Factors affecting the diffusion of the Texas 4-H Online Evaluation System

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the online evaluation system by collecting various forms of data from Extension Agents who used the system. For this study, data collection was divided into two phases. Phase I included a census of all County Extension Agents and Extension Specialists who had accessed the Texas Online Evaluation System between August 1, 2001 and September 8, 2001. The questions were derived from a pilot test that was conducted in cooperation with several components of Texas Cooperative Extension including the Texas 4?H & Youth Development Program and the Texas A&M University Department of Agriculture, Education Extension Education Unit. The data from Phase I was coded for confidentiality and managed using Microsoft Excel. Only aggregated data has been reported for this study. Phase II was administered through a telephone interview, and was designed to gather a richer, more qualitative pool of data. Of the 29 selected for participation, only 15 were contacted. Like Phase I, Phase II was coded for confidentiality and was managed using Corel WordPerfect. The majority of respondents for this study were male Extension Agents in primarily rural counties. On average, the respondents have been employeed as Extension Agents for 8.7 years. Phase I and Phase II indicated an overall satisfaction in the system with some concern in the areas of data entry and readability of the instrument. It can be concluded that the system is being adopted, although some changes need to be made in order to better fit the needs of the agents.