Purpose: Participatory extension programmes (PEPs) are a well-known approach to achieve change on an on-farm level. This study examines whether there is a change in on-farm resilience due to PEP participation, by identifying whether participation leads to an increase in resilience capacities, and which aspects of the programme contribute to this.…

Purpose: To evaluate pluralistic Extension and Advisory Services (EAS) systems performance and outcomes, and share the experiences made with applying a participatory semi-quantitative approach allowing for cross-country comparability. Design/methodology/approach: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) developed the…

Application of evaluability assessment by the Cooperative Extension Service of the Department of Agriculture is reviewed. The effort involved five states with six major programs since 1984. Underlying philosophy and methodological considerations are discussed, and background information is provided on the assessment processes and studies…

The user-oriented and utilization-focused evaluation design of the two-year Caribbean Agricultural Extension Project, funded by Aid to International Development, is reviewed. The evaluation scope, stakeholders, evaluation team credibility, official approval of evaluation, and confidence in the evaluation process are addressed, within a…

Program directors and evaluators need to address the important program accountability question of attribution of outcomes. This discussion is a beginning. Starting with some basics, such as the meaning of the program, approaches to program theory development, and the nature of attribution, the paper suggests three types of attribution. An…

Reviews characteristics of the 4-H program in America. Discusses the Congressional mandate of 1977 which called for evaluation of the program. Briefly reviews historically the controversy surrounding this mandate in terms of the shift in emphasis in the 4-H program which may result from a call for accountability at the national level. (CS)

Discusses applications of evaluation methodology for educational programs to extension evaluation. Reviews alternative evaluation designs, makes specific suggestions for interpreting past evaluation studies, and presents ideas for future extension evaluation. (CS)

This study focused on determining the levels of objectivity of procedures used by agents of the Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service to evaluate accomplishment of selected educational objectives. The population included 247 county agents who had developed and executed an educational program during 1965 and 16 selected administrative and…

Describes the evaluation design employed by the 4-H program in response to the Congressional evaluation mandate of 1977. Discusses difficulties encountered in design integrity and practicality in choosing an appropriate format for the national-scale evaluation. (CS)

Presents an external review of the evaluation process involved in evaluating the national 4-H program. Focuses on issues and lessons relevant to evaluation and research in general. Discusses specific problems encountered in the 4-H national evaluation. (CS)

Addresses the evaluation problem posed by the Food and Agriculture Act of 1977 which directed that "social and economic consequences" or agricultural extension programs be reported. Presents a consequences-treatment matrix used in the national evaluation of the program, presenting operational definitions and discussing major variables.…

Examines the model used for the national evaluation for the 4-H program, discussing both strong and weak features of the model. (CS)

Discusses the evaluation matrix used in the national evaluation of the 4-H program and identifies where the payoffs for society in terms of learning for children are likely to occur, revealing results of the evaluation in comparison to expected payoffs. (CS)

A technique to measure the quality of agricultural extension programs by the clientele was developed and tested. The study was conducted in three major steps. First, unstructured interviews of forty-eight farmers and agribusiness persons in seven Ohio counties were conducted to identify those factors they considered when evaluating their county's…

Evaluation procedures for the systematic measurement of Extension's total impact or effectiveness in rural Shawano County, Wisconsin, involved developing comprehensive descriptions of Extension programs from 1960 to 1975 to list types of activities and offerings, topics, attendances, and overviews of efforts in program areas like agriculture, home…