Methodological issues in the evaluation of extension impact

Abstract

The impact of extension is an imprecise term. Does it, for example, mean the full set of changes, direct and indirect, resulting from an extension initiative or does it have narrower connotations of change? The purpose of this paper is to examine some of the methodological issues and problems involved in undertaking an evaluation of extension designed to observe and measure changes in the operational efficiency of extension agents changes in farm husbandry knowledge and the increase, if any, in agricultural productivity induced by the introduction into an area with agricultural extension, of a more intensive system. The paper does not, therefore, specifically address issues that arise in evaluating the contribution of an established system of extension to agricultural output. Moreover, attention is centered on extension in less developed countries, the locus of much recent investment, rather than the more sophisticated systems of Europe and North America.