Scholarship Findings

Three bar charts are included in the following interactive illustration. Click the Purposes, Validation, and Communication (or type the keyboard equivalents, p, v, and c) to display and switch between charts. Click the program area (4-H, Agriculture, FCD, Forestry, and Sea Grant) buttons (or their keyboard equivalents, 4, a, f, y, and s) to display and hide program-area breakouts for each bar chart item. Commentary with links to data tables begins just below the illustration.

Purposes

Concerns were expressed in interviews about possible risks associated with scholarship activities that fall outside the traditional academic research mold of experimental-design research and refereed-journal publications. Despite these concerns, questionnaire respondents indicated that they engage in scholarship with a variety of purposes in mind.
The question about scholarship purposes was:

14. Considering just the scholarship portion of your Extension assignment, use an X to indicate the purpose(s) of your scholarship activities.

Five choices were offered. They were written to be consistent with the University’s new promotion and tenure guidelines as they might be applied to Extension work:

14a. Assessment of local situation and/or needs, intended to guide Extension programming.
14b. Discovery adding to the pool of knowledge relevant to my type of Extension programming.
14c. Integration of knowledge, suited to the needs of Extension educators or clientele.
14d. Development of educational materials that integrate relevant knowledge and specific delivery methods for intended audiences.
14e. Evaluation intended to enhance the quality of future Extension programming.

On average, the 155 respondents who completed this section checked 3.1 of the five purposes. The distribution of responses is shown in the data table and the preceding interactive graphic. Only nine of the 155 wrote in an "other" purpose.

Validation

Subsequent questions confirmed that Extension faculty use a variety of methods to validate and communicate their scholarly activities. These questions were structured similarly to the previous item; respondents were asked to check off one or more items from a list.

For this item on validation of knowledge, the 155 respondents, on average, checked 2.6 of the 5 possible answers

15. Which of the following approaches have you used to validate the newly discovered or newly integrated knowledge resulting from the scholarship portion of your Extension appointment.

Nine respondents provided an "other" way that had been used to validate knowledge.

Communication

For this item on communication of knowledge, the 155 respondents, on average, checked 3.6 of the 7 choices provided

16. Which of the following mechanisms have you used to communicate the newly discovered or newly integrated knowledge resulting from the scholarship portion of your Extension assignment?

Eighteen respondents also wrote in an "other" response. Compare the results via the Communication button on the interactive graphic or the data table.

In summary, Extension faculty members are carrying out scholarship activities with a variety of purposes in mind. They use various methods to validate and to communicate their scholarly activities.

Contents

Purposes, Validation, and Communication of Scholarship Activities

Purposes

Validation

Communication