Background
The National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) is a national charity that champions quality childcare for all children in their early years.

NDNA has a thriving membership of nursery providers across the private, voluntary and maintained sectors, and those that work with and support the sector.

Project Summary
As part of implementing a Membership Development Strategy, NDNA commissioned a brief survey of a representative sample of its membership in February 2005.

The aim of the survey was to briefly assess member satisfaction with a view to developing appropriate strategies for retaining existing NDNA members. The survey was conducted by telephone to a representative sample of over 200 NDNA Members.

Following an initial project meeting we developed a clear and concise questionnaire, that was easy to complete, avoided open questions, and was easy to analyse and repeatable to track trends annually. We then reviewed the questionnaire with the NDNA team and made any amendments required.

An initial pilot study was undertaken to test the length of survey, quality of the data and the accuracy of questionnaire. The pilot also enabled us to assess response levels allowing us to more closely manage the project within the required timescales.

The survey was undertaken through telephone research, using a Computer Aided Telephone Interviewing (CATI) system, which benefits by direct entry into a database for analysis, removing the risk of third party input error.

The responses were then analysed, the key findings summarised and a series of recommendations developed to address them, which were discussed with members of the NDNA team before a final detailed report was issued.

Benefits
The results of the research study have played an important role as NDNA has looked to address the key issue of retaining members by better addressing their individual needs.