Are we serious in undertaking research in Extension? Do we have a research agenda? As a discipline, are we using new concepts and approaches to better design our research? How policy relevant is our research? Do we only extend knowledge or do we also create knowledge? As extension professionals, we need to introspect on the status of our research and address many such disturbing questions, argues Dr R M Prasad.
Our research paradigm
Our current research paradigm followed in most academic institutions tends to be linear in design, as given below (Smith and Helfenbein, 2009)
In most cases, extension research looks at farmers or extension personnel as subjects and crop/farming system as settings of the study. The dissemination of research findings into the public sphere is very often limited to sharing of results with other scientists or students. Though farmer participatory research had become popular at least among some of the researchers, it is observed that in farmer participatory research, research or extension are too dominant, while farmers comply with the wish/request of extensionists/researchers to arrive at joint decisions on research topics, designs, analysis and dissemination of results (Katz et al, 2007)
What we should do?
- The concept of ‘research’ in extension needs to be broadened, recognising that beyond the public research and extension organisations, a range of actors have important and vital roles in the generation and dissemination of agricultural innovation. The Agricultural Innovation System (AIS) landscape has a wide range of actors going well beyond formal research and extension institutions, but the research in extension is still stuck with the typical actors and has not moved beyond R-E-F linkages. Of late, marketing is also added. Without a functional interface between the various actors, neither research will be able to make innovations that benefit farmers, nor can extension offer services that resolve all the problems of farmers.
- The understanding of innovation needs to change as it is increasingly recognised that non- technological innovations such as ways to access to more profitable markets, value chain development or organisation of producers are equally, if not more important than technological
- The practice of Extension has been described as ‘knowledge applied’ or ‘knowledge extended’. What about ‘knowledge created’? Of late, at least some of the extension researchers have begun to recognise Extension’s role in ‘creating knowledge’ which is a welcome step. But this is yet to yield significant results.
- Research institutions need to provide researchers with the right incentives to engage effectively, enable them to contribute to policy and political processes and develop realistic expectations as to what they can collectively achieve.
- Researchers need to alter their own mindsets, paving way for team research. This may mean working in inter-multi-and/or trans-disciplinary research teams, admitting to being part of a value based system. The research agenda is usually decided by the researcher, which also needs a paradigm change. Defining the research agenda is about defining the problem with research users, who they are- not just farmers, but scientists, entrepreneurs, environmentalists, policy makers, journalists, etc whoever is part of the ‘innovation system’ that affects research uptake and use.
- Knowledge brokering is absent in the current research system. This is a central component of knowledge transfer that involves bringing people together, helping to build links, identify gaps and needs, and sharing ideas. It encourages the use of research in planning and implementation and uses evaluation activities to identify successes or improvements. Thus it helps to bridge the gap between research and policy development.
- It is high time that our extension scientists give importance to translational research, which has gained popularity in medical research. Translational research is a process rather than a stage and it focuses on multi disciplinary collaboration. Translation is the process of cascading global best practice and innovation and combining it with local knowledge, so crucial with the variation in soil type, water availability, climatic variations, etc. Translation aims at developing people to manage and lead land based and agri-food businesses in a more productive and sustainable way, which can only be achieved by exchanging knowledge and diffusing innovation that can be readily applied to the agro-food supply chain.
Box 1: Basic Research, Applied Research and Translational Research
Basic Research: The objective of basic research is to gain more comprehensive knowledge or understanding of the subject under study without specific application in mind. Understanding how a social process (eg: conflict) affects group behaviour is an example for basic research. Applied Research: It aims at gaining knowledge or understanding from basic research to meet a specific recognised need or to solve a specific problem. Finding a conflict resolution process for better functioning of groups is an example for applied research. Translational Research: This can be considered as Applied research plus. This refers to the new scientific methods and technologies, inter disciplinary approaches and collaborative institutional arrangements being developed to narrow the gap between basic science and its application to product and process innovation. Translational research encompasses scientific, technical, market and policy signals that arise from basic research to final consumers. Developing conflict resolution strategy for group behaviour in an organisation could be an example for translational research. |
Translational Research in Extension
Two variants of translational research that can be used in extension research are:
Translating Research Into Practice (TRIP) – This is a research framework gaining importance in research projects associated with Medicine, Nursing, Communication, etc. This can be employed in Extension research also.
