AGRICULTURAL MECHANICS SPECIALISTS IDENTIFICATION

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AGRICULTURAL MECHANICS SPECIALISTS IDENTIFICATION
EVALUATION OF AGRICULTURAL MECHANICS LABORATORY
MANAGEMENT COMPETENCIESA MODIFIED DELPHI
APPROACH

• A DELPHI STUDY CONDUCTED BY
• DONALD M. JOHNSON, INSTRUCTOR
• LEON G. SCHUMACHER, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
• UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI COLUMBIA 1989

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• THE PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY WAS TO DETERMINE THE
  LABORATORY MANAGEMENT SKILLS NECESSARY FOR
  SECONDARY AGRICULTURAL MECHANICS INSTRUCTORS

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PRIMARY OBJECTIVES OF THIS STUDY

• TO IDENTIFY THE AGRICULTURE MECHANICS LABORATORY
  MANAGEMENT SKILLS NECESSARY FOR EFFECTIVE
  LABORATORY INSTRUCTION
• TO UNDERSTAND THE PERCEPTIONS OF AGRICULTURE
  MECHANICS SPECIALISTS TOWARDS SPECIFIC LABORATORY
  MANAGEMENT SKILLS

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• THE POPULATION SELECTED FOR THIS STUDY INCLUDED
  POST-SECONDARY, COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY
  AGRICULTURAL MECHANICS SPECIALIST SERVING ON THE
  NATIONAL FFA AGRICULTURAL MECHANICS CONTEST
  COMMITTEE DURING THE 1986-1987 ACADEMIC YEAR.

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• A MODIFIED DELPHI TECHNIQUE WAS USED THAT
  INCLUDED A COVER LETTER FOR EACH ROUND, ONE
  OPEN-ENDED QUESTION, AND TWO ROUNDS OF
  LIKERT-TYPE SCALE SURVEYS

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• THE FIRST ROUND BEGAN JULY 1987.
• A COVER LETTER WAS SENT REQUESTING RESPONDENTS
  TO LIST 25 AGRICULTURAL MECHANICS LABORATORY
  SKILLS THEY FELT WERE MOST IMPORTANT TO
  EFFECTIVELY MANAGE A SECONDARY SCHOOL
  AGRICULTURAL MECHANICS LABORATORY.
• IDENTICAL FOLLOW-UP REQUESTS WERE SENT TWO WEEKS
  LATER TO ANYONE THAT DID NOT RESPOND. THE FIRST
  ROUND RESPONSE RATE WAS 43.

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• THE SECOND ROUND STARTED IN AUGUST OF 1987.
• RESEARCHERS HAD EDITED AND COMBINED FIRST ROUND
  RESPONSES INTO A LIST OF 50 SKILLS. COVER
  LETTERS REQUESTED PARTICIPANTS TO RATE THE 50
  ITEMS USING A LIKERT-TYPE SCALE OF 1 TO 5 TO
  SIGNIFY THE IMPORTANCE OF EACH SKILL, 1
  INDICATING LITTLE TO NO IMPORTANCE, AND 5
  INDICATING GREATEST IMPORTANCE.
• AGAIN, FOLLOW-UP LETTERS WERE SENT TWO WEEKS
  AFTER TO NON-RESPONDENTS. THE RESPONSE RATE FOR
  THE SECOND ROUND WAS 76.

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THE THIRD ROUND MAILINGS WENT OUT IN LATE
SEPTEMBER, 1987. RESEARCHERS HAD SUMMARIZED THE
SECOND ROUND RESPONSES BY CALCULATING GROUP MEANS
AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS FOR THE 50 ITEMS. THE
COVER LETTER INSTRUCTED EACH PARTICIPANT TO
REVIEW THE GROUP MEAN AND STANDARD DEVIATION FOR
EACH ITEM AS WELL AS THEIR OWN SECOND ROUND
RESPONSE. THE THIRD ROUND ALSO INCLUDED A
SECTION FOR DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION. THE SECOND
MAILING FOR THE THIRD ROUND WENT OUT IN OCTOBER,
1987. THE RESPONSE RATE FOR THE THIRD ROUND 73.
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• DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS WERE USED TO ANALYZE THE
  DATA. MEANS AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS WERE
  COMPUTED FOR EACH OF THE 50 SKILLS. DEMOGRAPHIC
  DATA WAS ALSO ANALYZED USING DESCRIPTIVE
  STATISTICS. THE CRONBACHS COEFFICIENT ALPHA WAS
  0.94.
• THE MEAN AGE FOR RESPONDENTS WAS 45.97 YEARS.
  THE AVERAGE YEARS OF TEACHING EXPERIENCE WAS
  20.43 YEARS. APPROXIMATELY 60 OF THE
  RESPONDENTS TOTAL INSTRUCTION TIME WAS DEVOTED
  TO TECHNICAL AGRICULTURAL MECHANICS INSTRUCTION.

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6 OF THE SKILLS RECEIVED A MEAN SCORE OF 4.5 OR
GREATER 6 OF THE SKILLS RECEIVED OVERALL MEAN
SCORES OF LESS THAN 3.0 88 OF THE SKILLS
IDENTIFIED WERE RATED AS ABOVE AVERAGE IMPORTANCE
TO THE AGRICULTURAL MECHANICS SPECIALIST THE
STANDARD DEVIATION OF EACH MEAN SCORE REPORTED
WAS LESS THAN 1 FOR ALL SKILLS EXCEPT 3 THIS
INDICATES A MODERATE TO HIGH LEVEL OF AGREEMENT
AMONG THE RESPONDENTS REGARDING THE IMPORTANCE OF
SPECIFIC SKILLS
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• A NO BULL PRODUCTION