| dc.description.abstract | The major purpose of this study is to determine SAAOs' attitude towards use of ICTs in
extension services. Data were collected from the SAAOs of Rangpur and Dinajpur
district during 15 February to 20 March 2018. The sample size of the study was 93. For
collecting data structured interview schedule were used. Eight selected characteristics of
the SAAOs' namely: age, education, family size, working experience, annual income,
ICT training received, use of ICTs in agricultural extension services and frequency of
use of ICTs were the selected characteristics of the SAAOs, while the attitude of the
SAAOs' towards use of ICTs in extension services was the focus issue. Different
standard statistical techniques were used to measure the selected characteristics and
Likert scale was used to measure the focus issue. Nine statements (4 positive and 5
negative) on various aspects of use of ICT enablers in agricultural activities were used
for the attitude scale. The positive and negative statements were arranged alternatively in
the schedule in order to achieve the real picture of attitude of SAAOs. There were five
options to response a statement, namely 'strongly agree', 'agree', 'undecided', *disagree'
and 'strongly disagree' with a corresponding score of 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1, respectively for the
positive statements and the scoring was reversed for the negative statements. The
majority (72.0 percent) of the SAAOs had favorable attitude towards use of TCTs in
extension services compared to 15.9 percent had unfavorable attitude and 12.1 percent
had neutral attitude towards use of ICTs in extension services. Correlation analyses
indicated the relationships of five characteristics with SAAOs' attitude towards use of
ICTs in agricultural extension services were found positively significant namely
education, annual income, ICT training received, use of ICTs in agricultural extension
services and frequency of ICT use. Two characteristics were found negatively significant
namely age and working experience. One non-significant relationship was found for
family size. So, it may be concluded that SAAOs have positive attitude towards use of
ICT enablers in extension services. Government and other development non-government
agencies should emphasize ICTs during policy making and development of extension
service systems. | en_US |
