Development of an attitude scale to analyse the attitude level of dairy farmers regarding dairy waste handling practices
Abstract
Livestock rearing serves as an important supplementary livelihood for small and marginal farmers in India; however, scientific dairy waste management remains inadequately addressed, particularly in urban and peri-urban areas. This study aimed to develop and standardize an attitude scale to assess dairy farmers’ attitudes toward dairy waste management practices and to analyze their attitude levels. The study was conducted during 2025–26 in Rewa and Sidhi districts of Madhya Pradesh using an exploratory, ex post facto research design. A total of 240 dairy farmers (80 urban and 160 peri-urban) were selected through stratified random sampling. An attitude scale was developed following the summated rating method. Initially, 102 statements were generated and reduced to 78 after editing. Based on expert judgment (n=67), 41 statements were retained through relevancy testing. Item analysis using the ‘t’ test further refined the scale to 28 statements (17 positive and 11 negative). The split-half reliability coefficient was 0.75, which, after Spearman–Brown correction, yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.86, indicating high reliability. Content and face validity were ensured through expert evaluation. The findings revealed that 62.5% of respondents had a moderately favourable attitude, 37.08% had a favourable attitude, and only 0.42% had an unfavourable attitude toward dairy waste management. Urban farmers exhibited significantly more favourable attitudes (81.25%) compared to peri-urban farmers (15%). Although awareness regarding environmental protection, soil fertility, and sustainable agriculture was evident, favourable attitudes did not always translate into improved practices due to prevailing constraints. The developed scale proved to be a reliable and valid tool for assessing farmers’ attitudes toward dairy waste management and can aid policymakers and extension agencies in designing targeted interventions.
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Introduction
Livestock rearing is an important supplementary livelihood for small and marginal farmers in India. However, scientific dairy waste management is often neglected, specifically in urban and peri-urban areas. According to the 19th Livestock Census, India's livestock population exceeds 512 million, producing about 1,095 million tons of dung annually. Much of this resource remains unmanaged, especially in urban and peri-urban settings. Improper disposal of dairy waste leads to air and water pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and a higher risk of infectious diseases, especially where dairy units are close to human habitation. This study was designed to systematically assess the socio-economic determinants, attitudes, and practices related to dairy waste management among urban and peri-urban dairy farmers. The specific objectives are as follows:
• To develop and standardize an attitude scale to analyze the attitude level of dairy farmers regarding social dairy waste handling practices.
• To analyze the attitude level of dairy farmers regarding dairy waste handling procedures.
Methodology
This study, conducted in 2025-26, aimed to develop a standardized attitude scale to assess dairy farmers' views on dairy waste management. The scale was applied in two districts of Madhya Pradesh. An exploratory, ex post facto research design was used. Rewa and Sidhi districts in the Vindhya region were purposively selected for their high urbanization and dairy farming activity. The sample www.extensionjournal.com comprised 240 dairy farmers (80 urban, 160 peri-urban), selected through stratified random sampling. Farmers were classified as small (5-10 animals) or large (>10 animals). Data were collected using structured schedules, knowledge tests, and attitude scales, and were statistically analyzed.
Respondents were categorized as favourable, moderately favourable, or unfavourable based on cumulative attitude scores. The mean were used to determine these categories.
Results and Discussion
A. Development of scale to analyse the attitude of dairy farmers regarding dairy waste management practices.
The method of summated rating scale, as suggested by Likert (1932) [4] and Edwards (1969) [3] , was followed in the development of the scale, comprising six stages: identification of components, collection of items/statements, relevance test, item analysis, and reliability and validity (Naveen et al., 2018) [5] .
1) Identification of components
Two components related to attitude were identified through literature review and discussions with veterinary scientists: Management and environmental.
2) Collection of items/ statements
The first step in constructing the attitude scale was to collect statements reflecting dairy farmers' attitudes toward dairy waste management. A preliminary list of 102 statements was compiled through literature review and consultations with veterinary scientists across India.
3) Editing of the items
The 102 statements were edited using the 14 criteria specified by Edwards (1969) [3] and Thurstone and Chave (1929) [6] . As a result, 24 statements were eliminated, leaving 78 statements for the study.
4) Relevancy test
Seventy-eight statements were sent to 120 experts in veterinary extension, livestock production and management, and veterinary public health at SVU/Agricultural Universities, Indian Council of Agricultural Research Institutes, and development departments. Experts rated each statement as Most Relevant (MR, 3), Relevant (R, 2), or Not Relevant (NR, 1), and could suggest modifications, additions, or deletions. Sixty-seven experts returned completed questionnaires. Table 01: presents the 'relevancy percentage' and 'mean relevancy score' for all 78 statements. These metrics were used to screen statements for relevance using the following formulae.
Responded
Statements with a relevancy percentage of 75 percent or higher and a mean score of 2.25 or above were selected. Forty-one statements were retained after the relevancy test and modified based on judges' comments where applicable.
