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COMMUNICATION NETWORKS AND NONFOPMAL EDUCATION.
IN COLOMBIAN FRIENDSHIP GROUPS

- lllllllllll\lulllllxllll WW

   
   

LIBRA R Y
Michigan Stall:
University

Wm. ,

thesis entitled

 

presented by

ALAN H. ADELMAN

has been accepted towards fulfillment
of the requirements for

Ph.D

DateNovember 10, 1980

 

degree in Educ at ion

Cole S. Brembeck

Major professor

 

 

 

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COMMUNICATION NETWORKS AND NONFORMAL EDUCATIOI
IN COLOMBIAN FRIENDSHIP GROUPS

By

Alan H. Adelman

A DISSERTATION

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

College of Education

1980

'a

{5fl7*

ABSTRACT

COMMUNICATION NETWORKS AND NONFORMAL EDUCATION IN
COLOMBIAN FRIENDSHIP GROUPS

By
Alan H. Adelman

This is a group-level analysis of an agriculture-
based education program in a developing country - the
Friendship Group program of the National Federation of
Coffee Growers of Colombia. The purposes of the study
were three—fold: 1. To assess the effectiveness of
the friendship group program in promoting dialogical
orientation, self-reliance, and activity for situation
improvement based on indigenous knowledge and experience;
2. To determine the knowledge and use of the technical
practices introduced in the program as well as their
relevance as perceived by group members; 3. To ascertain
the actual contribution and capacity of these friendship
groups for improving the welfare of small—scale coffee-
growers in Colombia.

To accomplish the purpose of the study two types
of hypotheses were advanced: l) hypotheses pertaining to
relationships between dialogical orientation (communication
function) and network variables (communication structure);
and 2) hypotheses relating leader role conception and
dialogical orientation to agrarian activity for situation

improvement.

2

The population consisted of all eligible coffee-
grower respondents (544) belonging to sixty-five friendship
groups in the northern region of the state of Tolima,
Colombia. The survey instruments used were two question-
naires, designed by the researcher and pre-tested in the
field. To carry out the interview process, eight inter-
viewers were trained and divided into four teams for the
conduct of personal interviews. Interviews were conducted
intensively over a period of ten weeks.

The construct validity of the major multidimen-
sional variable, dialogical orientation, was ascertained
by factor analysis. Frequency counts, network analysis,
and zero order and partial correlations were the major
statistical methods employed in the analysis of the data.
The level of significance was .05.

The study revealed that the relative level of
dialogical orientation and participatory education in
the groups strongly reflected the group leaders' conception
of their roles as facilitators of dialogue or depositors
of information. The author believes that the National
Federation of Coffee Growers suffers deficiencies as a
promoter of local participation in education and collective
action for social change due to opposition of traditionally

dominant interests within and outside the Federation.

LIST OF
LIST OF
PREFACE
Chapter
I.

II.

III.

IV.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
TABLES ................................... 1v
FIGURES ................................... v
.......................................... vi
INTRODUCTION ................................ 1
Importance of the Study ...................... 1
The FEDERACAFE Friendship Groups ............ 11
Study Objectives ........................... 15
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ...................... 15
Introduction ............................... l5
Dialogical Orientation Theory ............... l7
Dialogical Orientation Measures ............. l8
Hypotheses .................................. 24
Relationships between Functional and
Structural Variables ..................... 3O
Enabling Variables .......................... 33
RESEARCH SETTING .......................... 43
Agriculture in Colombia .................... 43
Coffee ...................................... 45
The National Federation of Coffee Growers. .51
RESEARCH DESIGN ............................ 67
Level of Analysis .......................... 67
Sample Design ............................... 67
Instrument Construction and Data Collection 72
Operationalization of the Variables ......... 73
Statistical Analysis ....................... 81

ii

v, FINDINGS .................................. 85

Validity of the Dialogical

Communication Variable ................... 85
Analysis of Group Leader

Consciousness ............................. 88
Correlational Analysis ...................... 90
Communication Networks................ ..... 111
Network Correlations ....................... 112
Additional Analyses ........................ 119
VI. DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSIONS ....... 126
Friendship Group Methods ................... 126

Evolution of Friendship Group Self-
Reliance ................................ 129

Factors Affecting the Disbanding of
Groups .................................. 136
Implications for Practice .................. 138
Implications for Research .................. l44
APPENDICES ........................................ 149
A. Group Member Questionnaire ................. 149
B. Practico Questionnaire ..................... 156
BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................... 158

iii

Table

00\IO'\U‘I-I-\U.>N

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.
17.

LIST OF TABLES

Utilization of Credit, January—June, 1979
Evolution of Coffee Prices, 1975—1978
Coffee Plantings in Tolima and Colombia
Average Size of Coffee Farms

Land Tenure of Group Members

Friendship Group Membership, 1968-1978
Leader Role Conception Scores of Practicos

Correlation Coefficients of 6 Variables
with Dialogical Orientation

Dialogical Orientation and Leader Role
Conception Scores by Rank Order

Dialogical Orientation and Doubts About
Innovation Scores by Rank Order

Dialogical Orientation and Innovation
Adaptation Scorew by Rank Order

Dialogical Orientation and Innovation
Adoption Scores by Rank Order

Dialogical Orientation and Utilization
of Institutional Resources Scores by
Rank Order

Dialogical Orientation and Activity for
Situation Improvement Scores by Rank Order

Correlation Coefficients of Dialogical
Orientation and 3 Credit and Fertilizer
Variables

Variability of Network Measures

Dialogical Orientation and Network
Variables by Rank Order

iv

Page
50
54
63
64
64
66
90

91

93

96

98

101

104

109

112

116

Table
18.

19.

20.

Partial Correlation of 6 Variables
with Network Variables

Correlation Coefficients of Years of
Group Membership with Network Variables

Dialogical Orientation Scores by Mean Years
of Group Membership

Page

124

135

136

Figure

kn-DWN

LIST OF FIGURES
Page

Integration of FEDERACAFE into the
Rural Social System 8

Relationship of the Variables in the Study 42

Organizational Structure of FEDERACAFE 58

Map of Tolima 60

Theoretical Evolution of Friendship Group

Linkages 132
vi

PREFACE

Arrangements for an evaluation study of the
program, methods and purpose of the friendship groups began
in May, 1978 with the submission of a preliminary research
plan to FEDERACAFE's Technical Division. I was no stranger
to either FEDERACAFE or the friendship group program, having
served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Communications
Office of FEDERACAFE from August, 1973 to February, 1975.
The personal experiences, documentary materials, and
results of preliminary investigations on the friendship
groups which I brought back from Colombia in 1975 provided
the inspiration for the research proposal.

Although FEDERACAFE immediately accepted the
proposal, the arrangements for procurement and training
of interviewers, and coordination of interviews with friend-
ship group meetings took 12 months to complete. FEDERACAFE
extended to me the services of 8 practicos to be trained
as interviewers, as well as transportation to group meetings
and office space in Bogota. The assistance was offered
and accepted without prior conditions. There was no
attempt on the part of the FEDERACAFE administration to
influence the design and Operationalization of the study.

It would take several pages to mention all the
Colombians who assisted me in the conduct of the investiga-
tion. But, most particularly, I want to express my
appreciation to German Valenzuela Samper, technical director

of FEDERACAFE, and Alvaro Rodriguez Grandas, director of

vii

extension, for providing the institutional administrative
support necessary for an investigation of this scale.
Alvaro Gonzalez Mora, head of the communication department,
was also invaluable for his personal friendship and

counsel in the preparation of the pre—test. Lastly,

it would be unpardonable to omit my Tolima collaborators,
Marco Tulio La Serna and Eduardo Micolta, technical
director and assistant technical director of the state
Coffee-Growers Committee of Tolima. These two men patiently
assisted me for several months in the organization of
interviews with over 500 friendship group members and
provided valued insights into the friendship group
organization in Tolima.

The literature search in Bogota was aided by the
librarian of FEDERACAFE'S own library, the personnel of
the IICA library at the National University, and the
Biblioteca Luis Angel Arango. Additional research was
undertaken wih the assistance of librarians at Michigan
State University and the University of Pittsburgh.

