Scale to measure the attitudes of respondents regarding livestock based technological services provided by University

Introduction

The Livestock sector plays an important role in the Indian economy. India is a leading country in the livestock population with 535.78 million of total livestock population. (20 th Livestock Census, DAHDF, 2019) [1] . Livestock farming is an ancient occupation in Punjab. Punjab has 25.31 lakh cows and 40.16 lakh buffaloes. Punjab produces a total of 14.30 million tons of milk annually, with a per capita milk availability of 1,283 grams per day (20 th Livestock Census-2019, Punjab). Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU) was founded in 2006, and aims to promote livestock production, health, and disease prevention through a combined strategy that includes teaching, research, and extension programs at its main campus at Ludhiana and several outreach centres throughout the state. The university has started a number of livestock-based technology services to help end users learn and transfer innovations. It is essential to have a good understanding about the role of livestock based technological interventions and services provided by the University. So, in order to assess the attitude of respondents towards University led livestock based technological services the present attitude scale was developed.

A preliminary list of 89 statements was compiled with consideration for their relevance to the study area.

Relevancy of statements by experts

After reviewing and editing 89 statements based on the criteria outlined by Edwards (1969) [3] , a set of 78 statements was sent to 80 experts with specialization in extension education to critically evaluate the statements for relevancy and give responses on a three point continuum indicating 'most relevant, relevant, and not relevant' with scores of 3, 2, and 1, respectively. Compilation of the list of extension education experts from all over India was done. Experts from esteemed institutions including the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), and various State Veterinary and Agricultural Universities were selected for the research. These experts were given the opportunity to suggest any required modifications, additions, or removals.

Selection of statements

Out of 80 experts only 31 responded in a time span of 45 days (response rate: 38.75%). A respondent's attitude score was calculated by adding the scores of all items. As a result, each respondent's total score was calculated. Mean score for each statement was calculated. Statements having mean score >0.75 were selected.

Item analysis

An interview schedule containing 39 statements was devised and converted to Punjabi language. This interview schedule was then employed to gather feedback from 36 dairy farmers participating in a dairy training program held at the University. The farmers were asked to give the responses on a three point continuum indicating 'most relevant, relevant, and not relevant' with scores of 3, 2, and 1, respectively. The total score was calculated, ranging from '39' to '117', and arranged in descending order. Item analysis was performed on 25% of respondents with highest total score and 25% of respondents with lowest total score. Item analysis (assessment of individual statements) was conducted using these two groupings as criteria. The ratio was determined by comparing the responses from high and low groups to individual statements. A critical ratio evaluates how effectively a particular statement differentiates between high and low groups of subjects for that statement.

Where, XH = the mean score on a given statement for the high group, XL = the mean score on the same statement for the low group, S 2 H = the variance of the distribution of responses of the high group to the statement, S 2 L = the variance of the distribution of responses of the low group to the statement, nH = number of subjects in the high group, nL = number of subjects in the low group. For each statement, the 't' value (critical ratio) was calculated, which is a measure of how well a given statement distinguishes between high and low groups of subjects (Edwards, 1954). The calculated 't' values were found to be distributed between 1.00 and 9.00 (Table 1). The final consideration was given to statements with 't' values of 1.75 and higher (p < 0.05). Total 25 statements were incorporated in final interview schedule. Table 2 showed the final format of the attitude scale on livestock based technological services provided by University.

Validity and Reliability

All the attitude statements underwent testing for validity and reliability. To evaluate reliability, the split-half method was employed in this study. Scores were divided into two halves based on odd and even numbered statements and administered to 40 respondents. The correlation between the two sets of scores (r) was used for comparison. The Spearman-Brown Prophecy Formula (also known as the Spearman-Brown Prediction Formula) was utilized to calculate the reliability of the complete test. It is formulated as follows:

Where, R = Reliability of full test, r = Correlation between two half tests Cronbach's alpha was determined to assess the test's internal consistency using the following formula:

Where, N = Number of items, c = Average covariance between item-pairs, v = Average variance The reliability of a measure is evaluated through the resulting reliability coefficient, which ranges from 0 to 1. A value of 0 indicates that the test or scale items are entirely unrelated (i.e., they lack correlation or shared covariance), while a value approaching 1 suggests that the items exhibit high covariance. As the number of items in a test increases, the coefficient moves closer to 1 if the items are strongly related. In essence, a higher reliability coefficient indicates greater shared covariance among items, suggesting they are likely measuring the same underlying concept. A Cronbach's alpha of 0.70 or higher is considered acceptable, 0.80 or higher is deemed better, and 0.90 or higher is regarded as excellent. Cronbach's alpha can be applied to assess the reliability of instruments for both binary (dichotomous) data and larger-scale datasets (Sharma, 2016) [6] .