TRIP creates a space for collaboration, co-constructed inquiry that values and utilises the expectations of all stakeholders. This approach follows from what Lagemann (2008) refers to as ‘problem finding research’ that produces, or at least provides insights into ‘usable knowledge’. Smith and Helfenbein (2009) present the recursive nature of translational research in Education (below), which can be used by the extension scientists.
Research into Use (RIU) Approach: RIU programme (http://www.researchintouse.com/) was designed to put the results of agricultural and natural resources research into use to reduce poverty, promote economic growth and mitigate environmental problems. RIU had two objectives: a. Do everything to put new knowledge (generated in the previous research into use) and b. Use this as an action research case to learn from ‘How to put new knowledge into use? Though the fact that RIU originated in a different context and is now closed, the interesting part for the researchers was the second objective, about learning from putting research into use (what works and what doesn’t and what needs to be done to put new knowledge into use.
The Centre for Science and Policy, University of Cambridge presents a review of different approaches for translation of research into practice innovation to support sustainable management of natural resources and the alleviation of poverty (Box 2).
Box 2: Translating Knowledge to Policy on Food Security in India
Outcome: In September 2013, the Government of India enacted the Indian National Food Security Bill, enshrining the legal right to food in the Indian Constitution. Process: A long running campaign on the right to food used specific opportunities to pressurise the GoI to enact new legislation. The ability of key actors to influence the official policy process was facilitated by the use of Public Interest Litigation (PIL) and judicial interventions. The identity and previous experience of the key actors were important factors. Specific pieces of research were commissioned to generate evidences in support of the proposed legislation The most influential research outputs were those that were easy to access, in terms of availability and cost Researchers, activists and policy actors worked together to build coalition of support for the new law. Source: Centre for Science and Policy, University of Cambridge, 2014 |
Some of the applications of translational research in extension include:
Value Chain Analysis
Translational research has been successfully used for value chain analysis of important crops. Value chain analysis describes the activities that take place in a business and relates them to an analysis of the competitive strength of the business. The primary activities, support activities, enabling activities, etc by the different actors involved in value chain can be analysed and properly utilised through translational research.
Box 3: Translational Research in Wheat value chain
A technical report of RAND Corporation (non profit institution in Europe that helps improve policy and decision making through research and analysis) considers how translational research and knowledge exchange can be enhanced throughout the food and agricultural value chain so that best use is made of public and private investment on research and knowledge generation. The wheat value chain was chosen as the test case for development of the methodology. The project distinguished four actor roles within the value chain- funders of knowledge generation; knowledge producers; knowledge intermediaries and knowledge users. Different broad fields of research related to upstream and downstream activities were analysed. Upstream fields of knowledge, encompassing basic and applied research include: crop science, food science and food safety, organic agriculture, alternative crop use, resource efficiency and climate change and machinery and equipment engineering. Downstream fields of knowledge covering product and process development include: farm inputs and implements, on-farm production, alternative crop use, resource efficiency and climate change, food science/ food safety, food processing and distribution. Translational research cuts across both categories of research fields, it occurs around activities within upstream and downstream categories. This could add more value by improving existing knowledge exchange activities so that they address the specificities of the wheat value chain more effectively. Source: Wamae,W et al 2011, Translational Research and Knowledge in Agriculture and Food Production, Technical Report, Rand Corporation |
Decision making by farmers
Extension workers sometimes try to ‘push’ farmers into accepting recommendations. However, when decisions about what to grow and how to sell are imposed, this rarely leads to success. Farmers do not ‘own’ such decisions, as they feel a low sense of responsibility. However, helping farmers to make their own decisions is more difficult and also a slow process. But in the long run, it will be more successful and sustainable. However, it is disappointing to note that extension researchers have not bestowed much attention to this.
A farmer-centric analysis of decision making process and behavioural change of farmers through unpacking the ‘black box’ of decision making theories in agriculture is what is needed. Some of the issues to be addressed are:
- Understanding values of the decision maker
- Segmentation of farmers in terms of business engagement and adaptability
- Framework of decision making based on capacity, willingness and engagement
- Role of uncertainty and risk in decision making
- Information used by farmers for decision making
- Tactical, Strategic and Structural decisions by farmers
- Bias in decision making process
- Types of participatory research based on Locus of decision making
Here also, translational research can be successfully employed to apply and validate an effective methodology to deliver a robust evidence base for the decision making process by the farmers.
