

Fax and telephone channels were used to administer a brief survey. ASTA membership directories, Internet searches and electronic telephone directories were used to develop a sample frame comprised of travel agents from the southeastern United States. For the purpose of this study the southeastern United States area will comprise of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.

The surveys were well received. Out of the 720 telephones and/or Fax surveys made there was about 142 telephones and/or Fax numbers that were either disconnected or no longer operated as travel agencies. A total of 578 telephone and/or Fax calls were considered valid for which we received 247 responses, all of which were considered valid after data cleaning and coding. These 247 respondents represent a 42.73 % response rate.

The final research paper will be an approximately fifteen page, single spaced report with multiple tables to present findings. Results of the study will be summarized under the following headings:

Based on this research, it is obvious that the Internet and E-commerce is affecting travel agencies’ bottom line and the way they are doing business. Almost half of our respondents had heard of business closures due to these technological changes. These changes have affected the way travel agencies make their money. Almost three fourths of southeastern agencies have adopted some type of service charge. Findings indicate that over one fifth of all customers are calling in with Internet-based researched travel itineraries. Findings also indicate that these charges have impacted individual travelers considerably more than corporate clients. Does this finding foreshadow the future? Are travel agencies soon going to cater to a corporate clientele only while individuals, after more e-commerce capable sites are developed, surf the web and then fly the skies.

These findings lead to suggested new research. Is it reasonable to assume equal patterns throughout the United States? What do travel agents need to do to maintain non-corporate clients?

A number of issues are occurring: 1) additional travel provider consolidations are likely to occur; 2) these providers are trying to cut out the middleman; 3) more individuals are becoming comfortable with technology and 4) E-commerce travel sites are growing rapidly. Do these three issues indicate the eventual extinction of the brick and mortar travel agency?

Staff Writers. 1998 County Business Patterns United States. CenStats [On-line], Available: http://tier2.census.gov/cgi-win/cbp/detail.exe

Flowers, G. (2000, April 24). News- Business & Governmental Travel, Study: More on-line biz bookings. Travel Weekly, 22-24.

Staff Writers. (1999, May 12). News - Travel Technology, Study says on-line travel will hit $20 billion in 2001. Travel Weekly, 34-36.

Employee Turnover in Private Clubs: A Look at the Carolinas

Catherine M. Gustafson, Ph.D., CCM
School of Hotel, Restaurant, and Tourism Management
University of South Carolina

The hospitality industry worldwide currently employs over 255 million people. These individuals work in hotels, restaurants, travel agencies, convention centers, airports, and private clubs, to name only a few. Within the United States, the hospitality industry employs over 13.9 million people, or 11% of the population. In 1996, the hospitality industry gross output within the United States totaled $872.5 billion, or 10.2% of the Gross Domestic Product. Projections indicate a growth of 39.3% in gross dollars by 2006 (Travel and Tourism’s Economic Impact, 1996).

The hospitality industry’s employment base is the largest of any industry in the private sector in the United States. It surpasses the agriculture sector and the auto, electronics, steel, and textile industries combined in number of people employed (Riegel, 1992). National unemployment continues to remain low, with only 4.6% of the working population unemployed in September 1998 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). The managers of hospitality operations find hiring enough staff to be a constant challenge, regardless of the applicant’s qualifications. National annual turnover rates within the industry are reported to be 154% (Fortino, et al, 1996), up to 240% (Woods, et al, 1989). This compares to 17% annual turnover reported for all US businesses (Carlino, 1988).

The private club segment of the hospitality industry is characterized by its high degree of service offered to its members. There are over 12,000 clubs nationwide. Facilities managed by Club Managers Association of America (CMAA) members employ over 268,000 people, serving over 2.03 million members. In 1996, the average club belonging to CMAA generated $3.5 million annually, for a collected impact on the National economy of $9.44 billion (Economic Impact of Clubs, 1997).

Kaak et al (1998) estimates the turnover costs per employee to be $267.39. According to CMAA, the average club employs 90 people. Using the modest annual turnover rate cited above of 154%, each club spends approximately $37,167.00 per year on labor replacement issues. Throughout the clubs represented by CMAA, this figure soars to $111,501,630.00 spent on turnover annually in private clubs. This is a conservative estimate.

