Another USTA League Survey - This one is better!

I am interrupting my sequence of posts on WTN to say that I got an e-mail from the USTA today with another survey.  They send these out periodically and normally they are pretty underwhelming.

This survey starts by asking some questions about participation, e.g. how often I play, lessons/drills, what non-USTA programming I play, and what USTA programs played in 2021.

The rest of the questions may be dependent on the answers to those first four, but I was then asked about my reasons for playing USTA League, what I would change, plans for the future, whether I'd recommend USTA League, and opportunity to provide feedback on the digital experience and anything else.

It then ends with some classification questions and that was it.

All in all, a better survey IMHO than some previous ones as the questions were more meaningful and there was an opportunity to write responses.  Thank you USTA!

I have no clue how the survey will be used or what change it can effect, but I'm glad the USTA is seeking feedback and hope they take it in and improve things where they can.

Did you take the survey?  If you said you played tournaments did you get a different set of questions?

New Survey from the USTA

I got an e-mail this morning with a survey from the USTA and thought I'd post a few observations.

First, the e-mail says it is just a four question survey, but they commissioned a third-party research firm to conduct it.  Seems a bit overkill to use an external firm for such a short survey, but I guess the USTA doesn't have folks on staff to do it in-house.

Second, it positions the survey as providing "critical information to help the USTA understand what we're doing well and how we can improve".  Sounds very interesting, they can accomplish this in four questions?  Let's get on to the survey itself.

In the survey itself, there is boilerplate legalese that seems overkill given the nature of the questions (see below), but after that it quickly gets into the questions.

The first being why you are a member, the options being you are individually a member or parent of a child.

Next it asks my current engagement, including the type of player/parent/instructor I may be.

Next as the third question, it asks what section I play in most often.

Then, after three questions, it tells me the questions are starting?  I guess the first three were classification questions, but still it was billed as a four question survey.

The actual questions are:

• How satisfied are you with the USTA
• How likely is it that you'd recommend a friend
• How do you feel about tennis

After that, just three questions, or is it six, it says it is going to ask a few questions for classification purposes that include gender, age, working status, education, marital status, income, ethnicity, and whether there are children at home.  But the first three sorta felt like classification questions too.

This survey feels no different than earlier surveys the past few years, the questions may even be identical and frankly it is a little underwhelming if this is the "critical information" they need to see how they can improve.

The three (not four), or was it six (?), actual questions just indicate satisfaction (or not) and I'm not sure how it helps tell the USTA "how we can improve", but only tells them how they are doing.  Perhaps the research firm can somehow derive the how to improve from these three simple questions.  I hope so!

Did you get the survey?  What did you think?

The USTA sends out another survey, but requires agreeing to non-disclosure to take it?

I received an e-mail from the USTA this morning with a survey to fill out.  The e-mail contained this description of the purpose for the survey.

As we all get our bearings in this new world, we're looking to understand how we're doing among those closest to us: you!  We've commissioned a third-party research firm, the U30 Group, to conduct a very brief four-question survey to provide critical information to help the USTA understand what we're doing well and how we can improve.

This sounds good, I like survey's, and doing surveys shows a willingness on the part of the USTA to listen to their constituents, so all good right?

But upon clicking the link, it had a very ominous sounding introduction.  It reads:

By your participation in this survey, you hereby agree to keep all information about this survey and its contents completely confidential. You will neither use nor disclose to any other person or any other party any of this information. Further you agree not to attempt to copy, print or download any of this information.

You also agree that this information will remain the sole property of the organization, for whom this survey is being conducted, as will your responses to the survey questions, including any ideas or suggestions that may be contained in your responses.

This was presented to me before agreeing or disagreeing to anything so don't believe I've strayed outside of any rules by sharing the above, but what do you think of a survey beginning with this preamble?

Did you receive the survey e-mail?  Did you agree to the terms and take the survey?

Did the USTA intend for the survey to have this requirement?  Or is this boilerplate the survey firm uses for all surveys?

Should I agree and take the survey and then not be allowed to write about it?  Or should I protest and not take it?

Note, I don't dispute there are some surveys that genuinely need this sort of language as the questions may offer hints into what an organization may be planning to do and they don't want that disclosed to competitors.  I'm just curious why the USTA would feel such strong language is required for "brief four-question survey"?

What do you think?

New USTA League Survey from the USTA

This morning, I found an e-mail in my inbox from the USTA with a new survey about USTA League.  The survey link may be specific to a player, so I won't post mine here, but look for an e-mail with the subject "USTA League Players - We Want to Hear From You!".

This follows a survey in December in an e-mail titled "Your Opinion Matters" that wasn't much to mention as it didn't really ask anything of substance, but this new one does ask a number of things of note.

The survey starts off asking some basic demographic and location questions, oddly including each of section, state, zip, and ends these with asking if one captains or not.  I answered yes and it appears the few captains questions are then asked, but there aren't specific questions for non-captains.

For a captain, it then asked if I knew about a new feature on TennisLink for indicating a team is open to or looking for more players (I was), then asked some questions about other tools a captain would like to have to making captaining easier.

It continued with questions about how often I play, drills, lessons, etc., and what leagues I play in.  There were a few questions to rate things but it didn't specify that "1" was the best or the larger number was, I assumed "1".  It finished asking what I liked about USTA League and what I would change.

All in all a reasonable survey, but as with any survey, it will only be useful if a representative set of players respond, and the USTA then takes relevant action as a result.  Since it is harder to justify complaining if you don't give feedback, I encourage any USTA League players to answer the survey if you are so inclined so your voice can be heard.

Some of the feedback I gave was regarding not publishing 2020 year-end ratings, problems with sandbaggers and thrown matches, and the need for better tools to manage teams.

Did you take the survey?  What did you think?

Update: Survey link here.