By   7 February, 2022
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Kingdom A&S Competitions: A first analysis of survey results

Greetings all!

We recently ran a survey on the topic of Kingdom Arts and Sciences Competitions in Lochac. It was designed to help us understand populace perspectives on Kingdom Competitions and their current status in Lochac: Kingdom Competitions are the only A&S activity organised at the Kingdom level, and they are used to select our Kingdom A&S Champion.

We had 133 responses to the survey (which is somewhere between 5-10% of Lochac’s membership), and these responses came from all over the Kingdom, with every Barony and Shire represented, as well as several Cantons and Colleges.

We asked 22 questions (attached at the end) to make sure we got a good understanding of the issues involved, and it will take some time to analyse all the responses, especially the thoughtful comments people shared. However, three questions are particularly important for decision making.

 

‘Do you believe Lochac should continue to hold Kingdom A&S Competitions?’ Yes.

Column chart showing responses to 'Do you believe Lochac should continue to hold Kingdom A&S Competitions?'

The response to this question was a strong ‘yes’. 72% of people who answered our survey chose ‘agree’ or ‘strongly agree’; 22% were neutral; and only 6% chose ‘disagree’ or ‘strongly disagree’.

While we will be looking at people’s comments to understand how to improve Kingdom A&S Competitions, we will keep running them.

 

‘Do you believe Kingdom A&S Competitions should remain the primary celebration of A&S at a Kingdom level?’ Mixed.

Column chart showing responses to 'Do you believe Kingdom A&S competitions should remain the primary celebration of A&S at a Kingdom level?'

The response to this question was mixed. 30.5% of people chose ‘agree’ or ‘strongly agree’; 36% were neutral; and 31.5% of people chose ‘disagree’ or ‘strongly disagree’.

We are going to need to do more analysis of people’s comments, and hold more discussions with the populace, to decide what is needed from Kingdom-level celebrations of A&S at Crown or other events.

 

‘Do you believe that there should be a Lochac A&S champion or champions?’ Yes.

Column chart showing responses to 'Do you believe that there should be a Lochac A&S champion or champions?'

The response to this question was a clear ‘yes’, but there were also a large number of people who were neutral on the topic. 59% of people chose ‘agree’ or ‘strongly agree’; 30% were neutral; and 11% chose ‘disagree’ or ‘strongly disagree’.

We will be looking at people’s comments to understand why people were more or less positive about having an A&S champion, and how they think one should be chosen. We may decide to open up more discussions about changes to the A&S champion role, but the role will continue to exist in some form.

 

 

Thank you to everyone who gave their time to contribute their perspective to the discussion. I look forward to reading all of the responses in more detail, and to sharing the rest of the results with all of you sometime soon!

Yours in Service,

Gwen verch David

Kingdom Minister of Arts and Sciences

 

 

List of survey questions

Questions with an open comments field are marked with an asterisk.

  1. Are you a Laurel?
  2. Have you ever been an A&S officer for an SCA group?
  3. What is your level of involvement in A&S?
  4. What is your local group?

 

  1. Do you look at A&S competition entries at events you attend?
  2. Have you ever entered a Kingdom A&S competition?
  3. Have you ever entered a local, guild, or online A&S competition?
  4. Have you ever judged an A&S competition?
  5. If you participate in competitions in any of the above ways, why? What do you value about the experience?*
  6. If you do NOT participate in competitions in one or more of the above ways, why not?*

 

  1. Have you displayed your A&S work in any of the following ways?
  2. Do you enjoy looking at other people’s A&S work in any of the following types of display?
  3. What do you value about these types of display?*
  4. How do you become aware of people who are doing wonderful A&S work?*

 

  1. Do you believe Lochac should continue to hold Kingdom A&S competitions?
  2. Why? If you think something should change, what is it?*
  3. Do you believe Kingdom A&S Competitions should remain the primary celebration of A&S at a Kingdom level?
  4. Why? In what other ways could Lochac celebrate and promote A&S at a Kingdom level, especially at Crown Tourneys and Coronations?*

 

  1. Do you believe that there should be a Lochac A&S champion or champions?
  2. Our A&S champion is currently the person who scores the most cumulative points in one year of Kingdom A&S competitions. How do you believe our A&S champion or champions should be chosen?*
  3. What duties, regalia, or recognition should be attached to the role of A&S champion?*
  4. Do you have any other comments, or feedback on this survey?*