For his valuable advice in rendering workable my
original ideas for a research project and assisting me
throughout the operationalization of the study and organi-
zation of the writing, I would like to extend my sincere
gratitude to my adviser, Dr. Cole Brembeck.

It is hoped that this work will contribute signifi-
cantly to the permanent body of research and commentary on
nonformal education efforts in rural development and in so

doing, repay the many persons who helped me.

viii

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

Importance of the Study

 

The doctrine or mission of agricultural extension
services appears to be the same around the world. In 1966
Colombia's Minister of Agriculture, Jose Mejia Salazar,
expressed in his address to the National Congress that
the objectives of agricultural extension were to increase
”the agricultural productivity of the country and the
welfare of the rural people." Extension programs tradi-
tionally offer to improve living conditions through
non-violent measures without extensive cost—asset redistri—
bution. Such programs have been politically attractive
because they offer to work within the existing social system
to: directly alleviate poverty; provide agricultural pro-
ducts for urban needs and for exports to increase foreign
trade; increase profits and power for rural elites; and
assure stable employment for bureaucrats (Stavis, 1979).
The extent of support for and involvement with extension pro—
grams among diverse interest groups weighs heavily upon
the role of extension services in the development process.

Consequently, it is important to analyze extension
service programs and methods within the context of the
doctrine, organizational structure, linkages and patterns
of control within and related to the extension service.

The focus of this study was on the "Grupos de

Amistad" (friendship groups) of the Federation of Colombian

2
Coffee Growers (FEDERACAFE) Extension Service. The analysis
of the friendship group program was guided by three
questions:

I) Have the friendship groups been effective in
operationalizing their ethno-scientific and psycho-sociolo-
gical goals of promoting self-reliance and innovation
based on utilization of inherent knowledge and traditional
leadership expertise?

2) Are the technological packages which have been
adapted—adopted as a result of the friendship group
program relevant to the needs of the group members?

3) Given the long-range objectives of the friend-
ship groups as a rural development acquisition system, what
is the actual contribution and capacity of these groups for

improving the welfare of the rural people?

The One-Way Bias of Information Flow

It is a common assumption among agricultural ex—
tension service personnel and other planners of change in
the rural sector that development entails the dissemination
of modern and scientific knowledge to inform and uplift
the small-scale farmer. The attitude of rural development
agencies stems from a variety of factors; most notably,
paternalism and direct linkages between extension services
and agricultural research stations (the inventors of rural
innovation). This latter institutional involvement creates
a vested interest in persuasive techniques for adoption of

innovation.

3

The reluctance to deal with participatory styles
of education is shared by researchers into knowledge
diffusion. Most diffusion studies have uncritically
accepted the one—way bias of traditional methods for
quantifying changes (Byrnes, 1966). The emphasis has been
on transferring messages from a source to a receiver with
the intention of persuading the receiver to adopt an
innovation as recommended. For example, in most rural
diffusion studies changesluusbeen measured by counting the
rate at which subjects adopt a given innovation in the form
recommended by the change agency; a technique which excludes
consideration of knowledge creation and adaption.

A few researchers have begun to express criticisms
of the monological assumptions and directions of diffusion
research (Byrnes, 1966; Havelock, 1971; Esman, 1974; Beltran,
1974; Diaz-Bordenave, 1977; Busch, 1978). Their view is
typified by Esman's proposition that "Government agencies
must become active information seekers, rather than infor—
mation purveyors, in order to insure that their service and
advice to small farmers reflect the latter's specific needs
and possibilities" (Esman, 1974).

The one-way bias of information flow also impinges
on the role of education indevelopment. Paulo Freire,
the Brazilian educational reformer, has labeled as ”banking

type education much of what Beltran, Busch and others refer
to as unidirectional information flow. Both terms opera—

tionalize the "transmission mentality;" the extension agent

4
speaks and the farmer listens; the teacher narrates and
the student memorizes. Freire proposed an alternative type
of communication which would be more receiver-centered.
This alternative, which he calls ”problem-posing” education,
is built on dialogue between leaders and groups (Freire,
1971).

It is within this context, the establishment and
maintenance<xfeffective dialogical orientation, that this
study considered friendship groups in Colombia. Agricultural
extension agencies in Third World countries have rarely
attempted productive strategies for finding out what the
small farmer needs, wants and can contribute to the diffu-
sion of relevant agricultural, family planning, credit and
other innovations. The friendship group program was
selected as the focus for study precisely because its
expressed objective seemed to present a challenge to the
orientation that knowledge should flow in a downward
direction only; conceiving of a role for education that
develops the capabilities of people to assimilate, adapt,
and create knowledge in order to perform more efficiently
in an environmental situation.

Because there is a general lack of research on the
relationship between change efforts and the initiation,
adoption, and adaptation of knowledge, this study adopted
a non-disruptive social structure oriented approach to
study this process. Self-reports of populations of coffee—
growers were used in order to understand the variables

which affect the diffusion of knowledge.

5

Any study into the diffusion of agricultural and
other innovations should take into account the channels
through which communication flows. Guimaraes (1972) indi-
cated in his analysis of communication networks that
communication could be viewed from two perspectives: the
external perspective, which refers to communication to
a system; and the internal perspective, which refers to
communication within a system. Attention to internal
communication channels has helped increase understanding
of variables which affect innovation adoption and adaptation.

This study applied a multivariate network analysis
to communication flows among the friendship groups. Network
analysis, which uses social relationships as its unit of
measure, provided the knowledge of the roles and relation—
ships of groups members so that interpersonal communication
factors affecting the knowledge, adoption, and adaptation
of innovation could be predicted. The knowledge of how
messages flow through the community was then applied to a
conceptualization of the friendship group as an alternative
educational structure within the context of the educational

requirements of the community.

Knowledge Diffusion in the Rural Social System Context

 

Knowledge diffusion does not occur in a vacuum.
The extent to which the diffusion of knowledge is planned
on the basis of an integrated social system tends to be
related to the extent to which the process is successful.

Axinn (1976) suggests that change in any one of the following

6

components of the typical rural social system affects change
in all other components: production; supply; marketing;
personal maintenance; education; research; health-care
delivery; and governance. While scope of activity is only
one aspect of system interaction, the more the process of
knowledge diffusion is adapted to the functions of the
rural social system the greater probability it has of
relevance and endurance.

Several studies have indicated that because of
FEDERACAFE'S multidimensional, integrated approach to
rural development, the Colombian farmer tends to view it as
the extension entity which gives the greatest benefits
to the community. Though generally specific to one crop,
the assistance program to coffee farmers includes not only
research on experimental farms to develop the most produc-
tive systems of coffee cultivation (production and research
components), but the design of processing and handling
equipment (production and supply), creation, administration
or stimulation of coffee warehouses, agricultural supply
stores, cooperatives and savings and credit banks (supply,
marketing, and governance), formal and nonformal education
programs for adults and youth (education), establishment
of health centers and campaigns to improve nutrition, drinking
water and general hygiene (health care), and the provision
of economic and technical assistance for works of common
utility such as community roads, water systems, schools
and housing (personal, maintenance, education, and supply).

(See Figure l).

 

7

In his study of farmers in the State of Antioquia,
Rojas-Ruiz (1974) found that FEDERACAFE finances the
majority of rural electrification, road construction and
other community action projects in the region and that local
farmers are aware that FEDERACAFE, to which they contribute
or maintain direct relations, returns their contributions
with investments to solve their multiple needs. Similarly,
Zapata (1971) determined that for reasons of fulfilling
promises and providing credit support for its recommended
changes, FEDERACAFE was perceived as the most constructive
extension service operating in Antioquia.

Farm Community Discussion Groups and Innovation Adoption-
Adaptation

 

 

The most important intermediary functions which
communication media can perform within the context of an
integrated social system have been conceived by Esman (1974)
to include: articulation of needs that take account of
”the specific natural conditions and the institutional
environment in which the farmers work;" diffusion of
technological innovation through horizontal communication
networks which "adapt and interpret messages to make them

more relevant to specific needs;‘ integration and coordi-
nation of small farmer interests to place pressure on
government to provide more service and resources.

