A summative evaluation of the Indiana Cooperative Extension Service Community Development Youth Project

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the Indiana Cooperative Extension Service Community Development Youth Project and the steps used to implement this new project. The Community Development Youth Project was adopted as a state project in the Indiana Cooperative Extension Service in January, 1973, when the guidelines for implementation of the project were published. This study evaluated the results of implementation one year later. Questions raised in the study included (1) What implementation steps had been taken by the agent? (2) What was the relationship of each agent's total Cooperative Extension Service tenure and the community position tenure to the successful implementation of the project? (3) What relationship was there between the number of hours reported expended on the Community Development Youth Project and the successful implementation of the project into a county program? (4) What was the relationship between an agent's following the guidelines and his achievement of the project goals? (5) Did the theory developed by the North Central Regional Agricultural Extension Service concerning "innovator, early adopter, adopter, and non-adopter" hold true for implementing new programs within the Cooperative Extension Service? (6) Were the goals of the project achieved?Procedures for the study involved the use of three sources of data. The first source was a questionnaire sent to each of the Cooperative Extension Service agents in charge of the Community Development Youth Project. The second source was the Indiana Automated Extension Reporting System Activity Report. The third source was comprised of ten in-depth group interviews with participants in the Community Development Youth Project. The chi square test for significant difference was also utilized in the research to determine whether or not there was a significant difference at the .05 level. The population of the questionnaire included all of the ninety-three youth agents in charge of the Community Development Youth Project in their counties. The population of the Indiana Automatic Extension Reporting System Activity Report included all 302 extension agents in Indiana. The ten group interview population included seventy-two youths who participated in the Community Development Youth Project and who were selected from a total population of 2186 youth who had participated.Research indicated that the implementation steps of the Community Development Youth Project guidelines were followed by the Cooperative Extension Service Youth Agent. The research also demonstrated that there was a positive relationship between an agent's following the guidelines and the successful achievement of the project goals. The hypothesis that both the total extension service tenure and the county tenure of a youth agent were positively correlated with successful implementation of the new Community Development Youth Project was also supported. The study, however, did not support the hypothesis that there is a correlation between time reported expended in community development and successful implementation of the project in a given county. The research revealed that two or three per cent of the population were "innovators" and that five to seven per cent of the population were "early adopters." The research also indicated that the Community Development Youth Project had achieved the stated goals of the project.Thesis (D. Ed.