The term "turnover" is defined by Price (1977) as "crude turnover rate...the ratio of the number of organizational members who have left during the period being considered divided by the average number of people in that organization during the period" (p.15).

Gustafson (1999) studied the turnover rates within private clubs nationwide. This study seeks to breakout North Carolina and South Carolina for a closer examination of turnover trends.

A random sample of CMAA managers was surveyed to measure the turnover rates of their private clubs. The data was self-reported by the managers, yet care was taken in the design of the survey to reduce bias. Managers provided employment statistics, which allowed the researcher to calculate the turnover rate.

Demographic data was collected including club zip code. It is the goal of the researcher to re-code the data using SPSS to calculate turnover statistics for 3-5 regions within each of the two states. These results will be compared to the national results.

This study is in progress. Implications of the study will be useful data to club managers in the geographic area being studied. These managers will be able to examine the turnover rates of their respective clubs and compare to others in the region. This will create a meaningful benchmark for these managers.

A Tourist City or a Criminal’s Paradise?

Tharun Pathapati, Subil Bhattal and David Pearlman, Ph.D.
School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management
University of South Carolina

In order for a state to be truly economically sound, it must have a diversified economy. The state of South Carolina recently acknowledged that tourism is the leading economic producing industry in the state. To ensure that the tourism industry continues to thrive in South Carolina, the state must manage and plan for the many effects of this industry, both good and bad. Previous studies and debates have tried to either show a direct association or no correlation at all between tourism activity and crime rates in certain locations. Several studies conducted by B. H. Archer (1977) suggested that one of the most significant and least desirable effects of tourism is its negative impact of moral standards on the surrounding community (Archer, B.H., 1977). Matheison and Wall (1982) suggested that tourism contributes to increases in crime because potential gains can be large, the likelihood of detection is small, and because of the existence of friction between host community residents and visitors (Matheison, A., 1982). Contrary to the above assumptions, several studies have shown there is little correlation between crime rates and tourism activity (Goeldner, C.R., 2000). Goeldner, McIntosh, and Ritchie (2000) suggested that tourism’s effects on criminal activity are insignificant; however, tourists can become easy prey for criminals. Thus, increases in tourism activity in an area do not necessarily increase the number of criminal incidents that do occur; however, tourists are susceptible to the area’s normal criminal activities.

The purpose of this study was to identify and rank tourism’s influence on predicting crime levels. Examining the levels of tourism, ethnic diversity, poverty, income levels and criminal activities in the state of South Carolina will be used to rank tourism. Crime rates and tourism levels among many other factors for each of South Carolina’s 46 counties were obtained and analyzed in order to recognize any trends that may be evident so that effective actions can be taken if they are needed.

In determining the relationship between levels of tourism activity and criminal activity, this study compared crime statistics to a tourism activity index for each of the 46 counties in the state of South Carolina for the year of 1997. Crime statistics from South Carolina’s State Law Enforcement Division (S.L.E.D.) were obtained from the agency’s annual Uniform Crime Report for 1998. Criminal data for each county was divided into seven offenses including murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, breaking and entering, larceny, and motor vehicle theft. Criminal offenses are classified according to standard definitions used throughout the United States. The final part of the study will include, building a regression model and using the beta co-efficient to rank tourism’s role in predicting crime.

In the past, pleasure travelers primarily selected their destinations on the basis of price, location’s image, and activities available. Today, personal safety and security have become two of the more important factors when choosing a vacation destination. Tourist locations that have gained the reputations of being crime spots are finding it very difficult to retain their tourism industries.

In a study conducted on tourists’ need to feel safe, Bloom, Pizam and Tarlow (1997) noted that tourists become easy victims of crime for four specific reasons. First, they are tempting targets because they carry large sums of cash and other valued possessions. Secondly, tourists often engage in risky behaviors and activities such as visiting nightclubs, bars, and other unsafe places. The third reason was that tourists are often ignorant of the local language, dialect, signage, cultures, and customs. Finally, natives and residents frequently perceive tourists as aggressive and insensitive to local norms and customs. Lin and Loeb (1977) further suggested that the per capita income difference between the host community and tourists could also play a major roll in the amount of criminal activity in a tourist location. This suggests that when wealthy tourists visit low-income communities, the rate of criminal activity is likely to increase.

