RESEARCH ATTITUDE OF ENTRY LEVEL INDIAN AGRICULTURAL SCIENTISTS AND ITS IMPLICATION

RAMESH PEDAPROLU¹*
¹Division of Human Resource Management, ICAR-National Academy of Agricultural Research Management (NAARM), Hyderabad, 500 030, India
* Corresponding Author : pramesh.icar@gmail.com

Received : 02-11-2018     Accepted : 27-11-2018     Published : 30-11-2018
Volume : 10     Issue : 22       Pages : 7498 - 7500
Int J Agr Sci 10.22 (2018):7498-7500

Keywords : Agricultural research, Attitude towards research, Quality research, Scientists
Academic Editor : Dr R.V.S. Rao, Dr Alok Kumar
Conflict of Interest : None declared
Acknowledgements/Funding : Author is thankful to ICAR-National Academy of Agricultural Research Management (NAARM), Hyderabad, 500 030, India
Author Contribution : Sole Author

The present study was conducted to measure the attitude of entry level agricultural scientists towards research, so as to assess the quality of scientists appointed to Agricultural Research Service and to suggest measures to improve their attitude towards research. Data was collected from 550 respondents who were administered a standard psychometric test “Attitude Scale towards Research”. The study revealed that 75 % of scientists have either moderately favourable or above attitude towards research. However, 25 % scientists have ‘unfavourable’ attitude towards research. Among the four dimensions of attitude towards research, the scores in ‘General aspects of research and research process’ and ‘Difficulties in research and research anxiety’ were lower compared to the scores in the dimensions, ‘Usefulness of research in professional career’ and ‘Relevance of research in personal and social life’. Different ways and measures to improve the research attitude of these young (or would be) agricultural research professionals were discussed.

1. Borthakur A. & Singh P. (2013) Current Science, 10 (5), 587-593.
2. ICAR. (2014) Indian Council of Agricultural Research, http://www.icar.org.in.
3. Stephen P. Rabbins (2001) Organizational Behaviour, Prentice Hall, Inc., NJ, 60-89.
4. Kraus S. J. (1995) Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 21 (1), 58-75.
5. Vishal Sood & Sharma Y. K. (2012) Manual for attitude scale towards research, National Psychological Corporation, Agra, India.
6. Likert R.A. (1932) Archives of Psychology, No. 140.
7. Papanastasiou E. C. (2005) Statistics and Educational Research Journal, 4 (1), 16-26.
8. Henson R.K., Hull D.M. & Williams S.S. (2010) Educational Research, 39, 229-240.
9. Elmore P.B. & Vasu E.S. (1980) Journal of Educational Psychology, 46, 215-222.
10. Wise S.L. (1985) Educational and Psychological Measurement, 45, 401-405.
11. Adams N.A. & Holcomb W.R. (1986) Psychological Reports, 59, 943-948.
12. Waters L.K., Martelli T.A., Zakrajsek T. & Popovich P.M. (1988) Educational and Psychological Measurement, 48, 513-516.
13. Elmore P.B. & Lewis E.L. (1991) Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research association, Chicago, IL
14. Woelke P.L. (1991) Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association. Chicago, IL.
15. Zeidner M. (1991) British Journal of Educational Psychology, 61, 319-328
16. Meece J.L., Wigfield A. & Eccles J.S. (1990) Journal of Educational Psychology, 82, 60-70.