In late 2020 the New Zealand branch of the Clan Matheson Society conducted a brief survey to help shape the future of the branch. We wanted to find out:
- what aspects of Matheson heritage people are interested,
- how people want to connect with others about Matheson heritage,
- what ways people want to use to find out more about things Matheson, and
- how they want to connect with New Zealanders who are also interested in Matheson heritage.
Thank you to all those who took the time to respond. As promised, we’re reporting back on the results. Here are the key messages from the survey.
Participation
- Most respondents have Matheson heritage.
- Many belong to the society (though five said they were an ex-member).
- Nearly half are in the Facebook group.
What interests people
- People are really interested in their own Matheson heritage.
- There’s a reasonable degree of interest in learning about Matheson people and places, both in New Zealand and in Scotland.
- There’s less interest in Scottish culture and history.
- There’s much less interest in how others have learnt about their Matheson heritage, which is a surprise.
How people want to find things out
- Electronic media are popular: Facebook and the website 117% (more than 100% as people could choose more than one option)..
- The newsletter is popular (67%).
- Belonging to something is a minority interest, but still significant (39%).
- Meeting (including by Zoom) accounts for 31%.
How people want to connect with others who have similar interests
- Electronic media are popular: Facebook and the website 105%.
- The newsletter is popular (62%).
- Belonging to something is of less interest, but still significant (51%).
- Meeting (including by Zoom) accounts for 38%.
We’ve drawn on these results to develop a proposal for moving away from a subscription model for the branch. You can read about that here.