In a study of tourism and crime in Cape Code, Pizam (1978) uncovered that vandalism, drug abuse, and disorderly conduct were the most notable criminal activities that increased during tourist seasons. McPheters and Stronge (1974) suggested that economic crimes such as robbery, larceny and burglary increased during tourist seasons while auto theft and crimes of passion (murder, rape, and assault) showed no signs of increase during tourist seasons. The findings of the study will assist in a clearer understanding of tourism’s role in criminal activity.

The Internet Derived Supply Side Inventory – the Ultimate Sales Prospect List Generator:
A Case of the Columbia South Carolina Convention and Visitors Bureau

Annette L. Hoover and David Pearlman, Ph.D.
School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management
University of South Carolina

City planners, downtown economic development corporations and politicians are positioning conventions and meetings as the panacea for depressed or stagnant economies. According to International Association of Convention Visitors Bureau, $165 billion was spent on meetings in 1998. Many feel South Carolina is the hottest state in the southeast region for attracting meetings and conventions. In 1998, South Carolina recorded $6.7 billion in visitor spending. In the Columbia Metropolitan area meetings and conventions have also experienced a $1.5 billion economic impact.

Recently, Columbia‘s city leaders received permission to begin planning and building a $20.5 million convention center. Growth in the meetings business, combined with shrinking marketing staffs and budgets, has forced municipalities to work smarter rather than harder to fill their destination meeting and convention venues (convention centers, hotels, meeting space and tourism businesses).

Everyone says that computers make life easier thus allowing more free time. The media tells us the information highway is the wave of the future. Many old time marketing people give it the politically correct lip service, on one breath "yeah it is changing the way we will do business," but under their breath many are saying nothing beats face-to-face contact.

The purpose of this study is to document previous methods employed by convention and visitors bureaus to sell business space thus "putting heads in beds." Additionally, this research will present a case study where a supply-side inventory (prospect list) was generated from the Internet for the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Visitors Bureau SMERF customer.

The mapping and listing of the 350–mile radial market region’s cities from Columbia began the research process. Multiple methods were used in order to secure the desired information needed to fulfill this report’s objectives. Search engines such as Metacrawler, Go2net, Yellow Pages, Yahoo, Dogpile and Excite were used in order to gather this information for one of the research objectives. Each of the SMERF sub-segments was then entered to acquire the desired information. More than 40,000 names, addresses and telephone numbers were collected. To achieve the first and third research objectives, telephone interviews were conducted. The sample frame was constructed using a random start sequential numbering method. From the census of attainable names, over 400 were pulled to obtain the pre-desired 100 completed interviews.

The study expanded the potential for target markets and eliminated areas of the segment population that either would not travel the distance to Columbia, South Carolina or were restricted to their local market. With this study, the Columbia Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau learned that styles of communications have fluctuated, no longer are trade shows and trade publications the best way to cultivate new customers. In the age of computer technology person-to-person and telephone contacts far out weigh the use of the Internet as stated by study respondents. This study’s findings indicate that neither technology nor tradeshows and trade publications can replace personal communication methods.

An Analysis Of The Economic Impact Of Hurricanes Dennis, Floyd, and Irene
On North Carolina’s Lodging Industry

James A. Chandler, Ph.D., CHA, CHE
Department of Nutrition and Hospitality Management
East Carolina University

In every year since 1993, North Carolina’s lodging industry has enjoyed substantial increases in occupancy, average daily rate (ADR), and room revenues (Hobbs, 1999). However, during September of 1999, the coastal plain of North Carolina was pummeled by high winds and pounding surf, and it was then further devastated by the worst flooding in recorded history. In late October 1999, the president of the North Carolina Hotel and Motel Association (NCH&MA), in conjunction with the North Carolina Division of Tourism, Film and Sports Development, contacted the author to design, develop, and administer an assessment of the economic impact of the recent hurricanes and flooding on North Carolina's lodging industry.

