2018 Membership Survey

Survey questions were developed by the authors and the NMEA leadership team. The questionnaire was pilot tested in summer 2018 and revisions were made based on feedback. The final survey consisted of 22 multiple-choice and open-ended questions (see Supplemental File 1: NMEA Membership Survey). The survey was administered using the online survey platform SurveyMonkey. In October 2018, all NMEA members (N = 695) were sent an email with a link to the questionnaire inviting them to (voluntarily) participate. Subsequent reminder emails were sent approximately bi-weekly to those who had not responded. The survey was open for seven weeks from late October to early December 2018. The survey was intended for NMEA members 18 and older; youth members were instructed to not participate. There were at least 61 youth members based on attendance at the 2018 NMEA youth conference. In addition, six email addresses bounced. Thus, we estimate that there were approximately 628 potential adult respondents. The survey had 385 respondents, a response rate of 61%. This is above the average online survey response rate (44%) in education-related fields (Wu, Zhao & Fils-Aime 2022). Anonymized responses were provided to the first author by staff at the NMEA National Office. Quantitative responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson correlations. Qualitative responses were coded and quantified by categories. The results of 14 of the questions are detailed below. Items not included were developed for sponsorship purposes (e.g., source of funding for NMEA membership). Survey data used in this manuscript are in ScholarSpace, the open-access digital repository at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/home). This study was considered exempt by the University of Hawaiʻi’s Institutional Review Board.

2002 comparison survey

Baseline NMEA membership profile data was collected in December 2002 at the request of the Research, Education, and Marine Operations (REMO) Working Group of the United States Commission on Ocean Policy (Walker, Walters & Allen 2003). The paper-based survey was sent to 1,182 NMEA members, 516 members responded (response rate of 44%). Conducting a membership survey almost 20 years later allowed us to make comparisons in areas covered by similar questions on each questionnaire—for example on gender identity and primary profession. Unfortunately, we could not recover the raw data from the 2002 survey and many of the results were only reported graphically (e.g., in bar charts without raw numbers). In cases where the raw numbers were not identified we estimated them from the graphs, thus the 2002 data is less accurate.

Gender, Age, and Ethnic/Racial Diversity

Of 380 respondents in 2018, 70% (N = 265) identified as female and 30% (N = 114) identified as male. One respondent preferred not to say. The percentage of females in the organization increased 16.7% since 2002, when 60% of respondents identified as female and 40% identified as male.

Respondents were provided age categories to select from (18–20, 21–30, 31–40, 41–50, 51–64, over 65). Over 70% of the 2018 respondents (N = 380) indicated they were between 31 and 64 years old, with a fairly even distribution of members in their 30s, 40s, and 50s/early 60s. We adjusted 2018 age categories to correspond to 2002 categories to allow for comparisons (Figure 1). The bin “22–30” in 2002 was assumed to be approximate to the bin “21–30” in 2018. The bin “41–50” in 2018 was divided by two, half of these were assumed to be 41–45. When added to the “31–40” category in 2018 this was equated to the “31–45” category of 2002. The “51–64” 2018 category was divided into three. Two-thirds were added to the remainder of the “41–50” 2018 category (previously halved) to create the “46–60” category from 2002. The final third was added to the “over 65” category to create the “61 +” category of 2002. While this manipulation results in only very rough approximations, we can see the number of members over 61 has increased from approximately 10% in 2002 to almost 25% in 2018. There has been a corresponding decrease in the percent of members in their 30s and 40s since 2002; the percentage of members in their 20s has remained stable.

In 2018, respondents (N = 380) could select one or more of seven ethnic/racial categories—in addition to self-describing or preferring not to say. The majority of members (82%, N = 313) identified as white, Caucasian, or non-Hispanic (Figure 2). Those identifying as Asian made up the second largest category at 6% (N = 21). The other categories each made up 5% or less of the membership, including 17 people (5%) who choose more than one category or self-described themselves as multi-ethnic. In 2002, a greater percentage of the membership (97%) identified as Caucasian.

Geographic diversity

In 2018, 94% (N = 380) of NMEA members lived in the United States, with the rest spread over 12 countries. NMEA had three Chinese and Canadian members and two members from Australia and South Africa. The following countries had one NMEA member reporting residence: Chile, Colombia, Honduras, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Philippines, and the United Kingdom. In the United States most members who participated in this survey lived in California (N = 94), Florida (N = 32), New York (N = 16), Virginia (N = 18), Massachusetts (N = 17), Maryland (N = 17), and Hawai‘i (N = 16) (Figure 3). However, when controlling for the population size of each state, Hawai‘i had the most members per million residents (using 2018 US Census estimates, 11.3 members/million residents), followed by the District of Columbia (7.12 members/million), Maine (5.98), and New Hampshire (4.42) (Figure 4). The following 13 states did not have any respondents: Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, or West Virginia.

In 2002, Walker et al. reported that 71% of respondents were “predominantly geographically located coastal[ly]”, with the remainder (29%) “situated geographically inland” (2003). “Coastal” was not defined by Walker et al., so direct comparisons were difficult. In 2018 geographic location, based on zip codes, indicated 83% of the United States based members (N = 349) lived less than 100 driving miles from the ocean; 67% (N = 229) lived within 25 driving miles of the ocean. This information was calculated using Google maps from the center of the zip code to the closest ocean access.

The geographic diversity of the membership is reflected in regional NMEA chapter affiliations. There are 16 regional chapters of NMEA. Of 282 respondents, the chapters with the greatest percentage of members in 2018 were the Southwest Marine Educators Association (SWMEA) at 21% (N = 81) and the Mid-Atlantic Marine Educators Association (MAMEA) at 12% (N = 46) (Table 1). Almost 20% of NMEA members (N = 73) were either unaffiliated with a chapter or did not know their chapter. Most international members (N = 21) would be expected to fall in one of these categories.