Content validity of attitude scale

Content validity, which assesses the representativeness and adequacy of a measuring instrument's content, was utilized to validate the attitude scale. This validation involved developing a comprehensive list of test items representing the entire spectrum of livestock-based technological services of University, such as Pashu Palan Mela, training programs, regional melas, and awareness camps. The list was prepared in consultation with experts knowledgeable about university-led livestock technological services. It was assumed that the score from the attitude scale in this study accurately measured what it was designed to assess.

Results and Discussion

Selection of item for attitude scale

The responses were gathered for 39 items based on 36 dairy farmers' attitude statements about livestock based technological services. The dairy farmers were asked to give the responses on a three point continuum indicating 'most relevant, relevant, and not relevant' with scores of 3, 2, and 1, respectively. The total score was calculated, ranging from '39' to '117', and arranged in descending order. Item analysis was performed on 25% of respondents with highest total score and 25% of respondents with lowest total score. Item analysis (assessment of individual statements) was conducted using these two groupings as criteria. For each statement, the 't' value (critical ratio) was calculated, which is a measure of how well a given statement distinguishes between high and low groups of subjects. The calculated 't' values were found to be distributed between 1.00 and 9.00 (Table 1). The final consideration was given to statements with 't' values of 1.75 and higher (p < 0.05). Total 25 statements were incorporated in final interview schedule. Table 2 showed the final format of the attitude scale on livestock based technological services provided by University.

Reliability of the attitude scale

The accuracy or precision of a measuring instrument is referred to as reliability (Kerlinger 1964) [4] . The ability of an instrument to measure consistently is concerned with reliability, which is independent of the validity of an instrument (Tavakol et al., 2008) [7] . The split half method is used to measure reliability in this study. The coefficient of correlation between forms was found to be (r) 0.774. The test's reliability is determined by this correlation coefficient. These coefficients undervalue the reliability of full-length measures, which provide a larger sample of the content domain and produce a wider range of scores, both of which increase reliability estimates. As a result, the above coefficient must be corrected to give the overall measure's stepped-up reliability or the full length test's reliability (R). Therefore, the Spearman Brown Prophecy Formula (also referred to as the Spearman-Brown Prediction Formula) was employed. It's a formula that relates a test's psychometric reliability to its length, and it's been used by psychometricians to predict a test's reliability after changing its length. The value of R was found to be 0.872.

Internal consistency of the attitude scale

According to Yu (2001) [8] , the Cronbach Alpha Coefficient, Kuder Richardson (KR) Formula, or Spilt half Reliability Coefficient can be used to compute and examine internal consistency within a single test. Cronbach Alpha is preferred over the other two for a variety of reasons, including the fact that it can be used with binary and largescale data. KR, on the other hand, can only be used with dichotomously scored data. Second, spilt-half can be thought of as a one-test alternative to alternate form and test-retest, both of which require two tests. By dividing the items into two subsets, a single test is treated as two tests in split-half. The correlation between the two subsets is used to calculate reliability. As a result, the reliability coefficient may differ from one group to the next. Cronbach Alpha, on the other hand, is the average of all possible split-half coefficients computed using the Rulon method (Crocker and Algina, 1986) [2] . The internal consistency of the scale was calculated using Cronbach's alpha in this study, and the value was calculated to be 0.956, indicating that the attitude scale was internally consistent. At the 1% level of significance, all of the coefficients were found to be significant. As a result, the attitude scale that was created was extremely stable and reliable.

Content validity

The content validity of the scale was tested. The content validity is the representative or sampling adequacy of the content, the substance, the matter and the topics of a measuring instrument. As the content of the scale thoroughly covered the entire cosmos of livestock based technological services provided by University through literature and expert opinion, it was assumed that present scale satisfies the content validity. Thus, scale value difference for all the statements has a high discriminating value and it seems reasonable to accept the scale as a valid measurement.

Final scale

The instrument (final scale) was selected to include 25 attitude statements representing various aspects of livestock based technological services of University such as Pashu Plan Mela, regional mela, training programs, awareness camps etc.

Conclusion

The scale will be used to assess respondents' attitude beyond the present study area in the future. The scale items are simple and easy to comprehend, making the scale userfriendly and convenient to utilize.

Acknowledgement

AcknowledgementVice chancellor, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana, Punjab for providing all necessary facilities and in connection with this research work and support form veterinary officers, extension officers, veterinary inspectors and key stakeholders and dairy farmers is duly acknowledged

References

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