Meta Analysis in Extension
Meta Analysis is about “conducting research about research”. This refers to the methods that focus on contrasting and combining results from different studies, in the hope of identifying patterns among study results and sources of disagreement among those results. A meta analysis gives a thorough summary of several studies that have been done on the same topic/theme and provides the reader with extensive information on whether an effect exists and what ‘size’ that effect has. The main advantages of meta-analysis are that the results can be generalized to a larger population and that the precision and accuracy of estimates can be improved as more data is used.
Some of the applications of meta-analysis in extension could be:
- Sustainable rural livelihoods (based on the results of NAIP research on sustainable livelihoods).
- Climate change adaptation by farmers (based on the results of NICRA).
- Social capital (based on various studies conducted on social capital, including SHGs, farmer organisations, etc).
- Farmer Field Schools (based on different studies conducted on Farmer Field Schools).
Possible Actions?
- Can we look at Extension (as it exists today) and redefine it to the current context and use research findings/development in other social sciences to reinterpret it?
- Can the extension scientists of ICAR join hands and conduct network/ co-ordinated research projects?
- Can the extension scientists conduct Meta analysis on the available research studies on topics of relevance to the farming community?
- Can the extension faculty of SAUs take lead in preparing a Researchable Problems List for M Sc and Ph D students? Can they allot problems to students on selected two or three themes/topics so that in one year, we will have more information about the research topic from various regions?
- Can we form ourselves into Community of Practice (CoP) to encourage shared learning on selected themes?
References
Centre for Science and Policy. 2014. Translating knowledge to policy on food security in India, University of Cambridge http://www.csap.cam.ac.uk/media/uploads/files/1/sheet-2-page-1-copy.pdf
Lipsey, Mark W and Wilson, B David. 2000. Practical meta analysis, applied social research methods series, (No.49), Sage Publications.
Katz, Elisabeth, Lydia Pluss, Urs Scheidegger. 2007. Capitalizing experiences on the research- extension interface- forging strategic alliances for innovation. Linden and Zollikofen (available at http://www.bfh.ch/fileadmin/docs/newsmeldungen/2011/research_extension_interface_11_9_07.p df).
Lagemann. 2008. Educational research as a distributed activity across universities. Educational Research, 37 (7): 424-428
Mulhall, Abby. 2012. Trying to get research into use? Start by making users an integral part of the research design process, IDS Blog, 6th Dec, 2012 (available at http://www.impactandlearning.org/2012/12/trying-to-get-research-into-use-start.html)
Smith, S Joshua and Helfenbein, J Robert. 2009. Translational research on education (Chapter 5), (available at http://education.iupui.edu/CUME/pdf/thecollaborativeturn2009.pdf)
Wamae, Watu; Pauline Goyal-Rutsaert; Molly Morgan Jones; Siobhán Ní Chonaill; Joyce Tait; Joanna Chataway. 2011. Translational research and knowledge in agriculture and food production, Technical Report, RAND Corporation (available at http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/technical_reports/2011/RAND_TR986.pdf)
Dr R M Prasad retired as Associate Director of Extension from the Kerala Agricultural University, India and is currently working as an independent consultant. Previously he served as Training Specialist, Kerala Horticulture Development Programme; Senior Fellow, National Institute of Rural evelopment; and Advisor, Government of Meghalaya (Email: drrmprasad@gmail.com).
