In 2005, the AVMA will conduct a Gender/Generational Issues Survey as part of an AVMA Member Research Plan developed by the Member Services Committee.

The Executive Board approved $30,000 to fund the 2005 projects suggested by the committee—$20,000 for the survey, $5,000 for member relations management initiatives, and $5,000 for the purchase of secondary study reports.

The four-year AVMA Member Research Plan that the committee developed calls for an integrated, comprehensive, ongoing initiative to measure the attitudes and activity of AVMA members. Its focus will be on both the profession and AVMA members.

For 2005, the committee proposed the AVMA member survey to focus on their professional and personal needs, and to account for gender and generational differences in the analysis. Examples of survey areas are interest and attitudes toward practice ownership, full-time versus part-time employment, compensation and fringe benefits, family medical leave, sexual harassment, leadership, and participation in organized veterinary medicine. For 2006-2008, the committee will submit recommendations later.

Before approving the allocation, board members asked whether this survey could be built into existing AVMA surveys. J. Karl Wise, PhD, director of the AVMA Membership and Field Services Division, said that this does not fall under the usual AVMA "product-related" surveys, such as those on the convention, economics, and readership of AVMA publications. Asked whether the proposed survey would duplicate work already done by the National Commission on Veterinary Economic Issues or others, Dr. Wise said the profession would be well-served by a thorough survey on gender and generational issues.