study data about opticianry education

[Laurie]

Hello Everyone,

Attached is the study I told you about a while back. I haven't been around for a while because we just started school again, and the first couple of weeks are always crazy!

Here is the study conducted to get a sense of the public's opinion of opticianry education. Most people assume that having an AS degree is the norm!

I hope you enjoy it,

Laurie

[Joann Raytar]

OK, so:

• A sample of today's consumers show that most have at least some college education.
• Educated consumers want educated optical professionals.
• Consumers feel equally about an associates degree and a bachelor's degree on level of importance. Those with high school or some high school education felt stronger about the degrees than those with any college experience.
• Lower income and top tier income consumers believe formal education will make better optical professionals.

Looking at the numbers it appears that folks on both ends of the scale want to be taken care of by formally educated Opticians. There is consumer value in education. I am surprised that the lower percentages are in the middle of the test group criteria.

The only thing that is disappointing about the study is that all of those questioned are customers of one chain. I feel that this does not the greatest sample to test our industry as a whole; although, chains do have a diverse customer base. I am also pretty sure that we would see the same results if the sample polled was larger and broader.