A Scale to Measure the Extent of Social Media Usage for Dissemination of Agricultural Technology by Extension Personnel

A reliable and valid scale has been developed to gauge the extent of social media use for dissemination of agricultural technology by extension personnel. Thisscale has beencraftedutilizing Likert's summated rating technique. The initial phase involved gathering expert input on 91 potential items across nine dimensions, with 76 out of 150 invited experts providing relevancy ratings.Items were selected based on their RP (relevancy percentage), RW (relevancy weightage), as well as MRS(mean relevancy scores), with 61 items progressing to further analysis (RP > 75%, RW > 0.75, MRS > 3.75). These items were then tested on 40 extension personnel, and a t-test was applied to refine the scale. Forty-six statements were ultimately retained due to’t’ values of 1.75 or greater. The final scale demonstrated strong reliability, evidenced by an 'r' value of 0.869, significant at the one percent level. This robust development process confirms the scale's effectiveness in measuring the extent of use of social media for dissemination of agricultural technology by extension personnel.