DEVELOPMENT OF KNOWLEDGE TEST TO MEASURE THE KNOWLEDGE LEVEL OF MARIGOLD FARMERS ON MARIGOLD CULTIVATION PRACTICES

Marigold is a prominent and popular flower in India, ranking third in popularity behind roses and chrysanthemums. Respondents’ knowledge played an important role in marigold cultivation. Due to the lack of a suitable test to measure the knowledge level of marigold farmers regarding the scientific practices of marigold cultivation, it was necessary to construct a knowledge test. The relevant areas that covered the major aspects of marigold cultivation practices were included and discussed with scientists. This study was conducted in the Jammu region in Jammu and Kashmir. Item analysis provided the item discrimination and an item difficulty index. The respondents were given one mark for each correct and zero for incorrect answer. Reliability was measured using the split-half method and found 0.77. The reliability coefficient of the full test was computed by using Spearman-Brown prophecy and was found 0.87, which indicates the test is highly reliable. The evaluation content validity was in two stages. Initially the CVR was calculated, with a threshold of 0.59 or higher considered acceptable. Subsequently, CVI was computed in second phase. The Kappa statistics were also computed. The I-CVI value ranges from 0.45-1.00 and S-CVI was 0.85. The final test includes twenty-six items.