Much communication and education research in the

past decade argues for the unique advantages that farmers'

local organizations can provide for the initiation and

8

Figure l
The Integration of FEDERACAFE into the Functional

Components of the Rural Social System
(Based on model by George Axinn - 1978)

PRODUCTION
Agricultural

and Non
Agricultura

V

’4
v

\
f

A

GOVERNANCE LIT-“VA ‘ {NF -' RUCTU - RESEARCH

 

 

A
V“

PERSONAL
MAINTENANCE

FEDERACAFE functions:

Production - Technical assistance; design of processing and
handling equipment

Supply - Distribution of fer-ilizers, seeds, and tools at cost
Research - National center for research on coffee
Marketing - Coffee storage; farm-to-market roads; cooperatives

Governance - Communal action programs and creation of coopera-
tives

Education - Construction of rural schools; NFE programs
Health Care — Medical assistance; septic and sewage systems

Personal maintenance - Home improvement

9
adoption of relevant innovations. For example, the bulk
of the literature in the areas of rural communication
and nonformal education suggests that communication within
the context of community organizations tends to increase
the participant's awareness and responsibility (Hoxeng,
1973; Isaza and Correa, 1975), which may, in turn, lead
to more basic societal transformations as pressure for
systemrwide changes increase (Fals Borda, 1971). This pro-
position is supported by an underlying rationale in the
literature that expresses the idea that the more a social
unit is related to other units, the higher the number of
opportunities for change to be communicated and implemented
(Danowski, 1975; Guimaraes, 1972).

The directional capacity of channels is one of the
considerations related to effectiveness of a social system
interface in rural development (Axinn, 1976). Mass and
interpersonal media channels have separate virtues and
disadvantages. Mass media channels can reach simultaneously
a larger audience with greater speed in transmission of
messages than interpersonal channels. Interpersonal channels
allow for greater receiver participation and feedback. The
strategy of channel combination in media forums has been
viewed as highly productive for establishing dialogue (Braun,
1974). However, radio, television, newspapers and other
mass media channels generally have built—in a uni-directional
capacity only and are most frequently used as a means through
which top-to-bottom transactions flow. Rural development

projects which have utilized such channels for the diffusion

10
of innovations have been criticized for: 1) failure to
provide feedback and communication from the rural social
system; and 2) insufficient attention to the quality of
the innovation to be diffused (Busch, 1979; Byrnes, 1966;
Diaz-Bordenave, 1977).

Interpersonal communication, on the other hand,
has a built—in capacity for dialogue. Several researchers
have suggested that the most productive forms of communica-
tion, especially with small farmers, are based on interpersonal
contacts (Rogers, 1974; Braun, 1975). This is because the
needs and capabilities of small-scale farmers tend to be
siutational, specific and individualized (Coombs and Mazoor,
1973; Lionberger, 1974), and resources for assisting small-
scale farmers tend to be controlled by agencies that are
functionally specific (Esman, 1974; La Belle, 1976).

The validity of these propositions concerning the
productivity of interpersonal communications and the speci-
ficity of small farmer needs compelled Arze (1966) and Esman
(1974) to consider the establishment and maintenance of
farmers' discussion groups as providing the most effective
two-way communication between extension services and small-

scale farmers.

11
THE FEDERACAFE FRIENDSHIP GROUPS

 

Sociological Foundations

 

There is a Spanish word that has been utilized in
Colombia and several other Latin American countries to
denote rural habitations situated along a road or concen-
trated in the same general area. This word is "vereda."

Fals Borda (1961) suggests that while the "vereda" could
have had its origin in ancient Indian social organization
or in colonial haciendas, the present-day "veredas" owe
their identity less to historical antecedents than to ties
the residents have established among themselves.

The friendship group concept has its origin in the
collective personality of the residents of the mountainous
coffee zone "veredas" of Colombia. Instead of clubs, socie-
ties, and other secondary interest groups, the "veredas"
have a certain number of primary groups, among which pre-
dominate the family, and community recreation and work groups.
Within this relatively unspecialized form of primary orga-
nization the individual personality is absorbed by the
collective one (Durkheim, 1947). A study of linkages
between families and neighbors in the coffee zone ”veredas"
of Colombia by Arze (1966) concluded that the informal orga-
nization of primary groups affected the diffusion and adoption
of agricultural practices. Arze suggested that these so-
called ”friendship groups" be incorporated into the extension
program of FEDERACAFE in order to accelerate technological
change and allow for adaptation of practices to conform to

different localities.

12

Organization of Friendshingroup Activities

 

The method of working with small farmers through
friendship groups has been utilized since 1967 when the
Extension Service of FEDERACAFE followed Arze's recommen-
dation and initiated a training program for its extension
personnel on social groups and leadership. By 1976, there
were 3,074 friendship groups in 14 coffee—growing states
of Colombia. The friendship group program utilized 388
extension agents at an average approximating eight groups
per agent; the average number of members in a group being
eleven.

The groups are organized by the extension services
of the Coffee-Grower State Committees which conduct informal
diagnostic surveys of the leadership in the ”veredas" to
determine the projects most significant to the areas. If
a leader is interested in forming a friendship group, he is
asked to gather his friends for a meeting with the extension
agent. During this first session, the farmers elect a
coordinator to serve as a bridge between the group and the
Extension Service.

In the State of Tolima, where the present study took
place, extension agents are provided with pre-test ques-
tionnaires to determine the degree to which the future group
members have adopted the practices recommended by FEDERACAFE.
These practices comprise the new coffee technology advocated
by FEDERACAFE in the 1970's and include: high density plan—
ting of new seed varieties; intensive chemical fertilization;

coffee nurseries; depulping machinery; germinators;

l3
erosion control; pest and disease control; and the renovation
of coffee fields. The pre-testing of the knowledge and use

of these practices forms a baseline for later measures.

Friendship Group Objectives

 

According to statements by FEDERACAFE administrators,
the objectives of the friendship group are to increase the
effectiveness of the Extension Service in the diffusion of
information to a mass audience and to liberate the small-
scale coffee-grower from dependence upon the extension
agent by fostering through group meetings increased commu-
nity dialogue and responsibility (Gonzalez, 1979). In a
recent speech, Jorge Cardenas Gutierrez, assistant manager
of FEDERACAFE, declared that FEDERACAFE's diresctors have been
”permanently preoccupied with promoting greater membership,
organizing friendship groups, agricultural clubs, coffee
cooperatives, etc., in each and every coffee growing region,
in order to create a consciousness among coffee producers
of the importance associated with their participation and
intervention in the orientation and governance of FEDERACAFE”

(Cardenas Gutierrez, 1978).

Study Objectives

 

The survey of the literature on rural development
communication suggests a general consensus on the unique
advantages that farm community discussion groups can provide
for conformation of agricultural practices to different
socio—economic and ecological contexts. The analysis of the

friendship groups' basic characteristics and objectives suggests

14
that they are designed to incorporate certain mechanisms
which promise greater efficiency in stimulating an exchange
of technical and agrarian information to increase the wel-
fare of the Colombian small-scale coffee-grower.

Therefore, the study is guided by the following goals:

1. To determine by network analysis how technical
and agrarian messages flow through the friendship groups in
order to understand the relationship between dialogical
orientation and network structure in the transfer of know—
ledge.

2. To understand how demographic, socio—economic,
and communication enabling variables are related to and aid
in the prediction of: knowledge and utilization of need-
specific practices/ information connectedness; information
reliance on the extension service; utilization of institu-
tional resources; influence leader concentration; and
activity for situation improvement. The central premise
of the enabling variable hypothesis is that the dialogical
orientation and network structure variables will bring forth
the responses they are predicted to produce only if they
are integrated with particular combinations of demographic,
socio-economic and communication variables.

3. To determine by identification of mechanisms
and individuals which connect the friendship group social
structure and which channel the process of diffusion the
relevance of friendship group communication/education to

the needs and capabilities of the small—scale coffee-grower.

15
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Introduction

 

The objective of this chapter is to review the
research literature relevant to the theoretical framework
upon which the study was based. To that end definitions
of terms which appear in the literature will be presented,
followed by a review of the literature and the generation
of hypotheses.

Definition pf Terms

 

Innovation - An idea, practice, skill, or techno-
logy perceived as new by the relevant unit of adoption.

 

Ado tion - The degree to which an innovation is
implemented By the receiver in the form introduced by the
source.

