Development of a scale to measure the knowledge level of cotton cultivators on the recommended package of practices for cotton in Karnataka and Telangana states

Introduction

Scale development is a crucial aspect of research in fields such as psychology, sociology, and education. Scales measure abstract concepts such as attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, and personality traits. Developing a reliable and valid scale involves several steps, including item generation, pilot testing, scale purification, and validation. Cotton is one of India's major fiber and commercial crops and is considered the backbone of Indian agriculture and the industrial revolution. Cotton is often referred to as the "King of Fibers" and known as "White Gold" because of its importance in agriculture and the industrial economy worldwide. Currently, cotton employs more than 6 million farmers in the country. In addition, cotton indirectly employs 40 to 50 million people in activities related to cotton cultivation, processing, and trading in national and global markets, impacting the country's overall economic development (Radhika and Kumari, 2018). Given its importance, cotton has become a major focus of agricultural value chains (AVCs) in India. Cotton is grown in almost all agroclimatic regions of the country, benefiting every individual involved in the cotton value chain. Therefore, proper knowledge of cotton cultivation may improve yield and productivity for all stakeholders in the value chain. Development and standardization of a scale to measure the knowledge of cotton cultivators on the recommended package of practice of cotton in Karnataka and Telangana States. A scale was developed to measure cotton cultivators' knowledge of the recommended package of cotton practices in Karnataka and Telangana States. The scale was constructed using the summated rating method suggested by Likert (1932) [1] and Edwards (1957) [2] . The scale development process involved several deliberate steps. The details of the steps followed in developing the scale to measure the knowledge of cotton cultivators are discussed below:

Identification of components

As a first step, the available literature on the recommended package of practice of cotton in Karnataka and Telangana States was collected from different sources. Based on the Central Institute for Cotton Research (CICR)-recommended package of practice for cotton in Karnataka and Telangana States, and through inter actions with resource persons involved in cotton crop management, ten components related to cotton cultivators' knowledge of the recommended package of practice were identified. After carefully examining the dimensions involved in cotton cultivation, ten components were identified as most relevant for measuring cotton cultivators' knowledge; namely, 1.

Collection and editing of statements

The relevant statements covering the overall information on the cotton package of practice were collected through an extensive literature review and discussions with experts in the field. A total of 80 statements reflecting knowledge of the recommended cotton package of practice in Karnataka and Telangana States were generated. The statements were edited using criteria suggested by Edwards (1957) [2] to remove double negatives, ambiguity, and complexity.

Relevancy weightage test

The relevancy of the items generated was established by sending these statements to 100 judges with appropriate instructions. The judges comprised experts in the field from SAUs and ICAR Institutes. The experts were requested to rate the degree of relevancy of each statement on the knowledge of cotton cultivators towards the recommended package of practice of cotton in Karnataka and Telangana States on a five-point continuum as 'Most Relevant' (MR), 'Relevant' (R), 'Somewhat Relevant' (SWR), 'Less Relevant' (LR) and 'Not Relevant' (NR) with scores 5,4,3,2 and 1, respectively. Out of 100 judges, 55 of them responded within a period of two months. The scores for each of the items were summed over all the respondents, and the appropriateness of each item was defined with 'Relevancy Weightage' (RW), Relevancy Percentage' (RP) and 'Mean Relevancy Score' (MRS) using the following formulae: Using these three criteria, the statements were screened for relevance, and those with a relevance weightage of more than 0.75, a relevance percentage of more than 75 percent, and a mean relevance score of more than 3.75 were considered for final selection. Through this process, 15 statements were isolated in the first screening stage and modified and rewritten based on expert feedback. Thus, finally, 65 statements were selected after the relevance test.

Item analysis

The selected 65 statements were subjected to item analysis to identify items based on their ability to differentiate respondents with high and low knowledge. Thus, the scrutinized statements representing cotton cultivators' knowledge of the recommended package of cotton practices were administered to 50 cotton cultivators from a non-sample area and selected for the study. In personal interviews, respondents indicated their degree of agreement or disagreement with each statement on a five-point continuum (strongly agree, agree, undecided, disagree, and strongly disagree), with scores of 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1, respectively. The responses are recorded, and the total score for each respondent is obtained. The scores were then arranged in descending order. Next, the 25 percent with the highest scores (high group) and the 25 percent with the lowest scores (low group) were selected for item analysis. These responses were subjected to item analysis to select the items that constitute the final knowledge scale for cotton cultivators on the recommended package of cotton practices in Karnataka and Telangana States. The critical ratio, i.e., t-value, which measures the extent to which a given statement differentiates between the high and low groups of respondents for each statement, is calculated using the following formula.

Where, X ̄H=Mean score on the given statement of the high group X ̄L = Mean score on the given statement of the low group ∑X 2 H= Sum of squares of the individual scores on a given statement for the high group

∑X 2 L = Sum of squares of the individual scores on a given statement for the low group n = Number of respondents in each group ∑ = Summation t = Extent to which a given statement differentiates between the high and low groups After computing the 't' value for all the items with the help of the above formula, items with a 't' value equal to or greater than 1.75 were selected, and those with a 't' value below 1.75 were rejected, as the thumb rule suggested by Edwards (1957) [2] . Based on item analysis, 55 statements were selected and included in the Knowledge scale for cotton cultivators on the recommended package of cotton practices in Karnataka and Telangana States.

Standardization of scale

A scale should measure what it intends to measure and be consistent in its measurement. A scale must be standardized before it is administered. The present scale developed was also standardized by testing its reliability and validity.

Reliability of the scale

A scale, or any other instrument, is considered reliable when it produces consistently similar results. In other words, reliability refers to the consistency of scores obtained by the same individuals on different occasions or with different sets of equivalent forms (Anastasi, 1961) [3] . In the present study, the split-half method was used to test the scale's reliability. For this purpose, the scale was split into two halves based on odd and even item numbers. Using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), the scores were subjected to a correlation test to determine reliability. The half-test reliability coefficient was 0.855. The Spearman-Brown formula was also used to calculate the whole test's reliability coefficient. The 'r' value of the scale was 0.922, which was highly significant at the one per cent level, indicating the high reliability of the scale. It was concluded that the knowledge scale was constructed for cotton cultivators on the recommended package of cotton practices in Karnataka and Telangana States.

Validity of the scale

Guilford (1954) [4] reported that a test is valid when it measures what it is supposed to measure. The scale's validity was assessed to study cotton cultivators' knowledge of the recommended package of cotton practices in Karnataka and Telangana States and was ensured through content and statistical validation.

In the present study, the knowledge components were identified through review of relevant literature and discussion with experts in the field. Experts' opinions were sought to assess the relevance of the components and their perceptions. This justified the scale's content validity.

Administration of knowledge scale and method of scoring

The final scale comprises 50 statements. Responses were based on knowledge of the POP of cotton (known and unknown), with weights of 1 and 0, respectively. The knowledge score of the respondents was calculated by adding up the scores obtained under each subcomponent. Thus, the maximum and minimum scores were 55 and 0, respectively. The knowledge index for cotton cultivators was calculated using the following formula.

Knowledge Index =

Actual Score Maximum Score × 100

Conclusion

In the end, the knowledge scale developed was found to be reliable and valid. The knowledge scale was administered to 50 registered farmers from a non-sample area; there were no complications in using the scale; hence, it can be concluded that the scale was useful in explicitly measuring the knowledge of cotton cultivators on the recommended package of practice of cotton in Karnataka and Telangana states. Further, researchers may use this scale in future for measuring the knowledge level of cotton cultivators in parallel research work.

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