Achieving consensus Deal with Methodological Issues in the Delphi technique

Delphi is a powerful technique used to seek answers to appropriate questions. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the Delphi technique as a research method. This paper discusses the scientific merit of the Delphi technique by investigating on 41 studies of Journal of Agricultural Education from 1981 to 2013, and 2 studies of Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology. The results showed that there is no general agreement on using indexes in different rounds of Delphi technique; however, according to the frequencies of using indexes in different studies, the following suggestions are presented. The favourable number of panel of experts is between 10 to 20. Purposive sampling method is used for selecting the panel members. Usually a three rounds of Delphi method is used. One question is designed in round one. Mean and standard deviation indexes are used for passing from round two to round three and agreement level of 70 present is used for achieving expert's consensus in round three

Farmers’ Behavior toward Membership in Water User Associations (WUAs) in Iran: Applying the Theory of Planned Behavior

In many countries today, irrigation systems have been transferred to the water users associations. This study aimed at analyzing farmers’ behavior toward membership in water users associations based on the theory of planned behavior. This research was designed as a descriptive-correlation survey. All farmers from the two villages, Lishter and Kheir Abad, the city of Gachsaran, Iran, who were under the cover of Lishter irrigation and drainage network (N=572) formed the population for this study. Using Krejcie and Morgan’s (1970) table and a proportional stratified random sampling technique 230 farmers was selected (n=230) from the population. The main research tool was a questionnaire. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts of faculty members of Agricultural Extension and Education at Tarbiat-Modares University and Rural Development department at Yasuj University. The reliability of the questionnaire was calculated at pre-test stage for different parts of the questionnaire ranging from 0.650-0.922. The collected data was analyzed using SPSS 19 software. Results revealed that two variables, tendency and perceived behavioral control, had direct and meaningful effect on the farmers’ behavior for membership in water users associations. The variables of tendency and subjective norms had the most direct and indirect effect on the farmer’s behavior, respectively. In sum, tendency, perceived behavioral control and subjective norms had the causal effect on the farmers’ behavior toward membership in water users associations.

Determinants of local community participation in forest fire management in the northern Iran: Determinants of local community participation in forest fire management

peer reviewedForest fire is one of the environmental events that occur under the influence of human and non-human (such as lightning, volcanoes, etc.) factors. In Iran, forest fires are a recurring problem. Human activities, such as negligence by local communities or travelers, play a major role in their occurrence. Intentional and unintentional fires pose the most significant threats, leading to the destruction of vast forest areas, especially in northern Iran, in recent years. In this regard, the participation of local communities in the management of such occurrences is essential. The purpose of this study was to analyze the determinants of local community participation in forest fire management (CPFFM) in Northern Iran, focusing on Nowshahr township. The research includes seven independent variables: quality of extension services (QES), awareness of rules and regulations (ARR), social norm (SN), place attachment (PA), environmental belief (EB), pro-environmentalist attitude (PEA) and social capital (SC) and their impact on CPFFM was measured. This research is a type of descriptive-correlational and causal-relational research that was conducted with a survey. The statistical population included local communities living on the edge of the forest in Nowshahr township (N = 78,786), of which 350 people were selected as a sample using stratified random sampling with proportional assignment. The research instrument was a questionnaire whose validity was confirmed by subject experts and the reliability of its items was achieved with Cronbach's alpha coefficient (0.711 ≤ α ≤ 0.921). The results of causal analysis indicated that QES (β = 0.522), SN (β = 0.156) and ARR (β = 0.305) have the highest direct effect on CPFFM, respectively. Also, EB had the greatest non-causal effect (0.083) on CPFFM. This research, by emphasizing the variables of human ecology from the point of view of environmental psychology in the conceptualization of some key variables affecting CPFFM, can be useful for decision makers and planners of forest fire management

Development and Validation of Sustainable Aquaculture Indicators: Case of Alborz Dam Basin, Mazandaran, Iran

The present study was conducted to examine the development and validation ofsustainable indicatorsrelated to aquaculture as a social-ecological system. By reviewing the literature, it was found about 148 indicators related to sustainable aquaculture in economic (market-oriented and responsive aquaculture, capability of risk assessment and crisis management, and financial management in aquaculture), social (participation in food security and healthy food, the role of producer and non-governmental organizations, improving the image of aquaculture, and social responsibility), environment (minimizing the impacts of aquaculture at the national level, minimizing the impacts on the environmental conditions, and biodiversity), and institutional (local development and participation in decision-making) components. The extracted components were used in the form of a questionnaire with a five-point Likert type scale according to six criteria. Questionnaires were distributed among aquaculture experts in Alborz Dam Basin in Mazandaran Province, where 32 questionnaires were returned. Research results include ranking indicators based on a total of six criteria mentioned in methodology, and ranking components, as well as their associated indicators related to sustainable aquaculture using AHP. The findings further suggested that economic and environmental aspects also were placed as the first and second ranks among 10 sustainable aquaculture indicators. Accordingly, it is highly recommended that the agencies related to the country's aquaculture development paid attention to these identified dimensions and used them in their plannin