Adaptation - The degree to which the adopters of
an innovation change the original innovation.

 

Feedback - The process by which a social system's
inputs are controlled as a function of its outputs.

Communication Network - A set of individuals linked
by information flows.

 

Connectedness - The degree to which the individual
units of a communication network are linked by information
flows.

 

Opinion Leadership - The ability to influence other
members offonejs communication network in a consistent and
desired way.

 

Dialogical orientation - The degree to which a social
system is open to diverse afid'conflicting information flows.

 

Facilitative Role - Attitudes and values of a prac-
tico which'emphasize internal communication in the group and
lessened dependence on the practico.

 

Coffee-Grower — A farmer who possesses two hectares
or more of land planted in coffee or produces 575 kilograms
or more of green coffee per year.

 

16

Practico - A non—professional technician employed by
the Federacion Nacional de Cafeteros (FEDERACAFE) Extension
Service who works under the direct supervision of the
extension agent.

District - A work zone delegated to a practico of
the FEDERACAFE Extension Service.

Section - An area comprised of several districts
under the orientation and supervision of a FEDERACAFE
extension agent.

Small Farmer - An owner of a farm of less than six
hectares.

 

Medium Farmer - An owner of a farm of no less than
six hectares and no greater than twenty hectares.

 

Large Farmer - An owner of a farm of greater than
twenty hectares.

 

Administrator - A person who directs the operation
of a farm in return—fOr a fixed salary.

 

Sharecropper - A farmer who cultivates a crop on
another's land and whose payment is a share of the harvest
in accord with a verbal or written agreement.

 

Types of Hypotheses

 

Two types of hypotheses were advanced: 1) hypotheses
pertaining to relationships between functional and structural
variables; and 2) hypotheses relating independent variables
to agrarian activity for situation improvement.

Because studies relating communication structure to
function are not numerous, it may be that openness of the
friendship group communication structure to diverse and
conflicting inputs is determined by the groups' communication
structure (Guimaraes, 1972). However, most of the available
evidence on the relationship between functional and structural
variables indicates that the primary factor responsible for
alterations in decisions is the content of information and

arguments generated in discussion (communication function)

17
rather than mere exposure to the choices of others (commu—
nication structure) (Pruitt and Teger, 1969: 124). In the
terminology of behavioral decision-theory the primacy of
function is based on the changes within the utility—proba-
bility matrix that the individual considers relevant to a
given issue (Edwards et. al., 1965; Pastore, 1974). This
assumption, that communication function determines communica-
tion structure, is reflected in the conceptualization and
presentation of the hypotheses.

Dialogical Orientation Theory,

 

Dialogical orientation refers to the openness of
the friendship group to diverse and conflicting information
flows. Dialogical orientation is basic to developmental
education theory. Kohlberg and Mayer (1972: 456) describe
the task of developmental education as confronting the
individual with diverse and conflicting viewpoints.

Cognitive development, according to Kohlberg and
Mayer, is a dialectical progression of ideas in discourse
and conversation. In the dialectical model, a core of
ideas are redefined and reorganized as their implications
are brought into view through experience and as they are
confronted by their opposites in argument and discourse.
The educator's task is to initiate dialogue, pose problems,
and stimulate reflections, not to indoctrinate or persuade.

Reference to such principles (scientific

inquiry) is non-indoctrinative if these

principles are not presented as formulae

to be learned ready-made, or as rote patterns

grounded in authority. Rather they are part

of a process of reflection by the student
and teacher (Kohlberg and Mayer, 1972: 475).

l8

Freire (1970) characterizes this dialectical model
as problem—posing education. Education is viewed as a
shared process of inquiry. Dialogue is the chief means
by which learnings are shared and consciousness is raised.

It should be emphasized that for Freire, dialogue
means ”the encounter in which the united reflection and
action of the dialogue are addressed to the world which is
to be transformed and humanized." Since the term dialogue
is used by Kohlberg and Mayer and Freire to signify some-
what different processes, it is appropriate to suggest the
use of the term with which this study deals. In the sense
that Freire uses it, dialogue is the means for radical
restructuring of society. However, the term can also be
applied to improvement and feedback within institutions so
that they function more effectively, and it is in that sense

that dialogical orientation is used here. Dialogical

 

orientation therefore incorporates exchanges of ideas and
information among the farmers themselves, as well as
communication'Knmnan'from the farmers to the extension
service.

Dialogical Orientation Measures

 

In order to derive measures of dialogical orienta-
tion that would have validity for both FEDERACAFE's
friendship groups and other rural community discussion
groups, two steps were followed.

The first step was an analysis of both the general

research conducted on dialogical orientation in nonformal

19
education and the dialogical orientation objectives
expressed by the FEDERACAFE administrators of the friend—
ship groups.

The second step was to define these objectives in
terms of broader theoretical definitions for which measures
have already been devised.

Lerner (1958) in his investigation of social and
psychological characteristics related to socio-economic
development, constructed a typology of traditional, transi-
tional, and modern individuals. The key to the difference
between the types was, for Lerner, the desire ”to have
opinions of one's own.”

In another investigation of the psychological cha-
racteristics of ”modernity," Inkeles and Smith (1974)
judged an individual to be more modern if he showed
”awareness of the diversity of opinions around him and
put a positive value on variations in opinion.” In their
conception, a modern man does not automatically accept the
opinions of those above him in the power hierarchy and
does not close himself in the belief that everyone thinks
alike.

Almond and Vera (1963) found the development of an
”evaluational orientation”--judgements and opinions about
political objects--to be an indicator of political con-
sciousness and a dimension of modernity.

In terms of the present study, the disposition of

members of the friendship groups to express independent or

20
unpopular opinions is a measure of the openness of the sys-
tem to diverse and conflicting inputs.

In a study which served as his Ph.D. dissertation
at Michigan State University, Diaz-Bordenave (1966) showed
how the range of possible decision-making farmers in
Northeast Brazil was positively related to their status
in the community communication network. Diaz-Bordenave
suggested that range of decision-making was positively
related to status because persons need to cope with deci-
sions demanded by their status. Range of possible
decision—making was operationalized by three social struc-
tural dimensions: the individual's relationship to the

production factors of land, capital and labor; the diversity

 

of occupational roles he performs; and his educational

 

 

horizons.
Diaz-Bordenave encountered several limitations in

the measurement of the production factor dimension. Infor-

 

mation was distorted by failure of landowners to differentiate
in their reports between gross and net income, the reporting
of extremely low incomes for fear of tax implications, and

the fact that many small landowners and renters did not

keep any record at all of their farm output. Although the

second dimension, occupational role diversity, was reported

 

to have greater validity, it is not relevant to the present
research because of the occupationally homogenous population
of coffee-growers. The relationship between the capacity

for decision coming from education and the range of possible

 

decision-making measured by the educational horizons has

 

21
import for the present study. This dimension was opera-

tionalized as level of schooling and reading ability.

 

 

The limitations in measurement of social struc—

tural potential for decision-making suggest that perception

 

of range of decision-making may be a more reliable indi-
cator of dialogical orientation in the friendship group
communication network than would social structural poten-
tial for decision-making. The self-reported measures of
perceived range of decision-making is, of course, also
subject to distortion. A person may give one or another
answer according to the impression he wishes to create.
But by asking how one perceives, the limitations in
remembering facts accurately are avoided.

The mere perception of a wide-range of decision—
making is important as an indicator of dialogical orientation
because what men do is much influenced by the climate of
opinion in which they find themselves (Inkeles and Smith: 33).
If a man hears all around him opinions which represent per-
ceptions of significant and active roles in decision-making,
he is more likely to act in accord with his own impulses in
that direction.

Shibutani (1961) supports the notion that self-
perception is the key indicator of communication conduct.
According to Shibutani, "Voluntary conduct is not so much a
manifestation of what man 'really' is, but rests upon
the beliefs he develops about himself-—on the basis in which

he is treated by his associates ... Knowing what is generally

22
expected of various kinds of people, he places limitations
on his own conduct.”

Inkeles and Smith's research in Becoming Modern

 

suggested that one key difference between traditional and
modern man is the latter's confidence that his world is
calculable, and that people and institutions can be relied

on to meet their obligations. For Inkeles and Smith, the
modern man believes in a reasonably lawful world under

human control. The belief that fellow members of the friend-
ship group can rationally control their environment and be
relied on to meet their obligations would seem to indicate

a system open to diverse and conflicting inputs.

