Seniors more cooperative to telephone surveys
A recent issue of The Sampler, the newsletter of Princeton, New Jersey-based Response Analysis, reported on data from a May 1989 Response Analysis telephone survey among a national sample of adults age 65 or older that indicate that older people are more cooperative to telephone surveys than the general public.
General public cooperation rates, after three attempted dialing contacts, vary from 35 to 65 percent across the country, according to a study conducted by Directory Data, a division of Survey Sampling, Inc. In the Response Analysis study among the elderly, the response rate was 68 percent.
Higher cooperation in the case of the elderly means a longer interview. Response Analysis interviewers have found that many of these people enjoy being contacted and being able to express their opinion. Since many are retired and have more time, they are generally more talkative than the general public.
Americans rate nation's woes
Entering the last decade of the 20th century, the United States faces a host of important issues. The most pressing of these, according to the American people, are fighting substance abuse, international politics, and reducing the national deficit. After these issues come abortion, poverty, financial difficulties, and the environment. These are the results of a newly-released survey from the Glendale. California-based Barna Research Group.
The survey, conducted among a nationwide, representative sample of 607 adults, asked people to identity the two or three major issues or concerns facing the country today. Thirty-one percent mentioned addictive substances as being one of these pressing concerns. Some respondents were specific about the problem, saying the issue at hand was "the lack of punishment for drug dealers" or "South America and the drug wars." while most felt that the entire issue of drug and alcohol abuse was a significant problem America must address. Baby Boomers (people between 25 and 44) were less likely to mention substance abuse as a problem than were younger adults (18-24) or people over the age of 44.
Global issues w ere of concern to 26% of the respondents, although the specific issues mentioned varied from person to person. The most frequently mentioned world issues were "the need for world peace" (6%). the recent events surrounding the Berlin Wall and the possible reunification of Germany, our foreign policy with the Soviet Union (5%), the nuclear arms crisis (4%), and foreign relations in general (4%). Respondents over the age of 44 were less likely to see world issues as posing a major challenge for the U.S. than were younger people.
The national deficit was viewed as a pressing issue for America by 17% of respondents. People w ith a gross annual household income of $40,000 or higher were more likely to mention this as a problem than were people with lower incomes.
After these three issues, a number of other worries were mentioned. Thirteen percent of the respondents had concerns about finances, mentioning problems such as high taxes, the high cost of living, the future availability of Social Security, and the cost of medical care and insurance. Along these lines, poverty in general - and especially homelessness - was cited by 12% of the respondents. Financial concerns were not as likely to be men¬tioned by adults under the age of 24 (3%). compared to among people over 24 years old (15%).
Another 12% of all respondents felt that the volatile issue of abortion was one of the top issues with which the U.S. must deal today. Eleven percent mentioned the environment as a significant concern (this was especially likely among people under the age of 45). while 9% said the national economy in general was a major problem.
Many suffer from food allergies
As part of its national InstaVue survey, the HTI division of the PD Group interviewed 5,000 demographically balanced households to gauge the occurrence of food allergies. Over 16% of all households reported at least one food allergy sufferer. This projects to about 17 million Americans who are allergic to certain types of food. Many of the food allergies have very strong age/sex profiles. Some highlights:
- Food allergies are more common among women.
- Dairy allergies skew toward children.
- Seafood allergies skew toward adults.
- Fruit allergies are suffered by more adult women than men
The mailing of America
Perusing the local mall has become part of the American way of life, according to results from a recent Maritz Ameri-Poll. The poll shows that, on average, 40% of adults shop at a mall one or two times permonth. Another 20% shop three to four times per month, while 10% make five to eight trips per month. "Born to shop" is apparently the motto of 7% of people who average eight or more trips each month - or more than twice per week.
The poll also disclosed that it's not just the women doing the shopping. Forty percent of men shop at a mall one to two times per month, and 18% shop three to four times per month. Surprisingly, men outnumber women by two percentage points in the "born to shop" category, with 8% making eight or more trips per month.
When asked to compare shopping malls with shopping at other retail locations, 38% of those polled said they enjoy malls more. One-third, or 33%, rated the two experiences about the same, and the 23% said mall shopping is less pleasant. The only significant difference between how men and women rated the experience, is that men seemed to prefer mall shopping by a slightly higher margin. While 26% of women rated mall shopping less enjoyable than other retail shopping, only 21% of men did so.
Length of shopping trips is an impor-tant consideration to retailers, since "longer" usually means "more" in terms of sales. The majority of mall shoppers (55%) spend between one and two hours per trip. Nearly one-quarter (23%) take between three to four hours. Few shoppers stay more than half a day - the poll shows a meager 4% spend five hours or more per trip.
Women have a tendency to shop at malls longer than men. Only 10% stay less than an hour, compared to 19% of men. Twenty-eight percent stay three to four hours, compared to 18% of men.
As popular as malls are, retailers have their work cut out for them in the 1990s. AmeriPoll shows 32% of people are using malls less frequently now than a year ago. Only 14% are using malls more frequently - resulting in a net popularity drop of 18 percentage points. Nearly 40% of women and 25% of men say they are shopping at malls less.