Page 4 RAIN March/April 1984 ■f1 !;■■■ '■.: /ji'fi.? !'i}. ■ rimni.O'; It Beats Reading Cereal Boxes': by Than James The readers' survey, which went out with our August 1983 Sprinkle newsletter, brought enthusiasm for RAIN. We were pleased to receive better than a 10% return. Most surveys were filled with many well thought-out comments, criticisms, and suggestions. We learned a great deal from your thoughts, and we appreciate the time you spent. Even with this high return rate, however, we are reluctant to come to absolute conclusions about our readers. At best, we can assume that we heard from those of you who enjoy filling out questionnaires that come in the mail—a slightly suspect group to begin with. With that said, here is what we learned. RAIN readers are diverse, but you still present some clear demographic trends. Seventy-five percent of you are male. Hmmm. We also learned that 90% have college degrees, and 50% of these have post-graduate degrees. The average age is in the mid-thirties, and almost half of you have an annual income of $20,000 or more. Your occupations Why do you read RAIN? I read RAIN to learn about interesting developments in their infancy. RAIN puts me in contact with other like-minded individuals and organizations. RAIN stimulates thought in areas that tend to get neglected. It beats reading cereal boxes. I think I have grown, become more aivare and productive, since I started reading RAIN. I appreciate your honesty in admitting mistakes. What is RAIN to you? RAIN is a great magazine, perhaps because of its unpretentious, authoritative air. You tie together, better than any other source I know of, the various threads of what is really important. RAIN is an important part of the history and success of theA.T. movement. RAIN seems to begetting a bit impersonal and dry. A concerned and caring outlook. seem to cover the entire spectrum; however, most of you are involved in education, planning, and management, or design (artists, architects, and so on). The lifestyle question brought various responses regarding housing, religious perspective, outlook on life, community involvement, and political attitudes. It is difficult to summarize such varied responses, but it's fair to say that most of you live in traditional family units or shared housing situations. You reside in urban settings or rural communities. Community involvement is a priority for you, and your lifestyle is outdoors- oriented and health-conscious. rain's readership is small but dedicated. You feel involved in what we are doing, and you are anxious to see that RAIN stays in print, despite hard economic times (for us all). You praise the layout, editorial style, design, and perspective. A majority of you feel that we should not significantly alter RAIN's format and editorial policy. We asked you if you would like to see changes in the use of graphics in RAIN. You overwhelmingly rejected the idea of color graphics and expressed a preference for
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