In a study of attitudes of workers in Peru and the
U S., Williams et.al. (1966) found that appreciation of
human relations content was positively related to satis-
faction with the supervisor. The authors concluded that
a high faith-in-people orientation was related to confidence
in being able to solve problems through the group. Trust
is therefore another theme we would expect to find closely
related to dialogical orientation.

On the basis of this initial analysis, a series of
questions were derived which formed three scales measuring
dimensions of dialogical orientation as this is carried
out by the friendship groups:

1. Disposition to express opinions - measures the

 

belief that to overcome problems it is often necessary to

express independent or unpopular opinions.

23

2. Perceived range of decision-making - measures

 

the belief that the farmers' role in decision-making is
significant and active.

3. Interpersonal trust - measures the belief that

 

neighbors and the agent or coordinator can be relied on
to meet their obligations.

The questionnaire items for disposition to express

 

opinions were adapted from Almond and Vera's The Civic

 

Culture, and Inkeles and Smith's Becoming Modern. These

 

items attempted to measure the possibility of expressing
dissenting opinions, history of taking unpopular action,
belief in maintaining one's own opinion, and difference of
opinion with neighbors.

The questionnaire items for perceived range of

 

decision—making were adapted from the Almond and Vera and

 

Inkeles and Smith studies in addition to Kahl's Measurement

 

of Modernism, conducted in Brazil and Mexico. These items

 

attempted to measure decision-making self-reliance, respect
for ideas of peers and superiors, self-confidence in
expressing dissent, and belief that one's role in decision-
making is significant.

The questionnaire items for interpersonal trust

 

were derived from Inkeles and Smith and from Williams et.al.
study of social change in Peru. These items attempted to
measure trust in neighbors, belief in the basic honesty of
people, trust in extension agents, and trust in new

acquaintances.

24

Hypotheses

 

The Relationship Between Facilitativeness of the Extension
Agent and Dialogical Orientation

 

 

In the Leagans and Loomis book on Socioeconomic

 

Change in Modern Agriculture, Triandis comments that in the

 

adoption process it is necessary to consider three closely
related elements: the innovation, the agriculturalist,

and the extension agent; the first with its characteristics
and consequences, and the second two with their respective
subjective cultures, personality and social systems.

Whether the friendship group social system is open
to diverse and conflicting inputs is a funcation of the atti-
tudes and values of the extension agent and the position
of the friendship groups within the structure of the larger
social system. Dialogical orientation depends to a great
deal on the genuine determination of the extension agent
and agency to democratize the rurla education process and
encourage participatory styles of development planning.

One of the obstacles to democratic participation of
small farmers in generating new technical knowledge is the
fact that agricultural extension staff, planners, and
research workers commonly use scientific knowledge as an
instrument of power to legitimize their superior status.
Thus they have a vested interest in devaluing the farmers'
indigenous technical knowledge and denying their creativity.
This approach can result in the type of forced adoption
situation observed by Deuschmann and Fals Borda in Colombia,

in which the farmers adopt the measures recommended by the

25
agents as an acknowledgement of the social hierarchy and
a gesture of respect, but resume their traditional practices
when the extension agent leaves.
Freire (1972: 58) points out the contradiction
between role and attitude in his critique of the banking

1

style of teaching. "The teacher,” he writes,‘ presents
himself to his students as their necessary opposite; by
considering their ignorance absolute, he justifies his own
existence."

The attitudes and values of the extension agent
related to his role as a depositor of information or a
stimulator of dialogue appear to be major determinants of
dialogical orientation in the friendship group. In a 1979
evaluation of friendship groups in the states of Huila and
Cundinimarca, Colombia, Serna Echevarri determined that
group coordinators were reluctant to transfer knowledge to
other members out of fear that equality would cause them
to lose leadership.

Thus, the proposition could be made that the more
an agent perceives his role as facilitative rather than
banking, the more open the friendship group system would
be to diverse and conflicting communication flows. Hence,
we may state the following hypothesis:

H:1 The more facilitative the agent perceives

his role, the greater tEe degree of diaii-
gical orientation.

 

 

 

26

Relationships Between Independent Variables and
Agrarian Activities for Situation Improvement

 

 

The Relationships of Dialogical Orientation to the Adappation

 

dfiInnovations and the Adoption of Innovations

 

The past two decades of research into diffusion of
innovations in Latin America have raised several questions
about the applicability to Latin America of research in the
U.S. on the difference between adopters and non-adopters
of innovations. While Latin American findings support U.S.
findings concerning the relationship between economic
status and innovation, conclusions differ related to
personal and social characteristics of innovators.

Fonseca (1966) for example, found in his doctoral
research on innovation adoption among Brazilian farmers that
social participation was not related to adoption. This
study supported the conclusions of Deutschmann and Fals
Borda (1962) in their study of communication and adoption
patterns in a Colombian village. Deutschmann and Fals
Borda found that persons whose predominant orientations
were to interpersonal communication channels were the latest
to be aware of and the latest to adopt innovations.

In another study of innovation adoption among
Brazilian farmers, Herzog et. a1. (1968) found that inno-
vators were, contrary to the U.S. adoption typology, the
least risk-oriented of any of the adopter types. These
studies and others suggest that the failure of an innovation
to take root is not necessarily the result of an inadequacy

in transmission or the relative ignorance of the farmer,

27
but that much of the problem may reside in the characteris-
tics of the innovation being transmitted.

In relating adoption to demographic variables many
researchers fail to take into account the quality of the
innovation. Zapata's (1971) doctoral investigation in
Antioquia, Colombia pointed out the seriousness of this
omission. His study compared innovation adoption between
the farmer clients of three extension organizations in
Colombia: ICA, the Secretariat of Agriculture, and
FEDERACAFE. Zapata found that the clients of FEDERACAFE
with greatest economic capacity, highest levels of edu-
cation, and most exposure to mass media demonstrated the
greatest degree of adoption. However, the inverse was
true related to the characteristics of the clients of the
Secretariat of Agriculture; the clients with greatest eco-
nomic capacity and education were also those who tended least
to learn and adopt innovations.

Pastore (1974) has pointed out two factors which
jointly explain the different research findings: 1) an
individual's risk-taking is based on the utilities of
the actions and the probabilities associated with the
attainment of desired goals; and 2) technologies in Latin
America are not adapted to most problems of subsistence
agriculture. In other words, for small farmers, many
recommended innovations would be considered poor risks.

Even before the flood of case histories which docu-

ment the effects of green revolution technologies on the

28

smallest farmers (Wharton, 1969; Nulty, 1972; Havens,
1974; and Griffin, 1976), there have been countless exam-
ples in which scientifically researched innovations have
proven to be much less suited to local ecology, economy,
farming habits, and cultural norms than the indigenous
technical adaptations of the farmers. Howe (1979) provides
an explanation in his review of research into indigenous
technical knowledge. He writes that farmers "possess
assets in the form of empirical knowledge of the individual
elements of their eco-systems, of the relations through
which these elements are conjoined, and in the way in
which these relations change through short and more
extensive periods of time."

Applying Harvey and Schroeder's research (1963)
to the relative inavailability of relevant agricultural
technologies transferred from research institutions to
small farms, it would appear that the more opportunities
a system provides an individual possessed of indigenous
knowledge for analyzing the technical quality, timeliness,
and social and cultural compatability of a recommended
innovation, the greater doubts he is likely to have, and
the more likely he is to modify or reject the innovation.

Greater participation in decision-making brings
greater insights and new sources of information to the
adoption process. Consequently, we may establish the

following two hypotheses:

29

H:2 The greater degree of dialogical orientation
in a system, the greater the degree of doubts
about an innovation.

 

 

 

H:3 The greater degree of dialogical orientation
in a system, the greater the degree of inno—
vation adaptation.