In collaboration with the NCH&MA, a survey instrument was developed based on the monthly summaries of data that were collected by the hotel association. Survey items were developed to determine guestrooms available, guestrooms occupied, and average daily rate per occupied room (ADR) for the months of August, September, and October of 1998 and 1999. Additional survey items were included to measure the financial and/or economic conditions that resulted from the hurricanes and flooding.

The NCH&MA developed a randomly selected representative sample of 453 hotels that were distributed proportionately among each of the three geographic regions of North Carolina. To expedite the data collection process, the survey instrument was distributed via e-mail and fax to all sample hotels by the NCH&MA, and respondents were asked to fax their completed questionnaires directly to the principal investigator at East Carolina University. The data collection period was seven days. The data were handled to protect the identity of respondents and in a manner that ensured the confidentiality of the information provided.

Respondents were grouped according to region. Rooms available, rooms occupied, and ADR were summarized and averaged. The financial impact of the hurricanes and flooding were calculated on the basis of revenue losses per guestroom, and then adjusted to account for variances between the number of guestrooms in the regional populations and the regional samples. Finally, a series of one-sample t-tests were conducted to compare the occupancy levels between the regional populations and regional samples during August, September, and October of 1998 and 1999.

Every region of the state was impacted. The Coastal Plain suffered the greatest loss, with an occupancy loss of 12% during October 1999, creating in a direct revenue loss of nearly $750 thousand. Across the state, the physical damages suffered and lost room revenues were estimated to be between $96 million and $125 million for September and October alone.

In the year since this enormous catastrophe, the lodging industry has grown, although the growth rate has been much slower than previous years. However, there are several critical economic issues to be addressed. Much additional research is needed to preserve the continued financial health and growth of North Carolina’s lodging industry.

Hobbs, J. (2000). Gross lodging/accommodation sales: Hotels, motels, cottage rentals fiscal year comparisons through June, 2000. Raleigh NC: NCH&MA.

Hobbs, J. (1999a). [Gross lodging/accommodations sales: hotels, motels, cottage rentals]. Unpublished raw data.

Hobbs, J. (1999b). NCH&MA Annual Lodging Statistics Report. (Available from the North Carolina Hotel & Motel Association, Post Office Box 30457, Raleigh, NC 27622)

Tomsho, R. (1999, October 5). 'Anthill' economics: How natural disasters can change the course of a region's growth - In Pascagoula, Miss., sales surged, jobs multiplied; then there's Galveston - a year of living with mom. The Wall Street Journal, p. A1.

The author would like to express his appreciation to Mr. Gordon Clapp, Director of the North Carolina Division of Tourism, Film, and Sports Development, and to Mr. Jim Hobbs, President of the North Carolina Hotel & Motel Association, for their assistance with, and support of, this project.

A Comparison of the Response Rates, Return Times, and Return Methods for Surveys E-Mailed and Faxed in Private Clubs

Raymond R. Ferreira, Ph.D.
Cecil B. Day School of Hospitality Administration
Georgia State University

Recent studies in disciplines other than the hospitality field have explored the use of new technologies, such as fax and internet/e-mail, especially as it relates to customer interaction and receiving information from them (Andreasen, 1988). The studies have explored the advantages of existing methods, utilizing the new technologies, the speed of obtaining the information, the rate of responses, and the associated costs (Alreck & Settle, 1989; De Vaus, 1990). Utilizing the fax and internet/e-mail technology allows a researcher to combine the advantages of different data collection techniques. The fax and internet/e-mail technology allows one to send a survey via the telephone line or high-speed broadband line. Using a fax machine or internet/e-mail can enhance the advantages of a typically mailed questionnaire with the speed and efficiency of the technology (Gerson, 1993).

