Browsing by Subject "Needs assessment"
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Item A Multi-Faceted Needs Assessment of the Belizean Agriculture Industry(2013-05) Porter, Haley; Brashears, Michael T.; Irlbeck, Erica; Meyers, CourtneyAgriculture is vital to the economy of Belize as it provides approximately 71% of the country's total foreign exchange earnings and represents 29% of the total labor force (U.S. Department of State, 2011). Until now, there has been a lack of knowledge pertaining to the educational needs of those involved in the agricultural industry of Belize. The purpose for this qualitative study was to conduct a needs assessment to determine the areas of research that should be focused on so that future educational programming and collaborative work in the form of workshops, internships, and grant proposals can be created. Case study methodology was used to address the following objectives: 1) determine what barriers prevent the agricultural industry of Belize from being more successful, 2) determine what the agricultural industry of Belize, as a whole, needs in order to be more successful, and 3) determine what the educational needs are for the agricultural industry of Belize. A variety of needs assessment techniques were used to collect data for this study: individual interviews, group interviews, and observations. A team of eight researchers from Texas Tech University traveled to Belize to meet with representatives from a governmental agency, the citrus industry, the poultry industry, the banana industry, the beef industry, the shrimp industry, and the restaurant/tourism industry. All interviews were digitally recorded and observational notes were taken. Upon return from Belize, the audio and video data were transcribed, then analyzed through the use of NVivo 10 for common themes. The results revealed several major themes that spanned across the entire agricultural industry. For Research Objective 1, the barriers identified for the Belizean agriculture industry were related to government, energy, oil, boat transportation, disease, weather, illiteracy/lack of technology, and unemployment. For Research Objective 2, general agricultural needs were identified for the citrus, beef, poultry, restaurant/tourism/agritourism, banana, and shrimp industries, and also the agricultural health authority for Belize. For Research Objective 3, several agricultural education needs were identified: the need for a link with other universities, the need for more government assistance in terms of education, the need for better collaboration with the Mennonite culture, the need to focus on extension education more, and the need for a better information dissemination system. The researcher identified several recommendations for future research. First, a demographic questionnaire should be distributed so that more rich and in-depth descriptions can be provided about the interview participants. Second, all of the interview participants for this study hold leadership positions within the Belizean agriculture industry; therefore, it would be beneficial to examine the perceptions of those who do not hold leadership positions within the industry. Third, it is recommended that the perceptions of government officials be examined in regard to the country’s agricultural industry. Fourth, a more in-depth examination of the needs of Belize’s Mennonite population should be examined, due to the fact that they represent a significant contribution to the agricultural industry. Fifth, a more extensive amount of time should be spent in Belize in order to thoroughly examine the country’s agricultural industry. The last recommendation is to begin developing workshop content based off the needs determined in this needs assessment.Item A needs assessment for the development of a computer-based food safety curriculum to train employees in the self-service food bars of grocery stores(2011-05) Dodd, Caleb D.; Burris, Scott; Fraze, Steven; Doerfert, DavidThe incorporation of hot and cold self-service food bars into grocery stores in an effort to capture a portion of home meal replacement industry is presenting new challenges in the safety programs for retail food establishments. To ensure retail success and customer safety, employees need to be educated in proper food preparation, handling, temperature control, and storage practices. Traditional methods of training are not meeting the needs of the retail food industry. Computer-based curriculum is a promising avenue for developing effective training material for food safety. Although many food safety curriculums exist, none address the specific needs of hot and cold self-service food bars in the grocery industry. In an effort to design an effective training program a quasi-experimental study was performed using a needs assessment. Data was collected from three separate chains within the retail food industry from six geographical locations. The pre-post assessment study utilized an interventional training and included collecting questionnaires from 300 employees. Findings of the study described characteristics of employees within each chain individually and collectively as a whole. The findings also described characteristics of stores, as well as stores’ procedures and policies. In addition, food safety knowledge was assessed by comparing pre-training and post-training assessments for managerial employees and non-managerial employees. The most important finding for this study consisted of identifying specific items to be included in the development of computer-based food safety curriculum to be implemented for training employees in hot and cold self-service food bars of grocery stores.Item Mathematical needs of biological sciences students(2016-08) Duran, Pablo; Marshall, Jill Ann; Barufaldi, James; Empson, Susan; Roux, Stanley; Sadun, LorenzoThe main purpose of this study was to investigate the mathematical needs of biological sciences students and how the current undergraduate curriculum is aligned with these needs. Primary efforts to investigate these needs and propose new curricula have been made by scientific associations such as the NRC, the MAA and the AAAS. The curricula proposed in these projects, however, are not clearly supported by student needs assessment studies. This study is intended to address this gap in the literature investigating the needs of biological sciences students through a mixed-methods based approach. Following a typical needs assessment methodology scheme, student needs were measured by the difference between students’ acquired competencies in college and the future competencies required in their workplace. This assessment was based on a mixed-method approach comprised of a content analysis of peer-reviewed journals, a nationwide cross-sectional survey, and semi-structured interviews. The study was guided by two main research questions: (1) What are the mathematical needs of biological sciences undergraduate students as perceived by certain stakeholder groups? and (2) Is the curriculum aligned with these needs? Major findings included: (1) The most consistent need across disciplines is the use of experimental design. (2) An overall understanding of math models is needed at least for scientific literacy; (3) The mathematical needs of students strongly vary depending on their disciplinary tracks. Students from ecology, evolution and animal behavior need training in the areas of descriptive and inferential statistics, precalculus, calculus, stochastic processes, linear algebra, differential equations, and mathematics models in general. On the other hand, students from developmental biology need training in the areas of precalculus, descriptive and inferential statistics, and mathematics models. These differences between disciplinary tracks imply the need for a flexible undergraduate curriculum that starts with introductory courses in experimental design and mathematics models, and offers options