Developing a Test to Measure the Knowledge Level of Farmers towards Market Intelligence
L. Mohammed Ghouse *
Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Sociology, TNAU, Coimbatore, India.
C. Karthikeyan
Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Sociology, TNAU, Coimbatore, India.
M. Nirmala Devi
Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Sociology, TNAU, Coimbatore, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Market intelligence is a method of foreseeing what will occur in the near future. We must proceed from market data to information, and finally to market intelligence, in order to complete this process. This study attempted to develop a scale for measuring the knowledge level of farmers on market intelligence. Relevant items were gathered that covered all aspects of farmer’s market intelligence in agriculture. Thirty items were initially selected for this study and administered to 42 non-sample respondents. All of the items have been subjected to item analysis. The current study found that 12 items were chosen for the test administration based on the difficulty index, discrimination index, and point-biserial correlation. This test was found to be both valid and highly reliable (0.65). This may be used by social science researchers to assess farmers' expertise in market information as well as market intelligence.
Keywords: Market intelligence, item analysis, difficulty index, discrimination index, knowledge test