International Journal of Agricultural

Science and Research (IJASR)

ISSN(P): 2250-0057; ISSN(E): 2321-0087
Vol. 6, Issue 3, Jun 2016, 577-582
TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.

A SCALE TO MEASURE ICT ENABLED AGRICULTURAL

EXTENSION SERVICES AMONG FARMERS
JAYANTHI. M1 & M. ASOKHAN2
1
2

Research Scholar, Department. of Agricultural Extension & Rural Sociology, TNAU, CBE, India

Professor & Head, Department of Agricultural Extension & Rural Sociology, TNAU, CBE, India

ABSTRACT
Today, Indian agriculture is faced with the challenge of providing adequate and sustained livelihoods to over
103 million farm families spread across the country, under changing social, economic and environmental conditions.
Hence, there is an immediate need of vibrant, dynamic and innovative approach to be adopted for agricultural extension
in order to achieve targeted growth rate and serve the farmers better. Information and Communication Technology
(ICT) enables the dissemination of requisite information at the right time to farmers. So the present study was to develop
attitude scale farmers attitude towards ICT enabled agricultural extension services. Out of selected 80 statements, 10
items were selected with equal appearing interval and with a uniform distribution along the psychological continuum.

modifications.
KEYWORDS: Attitude Scale; ICTs Enabled Agricultural Extension; Equal Appearing Interval; Item Analysis;
Reliability; Validity;

Received: Mar 18, 2016; Accepted: Jun 01, 2016; Published: Jun 18, 2016; Paper Id.: IJASRJUN2016070

Original Article

This scale can be used to measure farmers attitude towards ICT enabled agricultural extension services with suitable

INTRODUCTION
Agricultural extension is the application of scientific research and new knowledge to agricultural
practices through farmer education. The field of 'extension' now encompasses a wider range of communication
and learning activities organized for rural people by educators from different disciplines, including agriculture and
allied agriculture sector. Small scale farming is an important feature of Indian agriculture and it has been
estimated that about 80% of the farmers belong to small and marginal categories with an average landholding of
less than 1.4 ha. Small scale farming not only limits efficiency but also effectiveness due to the limited scope for
capital and technological inputs. Individual contact through field level staff is limited by logistics, resources, skills
and sheer numbers.
The government run public extension system has a poor track record of reaching small and marginal
farmers (Parikh, 2007). All these factors combine to result in an information deficit situation where about 60% of
the farmers do not access to a reliable source of agricultural information. The National Commission on Farmers
has noted that knowledge deficits constrain agricultural productivity in India. In spite of successful research on
new agricultural practices related to crop cultivation, majority of farmers are not getting high yield. The main
reason behind the yield loss was lacking of scientific advice is not reaching to farmers in a timely manner. The use
of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for agricultural extension is one way of addressing the
information needs of farmers. With the help of ICTs, agricultural extension is expected to become more
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Jayanthi. M & M. Asokhan

diversified, knowledge-intensive, demand-driven and more effective in meeting information needs of farmers (Zijp, 1994).
There are several organizations extensively using modern information technology in India to promote communication
between researchers, extension workers, and their farmer clients to transfer technologies and information more effectively
(Saravanan, 2010; Kameswari, 2011; Nikulsinh, 2010). Thus, there is a need to understand the attitude of farmers towards
ICT enabled agricultural extension services before study the impact of ICT initiatives. Hence, the present study aims to
develope scale attitude of farmers towards ICTs enabled agricultural extension services.

METHODOLOGY
Attitude is an expression of favor or disfavor toward a person, place, thing or event. The method of equalappearing intervals or the Thurstone scale is used to measure attitudes of people. This kind of scale is used to measure
people's attitude towards a fairly clear and unidimensional concept, using a number of statements that vary in how they
express a positive or negative opinion about the main concept. Attitude in this study was operationalised as the degree of
positive or negative feeling of farmers towards the Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) enabled
agricultural extension services. The following subheads were considered to measure the attitude of farmers towards ICTs
enabled agricultural extension services.

