نوع مقاله : مقاله پژوهشی
نویسندگان
1 موسسه آموزش و ترویج کشاورزی، سازمان تحقیقات، آموزش و ترویج کشاورزی، تهران، ایران
2 موسسه تحقیقات گیاهپزشکی کشور، سازمان تحقیقات، آموزش و ترویج کشاورزی، تهران، ایران
3 موسسه آموزش و ترویج کشاورزی، سازمان تحقیقات، آموزش و ترویج کشاورزی، تهران، ایران.
4 موسسه تحقیقات فنی و مهندسی کشاورزی، سازمان تحقیقات، آموزش و ترویج کشاورزی، کرج، ایران.
چکیده
کلیدواژهها
عنوان مقاله [English]
نویسندگان [English]
Lack of an appropriate linkage between extension and research, is one of the problems of the agricultural extension system. After the implementation of the agricultural extension new system, "senior extension researchers" and "supportive researchers" were defined in order to play a more organized role in the agricultural knowledge network. Accordingly, the purpose of this research was to analyze the challenges and strategies to improve the performance of supportive researchers in the agricultural knowledge network of Iran. The statistical population of the study consisted of research network (N= 1876), out of whom 348 people determined as sample using Daniel's sampling formula and simple sampling technique. Data were collected through a questionnaire; validity of questionnaire was approved by a panel of experts and construct validity (AVE Index). In order to measure the reliability of the questionnaire, Cronbach's alpha and composite reliability (CR) were calculated. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS22 and Smart PLS3 software. Results of prioritizing challenges facing supportive researchers indicated that "infrastructural-supportive" dimension was in the highest, and "functional" dimension was in the lowest ranks. Also, results of prioritizing performance improvement strategies for supportive researchers showed that "infrastructural-supportive" dimension was in the highest, and "policy making-planning" dimension was in the lowest ranks. In addition, the results of confirmatory factor analysis confirmed that challenges and performance improvement strategies models had four dimensions (i.e. functional, infrastructural-supportive, structural and policy making-planning). At last, some recommendations were presented due to the research results in order to improve the performance of supportive researchers.
کلیدواژهها [English]
Extended Abstract
Objectives
Lack of an appropriate connection between extension and research, is one of the problems of the agricultural extension system. After the implementation of the agricultural extension new system, "senior extension researchers" and "supportive researchers" were defined in order to play a more organized role in the agricultural knowledge network. Supportive researcher, technical supporter of agricultural extension agents, was planned and administrated to improve the extension- research linkage in Iran. Regarding the importance of this initiative and the research gap, the main purpose of present study was to examine the challenges of this plan and providing some mechanisms for improving it.
Methods
Statistical population of the study consisted of research network (N= 1876), out of whom 348 people determined as sample using Daniel's sampling formula and simple sampling technique. Data were collected through a researcher-made questionnaire; consist of: demographic characteristics (6 items); (b) challenges facing supportive researchers include: four dimensions: functional (10 items); infrastructural-supportive (10 items); structural (14 items); and policy making-planning (10 items) and (c) performance improvement strategies include four dimensions: functional (10 items); infrastructural-supportive (13 items); structural (6 items); and policy making-planning (14 items). Data were analyzed using SPSS22 and Smart PLS3. Validity of the questionnaire was approved by a panel of experts and construct validity using AVE Index. In order to measure the reliability of the questionnaire, Cronbach's alpha and composite reliability (CR) were calculated.
Results
Results of prioritizing challenges facing supportive researchers indicated that "infrastructural-supportive" dimension was in the highest, and "functional" dimension was in the lowest ranks. Also, results of prioritizing performance improvement strategies for supportive researchers showed that "infrastructural-supportive" dimension was in the highest, and "policy making-planning" dimension was in the lowest ranks. In addition, the results of confirmatory factor analysis confirmed that challenges and performance improvement strategies models had four dimensions (i.e. functional, infrastructural-supportive, structural and policy making-planning).
Discussion
According to the results, each of the four dimensions such as functional, infrastructural-supportive, structural and policy making-planning can play an importance role in improving performance of supportive researchers in the agricultural knowledge network of Iran. Therefore, more attention should be paid to these dimensions in the agricultural research, extension and education organization (AREEO). Finally, it is recommended to improve the performance of supportive researchers through: motivating, credits allocation, infrastructure development, providing database, reforming the organizational structure and using the capacity of the non-governmental sector.