How Do Members Use a Co-op Paper? Based on Study of Midland Cooperator

Excerpts from the report: This study presents results of a survey on effectiveness of a cooperative membership publication as determined by readership and its impact on patrons. So far as is known, no studies of this kind for co-ops have been published. A regular publication, distributed by a farmer cooperative to its members, is perhaps the chief means of communication between the cooperative and the farmers it serves. It follows, then, that the association's management wants to know whether the publication is doing an effective job. Do members read their cooperative paper? How regularly do they read it? What part of it do they read most? How do men and women compare in readership? Are there any appreciable differences in age, income, or educational levels among readers? What do readers think of the paper? What effect does it have on its readers? Does it influence their thinking and their actions? And if so, how? To find answers to this series of questions, Midland Cooperatives, Inc., Minneapolis, Minn., asked Farmer Cooperative Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture, to study the effectiveness of its membership newspaper -- Midland Cooperator. Farmer Cooperative Service undertook this study because findings also would have application to many cooperatives and others interested in membership publications.