Collection and Editing of Statements

Possible statements concerning the psychological object ICT enabled agricultural extension services with

respect to the psychological domains was collected after perusal of relevant literature and discussion with scientists,
experts and extensionists. A list of 100 statements that could possibly influence ICT enabled agricultural extension services
was prepared, organized and structured in the form of attitude items. Based on Edwards (1969) criteria, selected 100
statements were screened. Based on the screening out of 100 statements, 80 statements were selected which was universe
of content.

Item Scoring and Computation of Scale Values and Q Values

The 80 statements were then subjected to judges opinion on a five-point continuum, ranging from, most

unfavourable to most favourable. The list of statements was sent to 50 judges who comprised of extension scientists of
State Agricultural Universities of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka and Gandhigram Rural University.
Of the 50 judges, 31 judges responded by sending their judgements. The scale values and Q values were computed for the
80 statements by applying the formula as suggested by Thurstone and Chave (1929) which is as follows.
S = l + 0.50

Where,
S Scale value of the statement
l The lower limit of the interval in which the median falls
pb The sum of the proportions below the interval in which the median falls
Pw The proportion within the interval in which the median falls
i The width of the interval and is assumed to be equal to 1.0

Impact Factor (JCC): 4.7987

NAAS Rating: 3.53

A Scale to Measure ICT Enabled Agricultural Extension Services among Farmers

579

Q = C75 C25
Where,
Q Interquartile range

C75 the 75th centile, C75 = l + 0.75

C25 the 25th centile, C25 = l + 0.25

Selection of attitude items

The attitude items to be included in the final attitude scale were selected based on the following criteria:

The statements selected should represent the universe of content with respect to ICT enabled agricultural
extension service.

The statements selected should adequately represent the respective domain of ICT enabled agricultural
extension service.

The scale values of the selected attitude items should have equal appearing interval i.e. distributed uniformly
along the psychological continuum.

Those items with high scale values and smaller Q values should be selected as far as possible.

There should be more or less equal number of statements with favourable and unfavourable attitudes as far as
possible.

An objective methodology was devised in order to select the attitude items keeping in mind the above mentioned
criteria. The scale values were arranged in descending order of magnitude and the difference between the successive scale
values and the cumulative total of the computed differences were worked out. Considering the time limitation from
farmers point of view, it was decided to select 10 statements to constitute the attitude scale. Since, the selected scale
values should have equal appearing interval and distributed uniformly along the psychological continuum, it was necessary
to form 10 compartments so as to select 10 statements at one statement from each compartment. The basis for forming the
compartments was that, each compartment should be equally spaced in the continuum. To select the attitude items from the
10 compartments the scale values and the corresponding Q values were considered. Based on the criteria already
mentioned, items having high scale values and low Q values were selected at one item from each compartment. Care was
taken to ensure that the selected items represented the universe of content and covered the psychological and economical
domains of agriculture. Thereby, 10 items were selected with equal appearing interval and with a uniform distribution
along the psychological continuum.

Reliability of the Scale

The reliability of the scale was determined by 'Split-half' method. The split-half method is regarded by many as

the best method for measuring reliability (Garrett, 1979). The 10 selected attitude items were divided into two equal halves
by odd-even method (Singh, 2008). The two halves were administered separately to 30 farmers in a non-sample area.
The scores were subjected to product moment correlation test in order to find out the reliability of the half test. The half-

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Jayanthi. M & M. Asokhan

test reliability coefficient r was 0.64, which was significant at one per cent level of probability. Further the reliability
coefficient of the whole test was computed using the Spearman-Brown Prophecy formula. The whole test reliability rtt was
0.78. According to Singh (2008), when the purpose of the test is to compare the means of the two groups of narrow range,
a reliability coefficient of 0.50 or 0.60 would suffice. Hence, the constructed scale is reliable as the rtt was > 0.60.

