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A Measurement Tool to Assess Attitude of Rural Youth Towards Agriculture as An Occupation

Divyata Joshi , R. K. Dhaliwal and Dharminder Singh

Abstract

Attitude is said to be a complex phenomenon that can’t be measured directly. Psychometric techniques have been found to be a highly reliable measurement method that takes into account the concept of unidimensionality. In the present study, Thurstone’s (1946) equal appearing interval scale has been constructed to measure the attitude of rural youth toward agriculture and allied sectors as an occupation. The initial set of 83 statements has been structured according to the criteria given by Edwards. Later, the statements were given to the forty judges for the judgment of each item. Cronbach alpha coefficient and Intraclass correlation coefficient was determined to check the consistency in the judgment and nine judges with inconsistent response were eliminated. The statements for the final scale were selected by calculating the median and inter-quartile range and thirteen items were included in the final scale. The reliability was measured with the Cronbach alpha and inter-rater method (0.949). The scale was also found to be high in its content and construct validity (0.974). The study will help the researchers and policymakers to use this scale to understand the attitude of youth towards agriculture and allied sectors as an occupation. Key words: Agriculture as an occupation; Equal appearing interval scale, Attitude measurement; Cronbach Alpha.

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