JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION AND EDUCATION RESEARCH
Year:2012 | Volume:5 | Issue:3 (19)|Papers Count:10

The main purpose of the study was to identify the methods and challenges of agroforestry extension in Gilan province. The study was applied research using survey methodology. The population consisted of 230 extension experts. A questionnaire was examined by faculty members and specialists and its face validity was confirmed. A pilot test was conducted to determine the reliability of the instrument and Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient wa s estimated 0.86 for questionnaire. The results showed that among all agroforestry extension methods, group methods were considered the most important and were determined as the first priority. Based on factor analysis the challenges classified into four factors named economic-social, technical-skill, and information and regulatory challenges which explained 87.2 percent of challenges variance.

The major purpose of this research was to study the challenges of using information and communication technologies (ICTs) at agricultural high school of Tehran Province based on the perception of students. This research is an applied type with descriptive correlation method. The main instrument to collect the data was questionnaire. The total population was 398 students in agricultural high school in the Tehran province and 115 respondents were selected by simple random sampling method. The results of study show that instructors’ unawareness of ICT usage; incompatibilities of ICT usage with educational needs; negligence of educational goals in using ICT; high costs of using ICT; lack of training for the instructors and lack of adequate software and hardware equipment had negatively influenced the application of ICT in agricultural high school. The results of regression analysis indicated that lack of awareness of teacher about using ICT, lack of necessary training for teachers in using ICT and high costs of using ICT in such high schools have had a significant effect on using ICT.

This research’s overall aim has been recognition and ranking of explanatory components of teaching quality from standpoints of faculty members at Agricultural College of University of Tehran. Statistical society of the research included 256 of faculty members at Aboureyhan & Karaj Agricultural Colleges, University of Tehran. By using random sampling with probability proportionate, 83 people were chosen through Cochran Formula and to increase accuracy, 100 people were selected as respondents. Data were collected through a questionnaire and its validity of this questionnaire was being confirmed by a panel of experts. To determine the reliability rate of different parts of the questionnaire “Cronbach's Alpha Coefficient” was used with respective value of 0.86. Data were analyzed by using SPSS software. The results from correlation analysis indicated that age, scientific rank and teaching experience had significant positive correlation with quality of teaching. Results of comparative analysis show that there are significant differences between faculty members with various scientific ranks and employment status. Factor analysis showed that lesson plan, teaching skills, communication skills, expertise skills in course content and personal and professional characteristics determine about 74.82 percent of total variance of components of quality of their teaching.

This study compared the learning and studying strategies between two groups of student with high and low academic achievement. The participants were 218 undergraduate students from Tarbiat Moalem University which included students with high academic achievement (n=107) and students with low academic achievement (n=111). The instrument was "Learning and Study Strategies Inventory" (LASSI) that was designed by Weinstein & Palmer. The validity of instrument was confirmed by experts and its reliability was measured by using Cronbach Alpha.This study compares the ten scales of the LASSI between two groups of student with different academic achievement. The ten scales of the LASSI include of Information Processing, Selecting Main Ideas, Test Strategies, Anxiety, Attitude, Motivation, Concentration, Self Testing, Study Aids and Time Management Scales. Result show that in usage Selecting Main Ideas, Test Strategies, Attitude, Study Aids, Time Management, Concentration, Motivation Strategies of the LASSI, there is significant difference between students with high and low academic achievement (a=0.01).It was also reported that in usage Anxiety and Self Testing Strategies of the LASSI, there was not significant difference between students with high and low academic achievement (a=0.01).

The purpose of this study was to determine factors influencing agricultural knowledge and information system in the Qazvin Province. This was an applied type research and descriptive/ correlation method was used. The total population consisted of 306 research and extension experts in the organization for Jihad Keshavarzi in Qazvin Province and by using randomized stratified sampling method, 203 respondents were selected. Validity of the instrument was established by a panel of experts consisting of senior faculty members in agricultural extension and education department and research committee advisors. Reliability analysis was conducted by using Cronbach alpha formula and result was 0.91. The results showed that about 27, 63 and 9 percent of experts expressed that agricultural knowledge and information system were in weak, moderate and good ranges, respectively. Also the results of the multiple regression analysis (stepwise method) revealed that the variables of technical knowledge of agent, job satisfaction of human resources and adequacy of human resources explained a variation of 32.5 percent of the agricultural knowledge and information system by experts.

In issues related to economic and growth development, instability in economic indicators, particularly in export revenues have gained an important position. The major portion of non oil exports in Iran is agricultural and traditional products and an unpredictable shock would result in reducing the export competitiveness. The goal of this article is to examine effects of instability in agricultural exports on economic growth during 1977 to 2007 by using instability indicators of Love Index Model, Economic Correction Model (ECM) and Method of Least Squares. The results show that there is negative correlation between export instability and economic growth and export instability due to reduction in investment could result in slower economic growth.

The main purpose of this research was to identify obstacles components related to sustainable rural development of Iran. The research instrument was structured questionnaire and its validity was established by using a panel of experts. A reliability analysis was conducted and Cronbach' s alpha value being reported to be 0.83. The total population of this study was all experts of Agricultural Planning, Economics, and Rural Development Research Institute (N=150). By a simple randomized sampling technique, 108 members were selected as a sample of the study and finally, 103 questionnaires were analyzed. By applying Factor Analysis Technique, obstacles of rural sustainable development in Iran were reduced to ten factors namely weakness of rural tourism, incorrect land management, weakness of agricultural extension system, lack of local participation in rural development plans, policies in agricultural sector, neglecting indigenous knowledge, lack of investment by private sector in rural areas, overexploitation of natural resources, administrative and financial conditions of country and lack of basic infrastructures for industrial development of rural areas. These ten factors expressed 82.53% of the total variance of the variables.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate factor influencing growers’ attitude regarding soil management. The research method was a descriptive-correlation and survey method was used to collect the data. The target population in the study was wheat growers in Ardebil province. The total population was 17500 wheat growers and by using multi- stage cluster sampling technique, 410 farmers were selected as sample population. The results of descriptive findings showed that the attitude of 126 about soil management were very good and good level. The results of Pearson correlation test showed that there was a statistically significant positive relationship between variables of age, working experience, educational level, experience in wheat cultivation, access to inputs and credit facilities, income, extension contact, practicing extension agents recommendation, information sources, social participation, institutional-social confidence and knowledge and skill regarding farm soil management as dependent variable. In addition, the result of stepwise multivariate regression analysis indicated that 88 percent of the variability in farmer’s attitude with respect to soil management could be explained by variables of income, information sources and institutional - social confidence.