to pursue in depth particular research approaches according to students’ interest. An analysis of students needs and the curricula proposed in the literature, and a brief discussion of the implications of these results to the biological sciences undergraduate curriculum of the University of Texas at Austin is also included.Item Needs assessment for career development programs in the Taiwan Power Company (TPC)(Texas A&M University, 2005-08-29) Lee, Yi-HsuanThe harmonious meshing of employee career development needs and corporate missions, goals, and objectives is a necessity for the growth and maintenance of both the individual and the organization. This study was designed to investigate Taiwan Power Company (TPC) white-collar employees?? perceptions of career development program needs. The purposes of the study were (a) to identify the perceptions of career development program needs; (b) to explore the underlying constructs among current and future positions in regard to the employee??s perceptions of career development program needs; (c) to investigate the differences among perceptions of career development needs; (d) to determine whether or not differences among perceptions of career development program needs exist among respondents who differ in terms of gender, age, and education; and (e) to discover if individuals who differ in terms of job functions and job roles have different opinions on whether the selected career development programs were already provided or should be provided by the company.This study was conducted using a questionnaire. The data were collected from a stratified random sample of 1,636 white-collar employees in the TPC. A response rate of 82.5% resulted in a final sample of 1,351 respondents. The content validity of the questionnaire was established via expert opinion and the internal consistency of the instrument was calculated using Cronbach??s ??. Frequency counts, central tendencies and standard deviations were used in the descriptive analysis of the current and future position data. Principle factor analysis with Varimax rotation revealed six constructs for the current position data. Similar factor analytical results were obtained for the future position data. Two-way MANOVAs with Descriptive Discriminant Analysis and univariate ANOVAs, with REGWF when appropriate, were used to probe significant main effects. Chi-square tests were employed to answer the research questions regarding the perceptions of whether the 33 career development programs were already provided or should be provided by the company. Differences in terms of current and future positions were obtained for individuals who were classified by job function, job role, gender, age, and education. Twelve conclusions were generated and specific career development practices were suggested.Item Needs Assessment of Agricultural, Environmental, and Social Systems of Small Farmers in Chimaltenango, Guatemala(2011-02-22) Oleas, CarolinaProviding support for the agricultural development of small farmers is the main goal of the project Agriculture in Guatemala: Technology, Education and Commercialization (AGTEC). To accomplish this, it is necessary, to identify the characteristics and needs of participants, as well as their environmental, social, and farming conditions. Through this study, two case studies were conducted to identify and analyze the context of small farmers of the region. This research study used qualitative and participative methods, such as interviews, focus groups, and observation, to gather data about the participants' thoughts and opinions concerning their situations. The case study systemically gathered information about the conditions and needs of small farmers to provide a better understanding of the people and their interactions within the farm systems. This needs assessment showed how the farmers' decisions about adoption are related to their interactions on their farms. Therefore, this study analyzed the system, as a whole, to identify priorities among different critical components that will provide optimum results for beneficiaries. These priorities will allow the identification of appropriate technologies that will satisfy the needs of small farmers according to their local, cultural, and economic conditions. The appropriate technologies need to be diffused among the farmers for adoption. Rogers observed that technologies that are diffused by opinion leaders are adopted by their peers. Thus, the second case study analyzed the social networks and their leaders to observe their potential to support the diffusion process of technologies. The study revealed the presence of diverse social networks, one provided by the political structure, others based on organized groups of farmers and other informal networks formed by independent farmers. Data also showed that opinion leaders have desired roles and characteristics among their networks. Therefore diffusion of innovations through formal and non-formal leaders represents a promising strategy as they are recognized and respected by peers. The diffusion of innovations through opinion leaders promotes the active participation of local members, validates the innovations, and sustains adoption over time. Therefore, the analysis of the social networks and selection of opinion leaders supports the diffusion process of the AGTEC project in Chimaltenango, Guatemala.Item Price-quality incentives in U.S. cotton(Texas Tech University, 2007-05) Jung, SangNyeol; Lyford, Conrad; Ethridge, Don E.; Malaga, Jaime; Wilcox, James B.The general issue of assessing and improving vertical coordination related to cotton price and quality is the focus of this study. Key issues addressed include: What are the price incentive signals sent from the end-users in the cotton marketing system? How well does the U.S. cotton marketing system identify cotton price-quality differentials and then transmit appropriate information throughout the marketing chain? How can a region of U.S. cotton growth (e.g., West Texas) successfully position itself in the changing market demand? The following three components of the study provide answers to these questions. First, the mill-level prices for cotton quality are examined to develop information about price-quality relationships of U.S. cotton. By using data from daily cotton contracts along with spot market price information, the premiums and discounts attributed to quality characteristics are estimated for several marketing years by major production regions. One result shows prices for quality characteristics varying substantially between marketing years. In addition, regional quality reputations are found to have important effects, controlling for measured quality differences. Second, quality incentives in the U.S. cotton marketing system are analyzed to evaluate the effectiveness of information provided by the government relative to end-user demand. Mill-level premiums and discounts, obtained from a hedonic model estimation with daily cotton contracts data, are compared statistically with government loan rates and daily spot market quotations. The results show that a substantial disconnect exists between actual market prices and public price information for quality incentives. This provides an indication that inefficiencies in the system of producer quality are limiting the overall effectiveness of the U.S. cotton marketing system. Third, major cotton market demand segments are determined with quality threshold levels for a region of cotton growth, West Texas. Given the present quality performance, strong potential market segments for West Texas are from higher-end international segments with significant value-added potential. Moreover, the potential to serve these market segments is growing with improvements in production technology such as variety selection and harvesting method. This study provides guidance for marketing efforts through determining user-defined quality and potential returns.