 

 

Conversely, as Hage and Aiken (1970) point out, role
conflict and ambiguity and the different priorities of people
in decentralized communication systems reduce the possibi-
lities of implementing an innovation in the form recommended.
Hence, we may establish the hypothesis that:

H:4 The greater degree of dialogical orientation

in a system, the lesser the degree of
adoption of the intact innovation

 

 

The Relationship of Dialogical Orientation to the Use of
Institutional Services

 

The research which supports the relationship between
dialogical orientation and increased information—seeking
activity also supports the proposition that dialogical
orientation is related to use of all types of institutional
services. Because, the FEDERACAFE state and municipal
committees are the only entities which actively lend
technical assistance for coffee cultivation, the most valid
indicator of this variable would seem to be the frequency
of use of the services provided by the state and municipal
committees and other non-coffee-specific services provided
by other institutions.

The hypothesis may be stated as follows:

H:5 The greater degree of dialogical orientation

in a system, the greater the degree of insti—
tutional contacts among its members

 

30
The literature which relates locus of control to
information-seeking behavior suggests that dialogical orien-
tation is a catalyst for activity to acquire more land,
income, credit and tools. Consequently, we may establish
the hypothesis that:
H:6 The greater degree of dialogical orientation

in a system, the greater activity for situa-
tion improvement.

 

 

 

Relationships Between Functional and Structural Variables

 

There are two versions of the hypothesis relating
dialogical orientation to system connectedness. One
version maintains that exposure to the choices of others,
system connectedness, influences the degree of dialogical
orientation.

Shaw (1964: 126) investigated communication networks
and found that ”communication independence" is greater in
decentralized or more densely connected networks regardless
of the type of function. Shaw defined "communication inde—
pendence" as ”...the degree of freedom with which an

individual may function in the group;' a conception analo-
gous to our view of dialogical orientation.

Festinger (154) and Brown (1965) presented evidence
in support of the structural hypothesis that group members
are influenced by the circumstances under which decisions
are made. Brown (1965: 702) maintained that information
about others' choices "make individuals move toward greater
risk after group discussion." In discussion, according to

Brown, individuals will discover the attitudes of others',

and this will lead them to change their own attitudes.

31

Guimaraes (1972) also conceives of communication
structure as "solving” functional problems through some
form of information exchange among the system's internal
units. Guimaraes determined the key structural aspects
of a communication system to include: 1) the number and
kind of elements in the system, and their relationship;

2) information media available; and 3) social, organizational,
and physical distance among the system members (e.g., channel
length). The Guimaraes study, as the other studies sup-
porting structural primacy, implies the operation of an
affective process —- subjects are influenced by the inter-
personal communication and social comparison process.

However, much of the evidence that is cited in
support of the hypothesis that system connectedness
influences dialogical orientation is equivocal and incon-
clusive. A study conducted by Blake (1968), for example,
indicated that mere exposure to others' choices (structural)
is not a sufficient condition for shifts in attitude
(functional) to occur.

The second version of the relationship between the
two variables implies the operation of a cognitive process --
group members are influenced by the content of the arguments.
Harvey and Schroeder's (1963) research into determinants
of social interaction provides a cognitive explanation of
the relationship between dialogical orientation and system
connectedness as well as insight into the relationship
between those two variables and the adaptation of innovation.

Harvey and Schroeder (1963: 139) point out that:

32

”A prerequisite for progressive differentiation
and integration, synonomous with increased
abstractness, is the openness of the system to
diverse and conflicting inputs. From the resul-
ting opposing energies and forces new alternatives
or component parts are generated and the ground-
work is laid for the evolvement of a system
posessed of the capacity to deal adequately with
the changing, the different, and the adverse."

 

 

Davis and Phares (1967) have shown that information-
seeking activity is a function of the degree to which indi-
viduals believe that they can control their environments
by their own efforts. Their study found that when informa-
tion is relevant to personal goals, individuals who believe
that they can control their environment seek significantly
more information than those who think that they cannot
control their environment.

These studies complement the research that suggests
that the more persons: 1) are disposed to hold opinions
of their own (Lerner, 1959); 2) perceive their range of
decision-making (Diaz-Bordenave, 1966); and 3) trust
people (Stanfield, 1968; Williams et. al., 1972), the more
likely they are to seek interpersonal relationships.
Disposition to express opinions, perceived range of
decision-making, and interpersonal trust are conceptually
linked as indicators of dialogical orientation. Consequently,
we can establih the following hypothesis:

H:7 The greater dialogical orientation in a

system, the greater degree of system
connectedness.

 

 

 

 

 

33

The Relationship Between Dialpgical Orientation and Infor-
mation Reliance on the Extension Service

 

 

The information reliance variable is conceptualized
here in terms of the locus of decision-making in the system.
Duncan (1972) and others have indicated that the greater
the participation in decision—making in a system, the
less reliance on central authority. Dialogical orientation
is conceptually linked to decision-making decentralization
in a system. Therefore, we can establish the following
hypothesis:

H:8 The greater degree of dialogical orientation,

the lesser the degree of information reliance

in relation to the extension service.

The Relationship Between Dialogical Orientation and Influence
Leaders

The literature on rural communities and diffusion
of innovations shows that there tends to be a structure
of one or more influence leaders in groups. Based on the
same rationale as the previous hypotheses, we may posit
that greater participation in decision-making and less
reliance on central authority will increase the number
of influence leaders in the system. Hence, we may esta—
blish the following hypothesis:

H:9 The greater degree of dialogical orientation

ih a system, the greater Ehe degree of
influence leader concentration.

 

 

Enabling Variables

 

The relative inattention given social structure
variables in most diffusion research has been criticized

by Fonseca, 1968; Herzog, 1968; Byrnes, 1966; Rogers, 1970;

34
and Diaz-Bordenave, 1974. For example, many of these

researchers have found the variables size of farm, land

 

tenure, educational level, and media exposure to correlate

 

 

 

highly with each other while at the same time to be posi-
tively related to knowledge and adoption variables.

Economic Variables

 

Several studies have analyzed the relationship
between economic capacity, land tenure and adoption of
agricultural technology. A study by Hernandez (1975) of
factors which influence the adoption of innovation found
that risk capital, economic stability of the farm, and
land tenure were the three factors most commonly cited by
farmers in Quindio, Colombia.

In a study of the relationship of economic, edu-
cational and other variables to knowledge and adoption of
fertilizer by friendship group members in Tolima, Colombia,
Barrero (1978) found a highly significant association
between the physical adoption of fertilizer and membership
in friendship groups. This adoption was not found to be
related to the degree of knowledge of fertilizer practices;
rather a greater influence was considered to be the economic
and technical assistance given group members to increase
their coffee production. Barrero notes, however, that the
greater influence of economic variables may be related to
the emphasis on demonstration to educate the farmers in
fertilizer application. He suggests that demonstration is

a method which tends to promote adoption without knowledge.

35

In "The Communication and Economic Decision-Making
of Colombian Peasants," Gruning (1971) argues that commu-
nication (education) is a complementary factor in
modernization and that it can have little effectiveness
unless attention is paid to structural and institutional
constraints. This argument is supported by a study by
Havens and Flinn (1975) which concluded that farmers
in a Colombian community where a new coffee technology was
introduced were affected differentially according to their
economic resources. Their study found that those farmers
who began with higher incomes and owned more land could
better withstand the short-run loss of production during
change-over to the new technology and were eligible for
higher credit levels, which further increased their control
over income and land.

In order to provide the best explanation of the
way in Which the structure and function of the friendship
group affected each other and agrarian activities for situa-
tion improvement, this study controlled for the effect
of the following economic variables: farm size, land
tenure, amount owed on land, and credit use.

Mass Media Variables

 

In many studies mass media contact is treated as
a dependent variable. It is consistent with the theore-
tical interests of this study to reverse the emphasis and
treat mass media exposure as an enabling rather than a

dependent variable. The mass media have become a distinctive

 

36
feature of Colombian rural society, along with schools,
patterns of land ownership, credit availability, etc.
Since the other factors were treated as enabling variables
in the relationship between dialogical orientation and
network structure, it was appropriate to accord mass media
the same status. The indicators of mass media used in the
present study are: frequency of exposure to newspapers,
magazines, bulletins, and radio; radio ownership; and radio
program preference. Exposure to television has been found
to be insignificant in the area under study.

Education Variables

 

In the more developed countries, the educational
process has had a significant impact on national develop-
ment and growth. Similarly, this process is considered
vital for the existence and continuity of the so—called
developing countries. Education must, therefore, be
considered as a universal phenomenon and essential for the
moral and intellectual development of the individual in
society (Durkheim, 1961).

