In a readership survey conducted earlier this spring for the Tech Times, we got feedback from readers about what you like about the faculty/staff newsletter, what you don't like, and your suggestions for change.

More than half of all respondents always read the Times, and 80 percent read at least some of each issue. Respondents' favorite types of stories covered pay raises and other benefits (71 percent always read those items), and their least favorite stories described faculty research and donations to the university (21 percent never read those two types of items).

The overall response rate to the survey, however, was low, requiring us to be careful in interpreting the results. The Tech Times is distributed electronically to 1,143 readers, and only 208 people completed the survey, leaving us with an 18 percent response rate, less than the 20 to 30 percent response rate typically generated by electronic readership surveys.

While we recognize that the responses might not be representative of all who receive the Tech Times, they still provide us with plenty of food for thought. Over the summer, we'll be considering what we can do to give you more of the kind of information you want and need.

In the meantime, here are more of your responses.

We asked participants to identify whether they're faculty, clerical or support staff, administrative staff, or "other" (retired faculty, alumni and friends who've asked to receive the Times). Unsurprisingly, responses varied by classification, as did the response rate overall: 17 percent of faculty, 26 percent of administrative staff, 15 percent of clerical/support staff, and 13 percent of other TTU constituents.

News about pay raises and other benefits got the highest marks across the board, and news about upcoming events and faculty/staff awards came in second as most often read items. But after that, results vary. Some 74 percent of administrative staff, for instance, always read administrative updates, such as news about the university's budget and enrollment. That number drops to 54 percent for clerical/support staff and 27 percent for faculty.

We also got a feel for where respondents are getting their news about the university. Overall, just over half are reading university news in the Tech Times and on the TTU web site, followed by 26 percent who read the Herald-Citizen, 21 percent who get news from their supervisors, and 12 percent who read The Oracle (most respondents didn't choose a single source for where they most often get campus news, citing a number of sources instead). On a related note, 63 percent of respondents frequently visit the TTU web site, where news is updated daily, 27 percent occasionally look at the home page, and 5 percent never visit the home page.

We also gave participants the opportunity to comment on the Tech Times, and plenty of you did just that. The comment we heard most often concerned the Times' format, which went from paper to electronic in January 2003.

When we asked whether the format of the online Tech Times is easy to read, 88 percent of readers said that it is. But many of those who disagreed cited their preference for hard copy, or the printed version of the Times, as the reason they didn't like the current format.

Other complaints: The Times doesn't include enough news on campus events, and other campus web sites linked to the Times aren't updated often enough.

On the other hand, we got a few compliments, too, about how we convey news and information, including comments from readers who actually prefer electronic news over traditional print media.

You can see complete survey results, including comments, by classification (all results, administrative, clerical/support, faculty and other) in PDF format.