OHA Member Survey 2019

Welcome!

The Oral History Association is developing a new strategic plan. As part of the process, it is gathering information from members and other stakeholders about its strengths and weaknesses as an academic and professional association, as well as possible future directions for its work.

The survey consists of eight (8) questions and should take approximately 15-30 minutes to complete, depending upon the complexity of your answers.

Thank you!

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* 1. Please identify 3-5 internal strengths of OHA
(Strengths are OHA’s internal, positive attributes, such as staff and board commitment; quality of programming, membership benefits, etc. These are things within OHA’s control. Consider what the association does well, what advantages it has over other associations; and what others see as OHA’s strengths, etc.)

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* 2. Please identify 3-5 internal weaknesses of OHA
(Internal weaknesses are negative factors that detract from OHA’s strengths. These are areas OHA might need to improve to become more successful, such as developing stronger or more efficient organizational infrastructure and processes, greater or more diverse expertise; what others are likely to see as weaknesses, etc.)

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* 3. Please identify 3-5 external opportunities for OHA
(Opportunities are external factors in the association’s operating environment that are likely to contribute to its success, such as trends OHA could take advantage of, potential partnerships, new funding sources, etc.)

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* 4. Please identify 3-5 external threats to OHA
(Threats are external factors OHA has no control over and trends that could become a threat, such as future changes in academia and higher education. OHA may want to consider putting in place contingency plans for dealing with them if they occur.)

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* 5. From your vantage point, what are the five (5) biggest challenges currently facing the oral history field? (Choose only your top 5)

Not enough jobs

Poor pay/benefits

Not enough diversity among practitioners

Lack of public understanding about the work (including varying levels of understanding about what oral history does and what an oral history is)

People don't understand what goes into oral history

Oral history work not counted in tenure review

Lack of opportunities to publish/disseminate the work

Diminishment of the humanities

Increasing competition for jobs, especially from people without traditional oral history backgrounds

Insufficient connections to other academic disciplines, including history, sociology (qualitative social research), education, anthropology, journalism; library, archival and museum studies; literary and cultural studies, etc.

Insufficient connections to other professions, including archivists, journalists, public historians, museum curators and educators

Not viewed as scholarship in the academy

Ongoing narrow specialization within History without visible impact on other sub-fields of History

Insufficient impact on the field of history in the last 50 years (e.g. few oral history articles published in American Historical Review)

Insufficient international connections and dialogue

Lack of interest by funders/lack of funding and grant opportunities

Challenges providing public access

Challenges with long-term preservation

Proliferation of interest in storytelling leading to bad oral history practices

Decreased funding for higher education; for research; decreased funding for archival resources

Lack of understanding of archival needs for oral history collections

Other (please specify)

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* 6. What are three (3) of the biggest challenges you personally face pursuing your work in the field of oral history?

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* 7. Please provide up to five (5) strategies OHA could employ to address the biggest fieldwide and/or personal professional challenges you identified in Questions 5 and 6?

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* 8. Parting Thoughts
Please use this space to share your thoughts about OHA and ways in which it might be able to meet the professional and personal challenges you've identified above.

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* 9. Optional:
Please feel free to identify yourself with name and contact information.

Name

Organization (if applicable)

Address

Address 2

City/Town

State/Province

ZIP/Postal Code

Country

Email Address

Phone Number

OHA Member Survey 2019

Welcome!

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* 3. Please identify 3-5 external opportunities for OHA (Opportunities are external factors in the association’s operating environment that are likely to contribute to its success, such as trends OHA could take advantage of, potential partnerships, new funding sources, etc.)

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* 4. Please identify 3-5 external threats to OHA (Threats are external factors OHA has no control over and trends that could become a threat, such as future changes in academia and higher education. OHA may want to consider putting in place contingency plans for dealing with them if they occur.)

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* 5. From your vantage point, what are the five (5) biggest challenges currently facing the oral history field? (Choose only your top 5)

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* 6. What are three (3) of the biggest challenges you personally face pursuing your work in the field of oral history?

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* 7. Please provide up to five (5) strategies OHA could employ to address the biggest fieldwide and/or personal professional challenges you identified in Questions 5 and 6?

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* 8. Parting ThoughtsPlease use this space to share your thoughts about OHA and ways in which it might be able to meet the professional and personal challenges you've identified above.

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* 9. Optional:Please feel free to identify yourself with name and contact information.

* 3. Please identify 3-5 external opportunities for OHA
(Opportunities are external factors in the association’s operating environment that are likely to contribute to its success, such as trends OHA could take advantage of, potential partnerships, new funding sources, etc.)

* 4. Please identify 3-5 external threats to OHA
(Threats are external factors OHA has no control over and trends that could become a threat, such as future changes in academia and higher education. OHA may want to consider putting in place contingency plans for dealing with them if they occur.)

* 8. Parting Thoughts
Please use this space to share your thoughts about OHA and ways in which it might be able to meet the professional and personal challenges you've identified above.

* 9. Optional:
Please feel free to identify yourself with name and contact information.