Professional diversity

Over 70% of the 380 NMEA member respondents in 2018 had a master’s degree (N = 217, 57%, including MS, MEd, MAT, or MST) or a doctorate degree (N = 56, 15%, including PhD and EdD). About one-quarter of respondents had a bachelor’s degree 24% (N = 92). More of the respondents’ indicated their academic training was in science (N = 176, 46%) than education (N = 124, 33%). Approximately 11% (N = 40) of NMEA members indicated they had academic training in both science and education. The same percentage (11%) indicated their training was from a different discipline; responses included art education, art history, journalism, communications, nursing, evaluation, theology, business, English, policy, history, finance, film, psychology, landscape architecture, and systems.

NMEA members (N = 379) primarily considered themselves informal/non-formal educators (44%, N = 165) followed by formal educators (33%, N = 124) (Figure 5). Professions in the “other” category (12%, N = 47) include 12 people in administration, seven people in communications, and six people that explicitly said they considered themselves equally formal and informal. In addition, “other” professions included: advocacy, evaluator, airline pilot, historian, program manager, writer/author, consultant, speaker, designer, travel consultant, real estate investor, partnership manager, ocean conservation and management planning, and volunteer. The percentage of NMEA defining themselves as formal educators decreased from 2002, when 46% of members considered themselves formal educators and 41% considered themselves informal educators.

The primary employers of NMEA members were reflective of their professions. The most frequently reported employer (N = 371, 42%) was a school or college (23% PreK–12; 19% college or university), followed by an informal science/cultural/historical institution or organization (16%), and non-profit organization (11%). Sea Grant employed 5% of survey respondents. Approximately 7% of members reported being unemployed or retired. The remaining members reported being employed in government (broadly defined, 9%), in private organizations (4%), or self-employed (4%).

Of those who selected “formal educator” as their primary profession, 121 respondents’ indicated the age of students they taught. These educators were asked to check the ages of all students’ they taught—thus percentages for this category do not add up to 100. Almost all taught students in grades PreK–12 (N = 118, 98%), although we did not ask in what capacity they were acting as teachers and thus do not know how many of these were full-time classroom instructors. More educators taught high school students (57%, N = 69), than students in middle school (22%, N = 26) or elementary school (17%, N = 20). Over a third of formal educator respondents taught undergraduates (N = 34, 38%); less taught graduate students (N = 13, 11%). Over 20% (N = 27, 22%) of NMEA formal educators taught multiple levels including 10 (8%) who taught in-service teachers. In 2002 60% of formal educator members taught PreK–12, 25% taught undergraduates, and 15% taught graduate students. However, in 2002 there was no option to select multiple grade levels. In our survey, 12 of those who taught multiple levels taught at the college level.

Organization Involvement

Most members (N = 379) in 2018 had been involved in marine education for 11–20 years (32%, Figure 6). Over half of NMEA members (53%) were involved in the organization for five years or less—25% of which were in NMEA less than one year (Figure 6). On the other hand, 5% of members had been involved in NMEA for more than 30 years. There was a significant positive correlation between the number of years involved in marine education and the number of years involved in NMEA, r(377) = .68, p < .001.

Survey Analysis

Study Limitations

There are two overarching limitations to this study that bind these findings—self-selection and self-report. Completing the questionnaire was voluntary; there is likely a self-selection bias in effect. Respondents represent a motivated sub-group of the NMEA membership rather than a representative sample of all NMEA membership. This may have affected the findings in a variety of ways. For example, longer-term members, who are likely to be older and more experienced educators, may have been more motivated to complete the survey because they were more interested or invested in the results. This group’s responses may then be overrepresented in the findings.

A limitation of self-report measures is the likelihood of potential discrepancies between what people say they do or think and what they actually do or think. This questionnaire had mostly demographic items, as opposed to those about behavior or knowledge, thus responses are less likely to have been affected by self-report behavior biases. However, respondents’ answers may have been less accurate if they found any questions triggering (e.g., gender identity, age, racial/ethnic categorization) or assigned questions value, for example status in the organization (e.g., years involved in NMEA). The survey question asking about familiarity with the Ocean Literacy Principles was the most sensitive to self-reporting bias as it was the most subjective. Further, respondents may have overestimated their familiarity with this concept due to subject-expectancy effects. If respondents found NMEA valuable, they may have reported their knowledge of the Ocean Literacy Principles to be higher than it was. But while a level of caution should be used when interpreting self-reports, it is worth noting that the outcomes of this survey were not associated with respondents’ careers (e.g., supervisory relationships or job evaluations)—limiting the likelihood of purposeful deception.

While it is important to remember that this study of the NMEA member population is a sample, not a census, the survey response rate was high (61%) compared to the average online survey response rate (44% in education-related fields; Wu, Zhao & Fils-Aime 2022). Response rate is often viewed as an important factor in evaluating the quality of a survey study (Hox & De-Leeuw, 1994). The risk of low response rates is that the responses might not adequately represent the targeted population, introducing nonresponse bias (Wu, Zhao & Fils-Aime 2022). The authors attribute the high response rate on this survey to clearly defining the purpose of the survey in email correspondence, keeping the survey short, regularly reminding members to complete the survey, supportive organization leadership, and an invested membership (i.e., topic salience). The high response rate gives more credence to our findings. Thus, while the recommendations in this paper are based on a subset of the NMEA membership, and caution should be used in interpreting results, the high response rate means findings are an important starting point for determining future programming for all members.