Examining Challenges Encountered Cooperatives in Promoting Business Needs

This study aimed to determine the challenges of DCPBR (Distribution of Cooperatives Provision Business Requirements). The research has been implemented in two steps. In the first step, the research conceptual framework were extracted by reviewing of the relevant documents. In the second step, by using Delphi technique the challenges of DCPBR were extracted. The respondents of this part were the managing directors of successful DCPBR and experts in the country who were selected by purposive sampling method. The output of the second step were 38 challenges that were categorized under "cooperation and coordination", "governmental supports", "policy- making", "rules and regulations", "competition", "participation", "performance appraisal and reward", "technology", "public making culture", "marketing", "the ability of the management team" and" research and development”. Finally, with paying attention to the extracted challenges some solutions were presented for removing these challenges

Achieving consensus Deal with Methodological Issues in the Delphi technique

Delphi is a powerful technique used to seek answers to appropriate questions. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the Delphi technique as a research method. This paper discusses the scientific merit of the Delphi technique by investigating on 41 studies of Journal of Agricultural Education from 1981 to 2013, and 2 studies of Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology. The results showed that there is no general agreement on using indexes in different rounds of Delphi technique; however, according to the frequencies of using indexes in different studies, the following suggestions are presented. The favourable number of panel of experts is between 10 to 20. Purposive sampling method is used for selecting the panel members. Usually a three rounds of Delphi method is used. One question is designed in round one. Mean and standard deviation indexes are used for passing from round two to round three and agreement level of 70 present is used for achieving expert's consensus in round three

Organizational Learning Capabilities: Evidence from the Iranian Agricultural Higher Education System

The aim of this research is to understand and assess the application of organizational learning capabilities in the status quo and review desirable situations in the context of the agricultural faculty environment. Data were collected from 329 faculty members in 19 public agricultural faculties using a survey questionnaire. Results indicate that organizational learning capabilities are below average in the status quo of agricultural faculties. When different capabilities are compared, it seems that sharing knowledge, a flexible structure and system thinking provide more organizational learning opportunities for Iranian agricultural faculties. Finally, the implications of the results and further research are discussed

Faculty Members’ Development in Agricultural Higher Education: Does the University Size Matter?

Higher education has recently faced new challenges and responsibilities such as higher expectations to contribute to national and regional developments, considerable cuts in public funds, and the highly competitive educational markets. Previous research has suggested a positive association between the development of human capital and capacity to deal with these challenges in higher education institutions. Yet, there are few empirical studies on the factors that constitute faculty members’ development. The main purpose of this study was to investigate faculty members’ development components in Agricultural Higher Education in Iran. Specifically, it aimed to explore the differences among faculties of agriculture on the components of their faculty members’ development and analyzed academics’ perceptions toward the current and desirable status of their development. Furthermore, this research examined the faculty members’ perceptions of the most influential component of their development. The population was 1837 faculty members and 280 of them were selected using the stratified random sampling method. The results showed that the faculty members perceived their individual development as higher than and equal to average. There was also a significant difference between universities on the components of their faculty members’ development based on their size except for their individual development. The analysis also suggested wide gaps between the status quo and desirable situations of each component of development as perceived by the faculty members. Furthermore, the faculty members perceived their professional development as the most influential component of their development. Recommendations are made to improve faculty members’ development in agricultural higher education particularly in Iran

Clustering of Grape Producers in the Zanjan Province, According to Their Information Seeking Behavior

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the factors affecting grape producer's information seeking behavior in the Zanjan province. The research was a descriptive and correlational study that was conducted by using a survey method. The statistical population consisted of all grape producers in 2014 cropping seasons (N =32871) in the Zanjan province. Using Krejcie and Morgan's (1970) sample-size Tale, 379 grape producers were selected as the sample population (n =379). The samples were selected through convenience sampling method. Data were collected by using a questionnaire, which was validated by a panel of agricultural extension and education and horticulture experts and the reliability was gained through a pilot test with Cronbach's alpha coefficient between 0.73 and 0.86. The data were analyzed by using the SPSS software. The results of the research showed that about 80 percent of farmers had weak to moderate information seeking behavior. Among the cities, Khoramdeh had the highest percentage of grape producers in the moderate seeking behavior cluster and the other cities had the highest percentage of grape producers in the low seeking behavior clusters. Although the grape producers in different clusters had a high level of access to the agricultural management experts, this information source was not one of the highly usable sources. In contrast, family members and other farmers play an important role in meeting their information needs. Grape producers in different clusters of information seeking behavior had different individual, professional and management characteristic