Basic education emphasizing literacy has been used
for some time as a vehicle for and indicator of national
development. Because there still exists a strong belief
that illiteracy is a constraint on the achievement of
development goals, literacy programs have been common to
all countries in Latin America.

However, the treatment of reading ability and formal

education as enabling variables is consistent with the view

37
that education is a complementary factor in development.
Buitron (1971) notes that "the fact that literacy
campaigns and community development projects have been
running year after year in practically every developing
country without much apparent gain is a clear sign of
their failure...The first and most important mistake
we have made and continue to make is our belief that we
can solve all the economic, social, cultural and political
problems through education alone.” This study adopted a
similar emphasis in controlling for the effect of reading
ability and formal education on the relationship between
dialogical orientation, network structure, and agrarian

activities for situation improvement.

Conclusion

 

Because there is often little similarity between
affective verbal responses and concommitant behavior,
the measure of affective outcomes, such as dialogical
orientation, is extremely difficult. There is no disputing
the validity of Ward's (1971) argument that "verbal data
on written tests can rarely be taken at face value. It is
too easy to misrepresent oneself, enhancing one's ego or
suppressing one's fears and guilts; and even when a person
wants to be open and honest he may not be sure of his own
feelings to speak or write with confidence.” These remarks
are pertinent to most nonformal education programs with
consciousness raising components in which measures consist

of Observation, interviews and self-report.

38

Yet, while the dialectical progression of ideas
basic to Kohlberg and Mayer's and Freire's definition
of education does not lend itself easily to quantitative
measure, it can be operationally defined. Keeping in
mind the limitations, the coding of responses to existen-
tial questions can operationalize the psychological
characteristics of a dialogical orientation and provide
a measure of affective change.

An early example of a coding system used to measure
attitude and value dimensions of dialogical orientation is
one developed by Almond and Vera (1965). They divided
respondents into three general classes the ”parochial,”

H

the "subject, and the ”participant." Each of these terms
describes how the respondents see their relationship with
the power structure. The principal scale used by the
evaluators was called the Subjective Political Competence
Scale, a Guttman scale.

The studies of Inkeles and Smith, Diaz-Bordenave,
Kahl, Williams et. al., and Lerner include measures which
were judged to be indicators of dialogical orientation.
Among the questions derived to measure psychological
dimensions of dialogical orientation were those which
attempted to measure: the possibility of expressing
dissenting opinion; history of taking unpopular action;
belief in maintaining one's opinion; difference of opinion
with neighbors; decision-making self-reliance; respect for

ideas of peers; self-confidence in expressing dissent; and

trust in neighbors, change agents and new acquaintances.

39

The substantive focus of these earlier studies was
the attitudes and values of target audiences of farmers and
workers. An important aspect of the present research is
its effort toward not only deriving measures of friendship
group participant orientations, but also toward devising
a separate instrument to measure the dialogical orientation
of change agents/group leaders. Because dialogical
orientation depends to a great extent on the genuine deter-
mination of the change agent to democratize the education
process and encourage participatory styles of learning, the
hypothesis is put forth that the more the leader perceives
his role as "facilitative" rather than "banking," the
higher level there will be of dialogical orientation.

Despite obvious difficulties in the assessment of
affective learning, progress can be made toward the develop-
ment of relevant measures by borrowing techniques from
sociology, anthropology and other social sciences. Galtung
and Weise (1972) argue that in order to capture more than
the formal elements of education the focus of such
"borrowed" techniques should be on the context of social
interaction and the connection between subjective states
and behavior. One newer, social interaction approach
inspired by sociology is network analysis. The network
procedure's assessment of communication links among members
of a social system can provide knowledge of social inter-

action which, as Duncan (1972), Harvey and Schroeder (1963)

40
and Davis and Phares (1967) have shown, is an indicator of
dialogical orientation.

The research which supports the relationship between
dialogical orientation and social interaction when applied
to Pastore, Wharton, and Haven's finding that most inno-
vations for small farmers have been largely inappropriate
also supports the proposition that dialogical orientation
is: l) positively related to innovation adaptation, use
of institutional resources, and activity for situation
improvement; and 2) negatively related to adoption.

The literature of the 1960's and 1970's consistently
associated education, mass media exposure, and farm size
with adoption of rural innovations and considered the
former two significant, if not crucial, to the development
process.

Because the available research suggests that certain

economic mass media, education, and social participation

 

1For research on the role of education in affecting
social change, see: D. Adams and R.M. Bjork, Education in
Developing Areas (New York: David McKay, 1971)T'J. Coleman,
ed., Education and Political Development (Princeton: Prince-
ton University Press, 19657) A. Ihkeles and D. Hoslinger, eds.,
Education and the Individual Modernity in Developing Countries
(London: E. Brill, 1974).

For research linking communication with development,
see: W. Schramm, Mass Media and National Development (Stanford
University Press, 19647; L.W. Pye, ed., Communication and
Political Development (Princeton: Princeton University Press,
1963); Daniel Lerner, The Passing of Traditional Society:
Modernizing the Middle East (New York, The Free Press, 1958);
E. Rogers, Modernization Among Peasants: The Impact of
Communication (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1969).

The common theoretical problem in these early studies
and research reviews is the assumption that education/commu-
nication plays an independent role in promoting socio-
politico-economic development.

 

 

 

 

41
variables are positively related to innovativeness, a
partial correlation statistical procedure has been utilized
to control for the effect of these-variables in the
relationship between paired sets of dialogical orientation,
network structure, and agrarian activities for situation
improvement variables in the hypotheses. These variables
include the following: age, farm size, land tenure,
amount owed on land, credit use, mass media exposure and
program preference, years of schooling, reading ability,
and years of membership and frequency of participation
in the friendship group. The central premise of the
enabling variable hypotheses is that the dialogical
orientation and network structure variables will bring forth
the responses they are predicted to produce only if they
are integrated with particular combinations of complementary
variables.

In order to avoid repetitive statements, hypotheses
have been summarized and presented in tabular form. Each
hypothesis, if stated in full, would be expressed in the
following manner:

The greater the incidence of variable X, then

the greater the incidence of variable ngand
Ehe lesser the incidence of variable Z.

 

 

 

Leader Role Conception X1

 

 

 

Functional Variables X2 Structural Variables X3
Dialogical Orientation System Connectedness
a. Disposition to Express Number of Opinion Leaders
Opinions

b. Perceived Range of
Decision-Making
c. Interpersonal Trust

42

Enabling Variables X4

 

Age
Farm Size
Land Tenure

Amount Owed on Land

Credit Use

Mass Media Exposure

Mass Media Program Preference

Years of Schooling

Reading Ability

Years of Group Membership

Frequency of Group Partici-
pation

Leader Role Conception

 

Functional Variables

 

Dependent Variables Y

 

Doubts about Innovations

Adaptation of Innovations

Activity for Situation
Improvement

Utilization of Institutional
Resources

Dependent Variables Z

 

Adoption of Innovation
Reliance on Extension Service

Structural Variables

 

 

Enabling
Dialogical Orientation Variables System Connectedness
A. Disposition to Extension agent Reliance
Express Opinions Economic No. of Opinion Leaders
B. Perceived Range of Education
Decision-Making Mass Media
C. Interpersonal Trust Participation
Demographic

Dependent Variables

 

Doubts about Innovations

Adaptation of Innovations

Adoption of Innovations

Activity for Situation Improvement
Utilization of Institutional Resources

Figure 2.

Relationships of the variables

43
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH SETTING

Agriculture in Colombia

 

Colombia is divided by three ranges of the Andes moun-
tains and two large rivers, which provide great variation
in elevation, climate, and soil, and allow for a wide
range of agricultural pursuits. Agriculture is the single
most important economic activity of Colombia, contributing
22.9 percent of the gross domestic product. It also
accounts for about 75 percent of export earnings and pro-
vides employment to about one-third of the economically
active population in the country (or 2.5 million people).1
The pattern of land ownership and the size of land-
holdings is central to the issue of agricultural productivity
as well as to other aspects of Colombian economic and social
life. The large estate or "latifundio" dominates the
pattern of land distribution in Colombia, as it does
throughout most of Latin America, in terms of both the
value of the land and the percentage of arable land it
comprises. According to the 1970 census, the highest
10 percent of farms in size held 80 percent of the arable
farmland, whereas 73 percent of the farms (those under

25 acres) occupied only 7 percent of the total farmland.2

 

lColombia Today, Vol. 14, No. 17, 1979.