Prakashkumar Rathod My opinion on SAU research is based on two facts. (1) If we want to reform our discipline, the change should start at the SAU. Students (Masters and PhD) are the seeds of change for any research discipline. If they are ill-trained or not inculcated with a right perspective, the whole generation of research in any discipline is lost. The IITs, IIMs and many other quality educational Institutions proved this fact. The teacher may or may not be competent in subject matter, but he/she should be skillful in providing a right perspective to the students. (2) In the present scenario, we need to step-up our research quality to several folds, i.e. we may have to jump to cross several steps in a short period of time to improve the utility of our discipline. In this context, training of Middle or Senior academicians/ scientists on new research areas may not be effective since (i) they may have reached final stage of their careers, (ii) pre-occupied with several routine works at their work place, (iii)averse of venturing into new area (iv) dont want their MSc or PhD students to be harassed in viva-voce etc. In general, the scientists in ICAR system (either under ICAR Institutes or in KVKs) have more exposure to farmers and other stakeholders than SAU extension scientists and their research projects are directly targeted towards farmers. Few scientists in ICAR Institutes and KVKs are doing extremely good research work. However, their expertise is relatively under-utilised by the SAU research system. Unlike IITs, IIMs and many engineering and science colleges, the SAU extension research didnt allow their students to get an outside research advice or collaboration. As an ICAR scientist, I am extremely delighted to see the achievements of my seniors at our Institute. Though few of them were trained abroad in Participatory Research and developed over six varieties using PR method (which is rare for an extension scientist), their expertise is still unnoticed by SAU extension research system. Instead, general universities are exploiting their expertise by recognizing them as research guides in sociology and rural development. This is a clear case of how an extension expertise is utilised for non-extension purposes. If we wish to see a progress in our extension discipline, we have to have a broad view of our own discipline and shed our inhibitions, egos and stereotypes for a noble cause. To be honest, I dont want to see an young extension scientist harassed in the same way as I was treated by other discipline scientists, when I joined the ICAR system I dont know why we feel that adoption studies have no scope, when we havent started any meaning research work in the area of technology diffusion. This area is already hijacked by economists, who produced high quality adoption research (including impact assessment) by using econometric models. In my opinion, adoption research is the only area where we can produce tangible output, which will convince other discipline scientists about our importance in the system
Sethuraman Paramasivan…Sir its not the matter of only SAUs but i feel its also the case of most of the research studies..Whenever we think of a research topic, I find few people have already closed down few research areas..For example many time we hear that adoption and diffusion studies, gender empowerment studies do not have any scope..But I personally feel that we have lot many things to explore out of that still.
I agree with Dr S N Ojha that extension knowledge coming from the developed countries is relatively less than developing countries. As he indicated, their social system and agricultural practice is pretty uniform and farmers are more progressive who dont need much help from the public extension system. I would say that the extension as a subject was largely synthesized by mixing Cooperative Extension System concept with the Westerners experiences derived from development projects operated in Asian and African countries. The subject matter of extension was later updated and enriched by scientists in UK, Netherlands and other parts of Europe mainly from their field consultancies, developing country student theses and discussion with trainees who participated in the International training programs. However, the Indian scenario of extension research is bit different. We have produce some World class research works in the 1970s and 1980s and developed several indices which are used even today. Despite producing quality works, our research went out of the way due to our obsession with participatory methods , which are neither objective nor conducted in structured settings. On the other hand, the SAU extension research has operated in isolation from the reality as they focused more on the subject of extension rather than the real field application. I understand that many of SAU members will disagree with me, but I would say that SAU extension research is still repetitive and largely disconnected from the field. This scenario has affected the applied nature of extension thereby failed to improve the practice of extension and failed to produce the tangible outputs that are required to prove the utility of extension discipline. Despite several limitations, we could create more knowledge than developed countries. In reality, the subject of extension was created mostly from the field knowledge derived from developing countries.
An excellent material for those extension professionals who wish to move away from the beaten path of extension research. Dr.Prasad has shown once again his concern and passion for extension research which needs a change in our mindset. What worries me is the poor response from my colleagues in ICAR institutes and SAUs/SVUs.