5) Item analysis
Forty-one statements underwent item analysis to determine their ability to distinguish between respondents with favourable and unfavourable attitudes toward dairy waste management. A sample of 40 dairy farmers from Mauganj district, outside the main sampling area, participated in the study. The statements were administered through direct interviews, and respondents indicated their agreement on a five-point scale: strongly agree, agree, undecided, disagree, and strongly disagree. Positive statements were scored 5 to 1, and negative statements 1 to 5. Respondents were ranked by total score, with the top 25 percent forming the high group and the bottom 25 percent the low group. The 10 highest and 10 lowest scoring respondents were used as criterion groups for item evaluation. The 't' value (critical ratio) was calculated for each statement using the formula provided by Edwards (1969) [3] .
Where, X H = the mean score on a given statement for the high group X L = the mean score on the same statement for the low group S 2 H = the variance of the distribution of responses of high group to the statement S 2 L = the variance of the distribution of responses of low group to the statement n H = number of subjects in the high group n L = number of subjects in the low group Table 02 shows the computed 't' values for all 41 items. Twenty-eight statements with a 't' value of 1.75 or higher were selected for the final attitude scale, including 17 positive and 11 negative statements.
6) Reliability
Reliability measures the consistency of a scale. The splithalf method was used to test the reliability of the attitude scale. The correlation coefficient was 0.75, which was adjusted using the Spearman-Brown formula (Spearman; 1910 and Brown; 1910) [1,2] to yield a reliability coefficient ('rtt') of 0.86, significant at the 1% level. This indicates the scale is highly reliable. Where, r = Half test reliability
7) Validity
Content validity refers to how well a measuring instrument represents the subject it intends to assess. The statements covered a comprehensive range of dairy farmers' attitudes toward dairy waste management, as reviewed and validated by experts. Therefore, content and face validity were considered satisfactory.
8) Administration of attitude scale and method of scoring
The final scale consists of 28 statements (Table 03) for determining the attitude of dairy farmers. The response was collected on a five-point continuum, namely, strongly agree, agree, undecided, disagree and strongly disagree with assigned score of 5,4,3,2 and 1, respectively. The attitude score of a respondent was calculated by adding up the scores obtained by him/her on all items/statements. The attitude score of this scale ranges from a minimum of 28 to a maximum of 140. Based on the mean (85.51), the respondents were categorized into three perception categories, viz., Favourable, Moderately Favourable and Unfavourable. A higher score on this scale indicates that the respondent has better attitude regarding dairy waste management practices.
A. Attitude level of dairy farmers regarding dairy waste management practices
The attitude scale was administered to 240 dairy farmers (80 urban and 160 peri-urban) in Rewa and Sidhi districts during 2025-26. Results showed that 62.5 percent of farmers had moderately favourable to favourable attitudes, while 0.42 percent had unfavourable attitudes (Table 04). Urban dairy farmers demonstrated a more favourable attitude www.extensionjournal.com toward scientific waste handling practices, such as vermicomposting, biogas production, and hygienic management, compared to peri-urban farmers. Urban dairy farmers use social media to strengthen their presence in the farming community, gather feedback, facilitate technology demonstrations, maintain continuous communication, and tackle common issues smoothly. These factors bring about the higher proportion of urban farmers (81.25%) with favourable attitudes compared to peri-urban farmers (15%). These results correspond with Wahval et al. (2025), who found that 66.9 percent of respondents had a favourable attitude and recognized manure as an effective fertilizer.
Higher education levels and larger herd sizes were linked to better manure management. Respondents also stressed the need for subsidies and training to improve practices.
Conclusion
The developed perception scale is reliable and valid, rendering it suitable for analyzing dairy farmers' attitudes toward dairy waste management. The analysis showed that most farmers have a moderately favourable attitude (62.5%) toward scientific waste management. Respondents recognised its importance for environmental protection, soil fertility, and sustainable agriculture. However, positive attitudes have not consistently led to better practices due to various constraints. The scale can be an effective means of assessing dairy farmers' attitudes toward waste management.
References
- Spearman CC. Correlation calculated from faulty data. British Journal of Psychology. 1910;3:271-295.
- Brown W. Some experimental results in the correlation of mental abilities. British Journal of Psychology. 1910;3:296-322.
- Edwards AL. Techniques of attitude scale construction. Bombay: Vakils, Feffer and Simons Pvt Ltd; 1969.
- Likert RA. A technique for the measurement of attitudes. Archives of Psychology. 1932;140:1-55.
- Naveen Kumar P, Narasimha N, Lakshminarayan MT. Development of a scale to analyse the well-being of farmers in Kolar district of Karnataka. Journal of Scientific Research and Reports. 2018;19(2):1-7.
- Thurstone LL, Chave EJ. The measurement of attitude. Chicago (IL): University of Chicago Press; 1929. p. 3940.
- Wavhal N, Dhaka P, Kaur S, Bedi JS. Manure waste management: perceptions and practices of dairy farmers in Punjab, India. Open Veterinary Journal. 2025;15(6):2610-2625. https://doi.org/10.5455/OVJ.2025.v15.i6.32
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