Internet/e-mail and fax surveys have some potential advantages over the traditional survey sent and received via the mail:

Fax surveys also have some potential disadvantages over the traditional survey sent and received via the mail and the internet/e-mail method:

Both internet/e-mail and fax surveys also have some potential disadvantages over the traditional survey sent and received via the mail:

As proposed by Dickson & MacLachlan (1996), the older technology, faxed surveys, was used as the control group because of its familiarity and common use among many businesses and researchers in 2000. This is the standard that the internet/e-mail surveys were compared to in this study. The six hypotheses are:

Private club members were selected as the population under study because of their predisposition to have internet/e-mail access and fax machines, their tendency to reside or have a business in the same area code as the club, their typically high response rate to surveys about their private club, and their position as consumers of products offered by the private clubs.

Three country clubs in a major metropolitan area in the southeast portion of the United States were selected. The clubs were selected because of the cooperation offered by the club’s general manager and board of directors. The clubs were located in residential areas between ten and twenty miles from the city’s central business district. The country clubs were member-owned, non-profit, and governed by boards of directors. The clubs’ facilities each consisted of an 18-hole golf course, tennis courts, swimming pools, and a clubhouse with a formal dining room, mixed grill (casual coed dining area), and private meeting rooms. Each club had between 525-600 regular members, total revenue between $4 and 5 million, and food and beverage revenues between $1.5 and 2 million.

Data were collected during a one-month period in the spring of 2000. Two hundred and fifty members from each of the three clubs were randomly selected from a list of the regular members that reported having an e-mail address and a local business fax number. The 250 members from each of the clubs (750 total) were randomly divided into two groups, one that received an e-mail with a letter and survey attached to it and one that received the survey via fax.

Listed on the survey and letter were directions that respondents could complete the survey and return it via e-mail for those receiving it in that format, and or/return the survey by fax with the appropriate return fax number listed. Members receiving the fax received directions to return the survey via fax or the URL address that the survey could be completed on the internet. Accompanying the survey was a letter from the club’s general manager asking the member to complete the survey so that the club could find out how they felt about certain issues related to the club’s operation. A cover letter from the club’s general manager or president of the board of directors is a common tool used to get a high response rate from members at private clubs.

The sample of members was sent a single page survey with nine questions about the club’s dining room. The nine questions were structured as a four-point Likert-type scale. The first six questions asked the members to rate their level of satisfaction (4 = very satisfied to 1 = very dissatisfied) with different aspects of the club. The last three questions had members rate their level of agreement (4 = highly agree to 1 = highly disagree) on three food and beverage issues. All of the surveys and/or notices were sent on the first Tuesday of the month from the three clubs in order to accurately calculate the speed of response rate (the number of days to receive the survey). There were no holidays during the three-week period in which the surveys were sent and the last one was returned.

As indicated in Table 1, there were no significant differences among the three clubs in the number of surveys returned and the average number of days to return the surveys. The average return response rate for the three clubs was 51.5 percent. Again, this high return rate is typical of surveys administered to private club members when the survey elicits feedback from the members about their specific club (Foutch, 1996). The return rate for the three clubs ranged from 48.8 to 54.0 percent. The analysis of variance test among the three return rates resulted in an F = .93, p-value = .59.

The average number of days to return a survey among the three clubs was 4.9 days. The number of days to return the surveys ranged from a low of zero days (e-mailed or faxed back the same day it was faxed out) to 20 days. The analysis of variance test among the three clubs reported no significant difference in number of days to return the surveys (F = .79, p-value = .67). These results indicated that the data among the three clubs were similar therefore allowing the data from the three clubs to be combined and used in the study.

The results of the study comparing the return rate and number of days to return the survey are depicted in Table 2. Hypothesis one was supported, since members receiving the survey by internet/e-mail returned the survey faster (3.8 days) than members receiving the survey by fax (6.6 days). Hypothesis two was also supported: those returning the survey via internet/e-mail returned it faster (3.9 days) than those returning the survey by fax (6.2 days). This two day average return rate difference is probably attributable to the time it takes the administrative assistant or other club employees to deliver the fax and send it back via the fax machine.

Members were more likely to return the surveys using the same medium through which they received them. Almost two-thirds (67.1%, 153 out of 228) of the members who received their surveys by internet/e-mail returned them by internet/e-mail as well. Moreover, 66.3 percent (108 out of 163) of the members who received their surveys by fax also returned them by fax. These results were significant and supported hypotheses five and six.

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A Study of Meeting Attributes Valued by Association Members