Dr. Prasad has thrown a challenge to all well meaning scale -loving extension scientists to explore the unexplores areas ..action researches ethnographic tools,multi disciplinary study,respect to soft systems methods should attract our attention.thanks to CRISP and Suleimange
It is good to make such introspections. Extension Education in Asia is different than developed countries. Large population, less land per person, more poverty, more cultural diversity, less public money in Extension Education, etc have made this subject more challenging. Developed countries have been innovative in many of the fields. They have been creating knowledge for all the subjects. Application of such knowledge in the biophysical sciences is visible in the developing countries. However, in Extension Education the applications of the knowledge coming from the developed countries is relatively less. Extension Scientists in the developing countries are also engaged Extension Activities and not much in Extension Research. Extension Journals are also few and have less impact factor. Whatever knowledge is created in the field of Extension Education in the developing world is not used by the biologists who are working as Extension Officers, which further restricts the visibility of this subject. However, if Extension Scientists of the world come together, there can be a way out. Till then keep doing good work.ds.asp
Prakashkumar Incentive is not only a response enhancer, but the right of the respondent for their involvement in the research process. Incentive is not a right word, it can be called as compensation – compensation for the time and effort spent. Be it a poor farmer, salaried scientist or a wealthy Industrialist, everyone need an compensation for their time and effort. It is nothing new for extension professionals as it is our own subject e.g Stimulus-Response theory and many other motivation theories, which teaches us the concept of compensation. This is one of the several aspects in extension, which we teach to students and evaluate their understanding and simply forget when it comes to our own practice. There are several ways we can give compensation to the respondents. If the respondents are students, we can grant a course credit for their participation. This is an accepted and widely used practice in the Western countries. For community participants like farmers, extension worker, scientist or entrepreneur, we can provide a honorarium (Rs. 50-100) depending on the time and effort spent. Alternatively, we can give gift coupons or conduct a lottery where the winner gets Rs. 1000 as reward (which will considerably reduce the cost). Meta-analysis is a wonderful method for systematically analyzing the research data generated on a specific aspect. It is actually a status or position paper on a particular area. The difference is that it is objective and systematic, derived from empirical data, unlike the present position papers that are secondary-data based and the conclusions are derived based on authors opinion. Meta-analysis is a good research tool which can be assigned for a PhD thesis. However, I dont know how many of us have the ability to conduct a meta-analysis, as it requires deeper understanding of advanced statistical tools.
It is now well established that extension research need thorough overhauling, how it can be done is explained well through this blog-congratulations for yet another thought provoking blog from Dr Prasad. May be we need his lectures on this topic at universities across the country to sensitize extension professionals. It is very well written, provoking and timely, very useful
The major question raised by the respondents is what they get by responding or spending some time..Even getting some time of scientists was also difficult for me since they were also respondents of my Ph.D study. The next issue is how many of us are ready to have a METAANALYSIS??..Enjoyed this blog and even one of his previous meeting notes..
Great analysis This blog paper is striking hard on few neglected areas in extension research such as knowledge creation, knowledge brokering etc. Creating knowledge is an integral part of research which helps a professional discipline to grow and move forward. New ideas like translational research and meta-analysis are very relevant for extension research. I am bit skeptical on conducting meta-analytic studies on NAIP results as these studies were conducted in different agro-ecosystems and with various stakeholders of varying characteristics. I fear that authors may not get sufficient sample size under each eco-system or similar stakeholders to conduct the analysis. The generalizability of the results will be a big issue for a small sample size. I am also doubtful in co-constructing research paradigm involving all stakeholders. It looks innovative and good as a concept, but I doubt how many stakeholders will extend their full cooperation and show commitment for such a lengthy and time-consuming process. I could find few great ideas like effect size and incentives (though mentioned like passing comments) in this blog. Effect size is a very important concept in quantitative research which is often neglected in extension studies. It is the prime criteria for deciding sample size and also determine the degree of generalizability of research results. Another important aspect is the subject or respondent. We often conduct research in unstructured settings and the respondent participation is voluntary. Our interaction with our respondent is often casual and we have very little control over the quality of his/her response. Two important issues in this interaction are ethics and incentive. We dont follow any approved ethical guidelines in conducting research. In Western countries, the full research plan, research instruments, interaction procedures with respondents (written, oral, audio or video and even email transcript of correspondence) are examined by the Human Subjects Committee (IRC or Ethics Committee) prior to data collection. The researcher has to prepare and submit all research instruments, correspondence etc well in advance (unlike in India where questionnaires are prepared casually , in last minute). This process will make the researcher committed and responsible, increase the validity of the research, protect the rights of the respondents. Another aspect is respondent incentive. A small honorarium or gift will create wonders and increase the respondent commitment. It is also their right as they spend considerable time in answering our questions or participating in the research process.
Excellent analysis of the current practice and proposed action. The clarity of thought, diagnosis of the malady and suggestion of the remedy in the existing and emerging context is superb. Every one should read it and learn from it.Enjoyed reading it. Best regards to Dr.Prasad and self.