Content validity of the Scale

Content validation was carried out by subjecting the selected 10 items to judges opinion. Experts in the selected

field of study formed the judges. The experts were asked to indicate the extent to which each attitude item covered the
domains of the psychological object ICT enabled agricultural extension services or judge each item for its presumed
relevance to the property being measured. The responses were obtained on a four point continuum of most adequately
covers', 'more adequately covers', 'less adequately covers' and 'least adequately covers'. Scores of 4, 3, 2 and 1 were given
for the points on the continuum respectively. Totally 30 judges responded by sending their judgments. The mean score 2.5
was fixed as the basis for deciding the content validity of the scale. If the overall mean score of the attitude items as rated by
the judges was above 2.5, the scale will be declared as valid and if not otherwise. In the present case, the overall mean score was
worked out as 3.18 and therefore the constructed attitude scale is said to be valid.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

The final scale consists of 22 statements. The responses had to be recorded on a five point continuum representing
strongly agree, agree, undecided, disagree and strongly disagree with scores of 7,5,4,3 and1 for positive statements and
vice-versa for negative statements. The attitude score of each respondent can be calculated by summing the scores obtained
by him on all the items. The attitude score on this scale ranges from 10 to 70. The higher score indicates that respondent
had more favourable attitude towards ICTs based agricultural extension services and vice-versa.
Table 1: Final Attitudes Scale Comprising 10 Statements
S. No.

Statements
SA
A
UD
DA
ICT
based
extension
services
cannot
meet
location
specific
needs
1*
of the farmers
Farmers can get remunerative prices to their produce through ICT
2
based market intelligence information
ICT disseminates information quicker than other means of
3
communication
Constant technical guidance is needed for effective utilization of
*
4
agricultural information through ICT
ICT teaches home economics to improve farmers livelihood
5
Illiteracy will not deter farmers in availing ICT services
6
Farmers need not to be educated for the use of ICT tools
7
ICT based TOT will not induce more information acquisition
*
8
among farmers
Use of ICT in agriculture will reduce the communication between
*
9
farmers
*
All kinds of information exchange are not possible through ICTs
10
* Negative statements, SA: Strongly agree A: Agree UD: Undecided DA: Disagree SDA: Strongly disagree

SDA

CONCLUSIONS
The realiability and validity of the scale showed that the consistency and fidelity of the scale. So the constructed
scale was reliable and valid one. Based on the study area, this scale can be used to measure attitude of farmers towards ICT
Impact Factor (JCC): 4.7987

NAAS Rating: 3.53

A Scale to Measure ICT Enabled Agricultural Extension Services among Farmers

581

enabled agricultural extension services with suitable modification

REFERENCES
1.

Parikh, T. S., N. Patel and Y. Schwartzman. 2007. A Survey of Information Systems Reaching Small Producers in Global
Agricultural Value Chains, in Proceedings of the 2nd IEEE/ACM international conference on ICTs and Development.
Bangalore, India. http://www.stanford.edu/~neilp/pubs/ictd2007.pdf.

2.

Zijp, W. 1994. Improving the Transfer and Use of Agricultural Information A Guide to Information Technology. Washington
DC: World Bank.

3.

Thurstone, L. L. and E. J. Chave. 1929. The Measurement of Attitude. Chicago University, Chicago Press, Chicago.

4.

Edwards, A. L. 1969. Techniques of Attitude Scale Construction. Vakils, Feffer and Simmons Private Limited, Bombay.

5.

Nikulsinh, M. C. 2010. Farmers' Perception about ICT Application: A Case study of Gujarat state. Indian Res. J. Ext. Edu.
10(3):21-26.

6.

Saravanan, R. 2010. ICTs for Agricultural Extension: Global Experiments, Innovations and Experiences. New India
Publishing Agency (NIPA), New Delhi. pp. 115-168

7.

Kameswari, V. L. V. 2011. ICTs for Agricultural Extension: A Study in the Indian Himalayan Region. Elect. J. Inform. Syst.
Dev. Ctries. 48(3):1-12.

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