2DANE, Censo 1970

 

 

44

In further extreme, the lowest 50 percent of agrarian
holdings accounted for only 2.3 percent of total farmland.l
Thus, half of the country' s agricultural holdings are plots
usually designated as "minifundia,” farms too small or too
poor in soil for adequate subsistence.

Another significant feature of the pattern of land
ownership in Colombia is that, despite a manifestly unequal
distribution, a large number of peasants own at least some
land. According to the 1970 census, almost 69 percent of
Colombia's farms were worked by their owners, and these
accounted for 75 percent of total farmland. Dix (1966: 30)
speculated that this phenomenon may explain the slowness
with which class consciousness has developed among rural
Colombians.

Agricultural Techniques and Practices

 

The traditional methods of preparing the soil, planting,
and cultivating crops, mainly by handtools, are still
followed in most of Colombia. The practice of slash—and-
burn agriculture, coupled with constant replanting of the
same crop and erosion by precipitation, has caused serious
soil exhaustion and depletion in many areas, particularly

in the highlands.

Most small-scale farmers work their farms with the
help of only their families, but in some areas, such as
Tolima and Huila, a system of cooperative labor prevails.

Originally called ”minka,‘ a Quechua word, cooperative

 

lDANE, Censo 1970

45
labor is now referred to as a "minga." The ”mingas"
are work parties or labor exchanges composed of friends,
relatives and neighbors and are used to perform particular
chores that require large numbers of workers. The work
generally concludes by midafternoon and is followed by a
meal provided by the host farmer.
Coffee

Coffee is by far the most important crop in
Colombia and a source of over 58 percent of foreign exchange
earnings.l Nearly two million people—-ten percent of
the total population-—aredependent on the cultivation,
processing or marketing of coffee as a principal source
of income.2 A detailed census of coffee farmers was taken
in 1970; it revealed that coffee was planted on over
2.6 million acres of land on more than 301,000 farms.3
Thus, coffee is planted on about a fifth of the total
cultivated area in Colombia.

Changes in Production Policy and the Pattern of Land
Ownership

 

 

For years, Colombia has been a steady supplier of
ten to fifteen percent of annual world coffee production.
However, since the 1969 Brazilian frost, Colombia has
followed a course aimed at increasing its share of the

international market. For example, during the first five

 

lColombia Today, Vol. 13, No. 11, 1978.

 

2Buzarell, P.J. Coffee Production and Trade in
Latin America, p. 20.

 

 

3Censo Cafetero, 1970.

 

46

months of 1979, Colombia exported 4.7 million bags of
green coffee, compared with 2.7 million bags in the same
period of 1978. During the October 1, 1978 to June 16, 1979
period Colombian coffee exports were 8 million bags, or
about 77 percent over exports during the comparable
period of the previous year.1

As a result of this new production policy, great
emphasis began to be placed on a technology characterized
by new high—yielding varieties, high density planting,
and intensive use of fertilizer; all of which contribute
to high productivity per hectare. While the annual
average of new plantings with modern technology between
1960 and 1969 was 1.913 hectares, for the period 1975-1979
the average was more than tripled to 6.37 hectares.2

The traditional system of coffee production is
characterized by the use of arab typical and bourbon
varieties of coffee, which are planted and maintained
under shade. The traditional technology permits the
planting of 900-1200 coffee trees and 150 banana trees per
hectare. The coffee harvest of these varieties begins
the fourth year and continues beyond the thirtieth year,
although declining in production after the twelfth year.
This system of production generally does not use chemical

fertilizer or uses them in limited doses.

 

1Coffee Intelligence, Vol. 41, Nos. 4/5.

 

2Economia Cafetera Colombiana, p. 77.

 

 

47

The modern system of coffee cultivation is charac-
terized by Brazilian varieties such as Caturra, New World,
and Villalobos, which are fully exposed to the sun and
receive intensive applications of chemical fertilizer.
The density of planting is as much as five times greater
than the traditional technology. However, the life cycle
of the tree is shorter; after approximately eight years
the coffee tree has to be cut to begin a new cycle. This
process takes the tree out of production for two years.1

The objectives of the Green Revolution in coffee
are to use technological innovation to increase coffee
production and to improve the standard of living in the
rural sector. However, several studies into the effects
of similar Green Revolution efforts have revealed that
the two objectives can result to be contradictory (Griffin,
1976; Havens and Flinn, 1974). The achievement of greater
productivity through more sophisticated and expensive
technology has been seen as accelerating the concentration
of land holdings and the dimunution in number of small-
scale coffee growers. The high productivity of Caturra,
for example, provides greater income to the farmer and
allows him to resist lower prices. But not everyone can
afford the renovation of coffee fields and intensive ferti-

lization required by the variety.2 Newly-planted coffee

 

1Economia Cafetera Colombiana, p. 75.

 

2Asociacion Nacional de Usarios Campesinos, p. 68.

 

48
trees require three years to come into production, which
requires that the land they occupy be taken out of
production for the same period. Thus, many small-scale
farmers require the extension of credit if they are to
take their land out of production.

The changing pattern of land ownership during the
period of technology transfer is reflected in two CCffee
sector surveys. A government survey conducted in 1965
found that 95 percent of the farm units were less than
10 hectares and these occupied 63.3 percent of the area

planted in coffee.1

By 1970, according to the Coffee
Census, the number of farm units less than 10 hectares
had been reduced to 69.5 percent and these occupied no
more than 31 percent of the area planted in coffee.2

Credit Allocation for Small-Scale Farmers

 

At the present time in Colombia, interest rates
are controlled and credit is largely rationed to selected
economic activities. Agricultural loans are channeled
through public or semi-public agricultural banks. In 1978
the Colombian Congress established that lines of credit for
renovation of coffee fields and purchasing of coffee
depulping equipment be extended by the Fondo Credito Cafeto
(Coffee Credit Fund), Banco Cafetero (Coffee Bank), Caja
Agraria (Agrarian Bank), Convenio Comite (Coffee-Growers
Committee Agreement), and Fondo Rotario Renovacion (Revolving

Renovation Fund).

 

1DANE

2Censo Cafetero, 1970.

49

A study by Havens and Flinn (1975) found that
credit was not supplied to over half the coffee growers
they interviewed in a Colombian community where Caturra
had been introduced. They concluded that those coffee
growers who began with higher incomes and owned more land
could better withstand the short-run loss of production
incurred during the change-over and were eligible for
higher credit levels, which further increased their control
over income and land.

Concern for the phenomenon represented by the dis-
placement of small-scale coffee growers was expressed by
a 1978 government commission report. The commission cited
rising property values and insufficient credit resources
as the two major reasons for the sale of farms and immi-
gration to the cities on the part of small-scale coffee
growers. The 1975 frost in Brazil had produced a sizeable
increase in coffee cultivation and coffee land values in
Colombia. The credit resources of the major agricultural
banks were insufficient to meet the heightened demands of
large and small farmers alike. As a stabilizing measure,
the commission recommended that agricultural banks develop
credit programs aimed directly at the small-scale coffee
grower.

After 1978, renovation loans from the agricultural

banks could be made only to farmers whose net assets were

 

lRevista Cafetera de Colombia, No. 169, May-August

 

1978.

49

A study by Havens and Flinn (1975) found that
credit was not supplied to over half the coffee growers
they interviewed in a Colombian community where Caturra
had been introduced. They concluded that those coffee
growers who began with higher incomes and owned more land
could better withstand the short-run loss of production
incurred during the change-over and were eligible for
higher credit levels, which further increased their control
over income and land.

Concern for the phenomenon represented by the dis-
placement of small-scale coffee growers was expressed by
a 1978 government commission report. The commission cited
rising property values and insufficient credit resources
as the two major reasons for the sale of farms and immi—
gration to the cities on the part of small-scale coffee
growers. The 1975 frost in Brazil had produced a sizeable
increase in coffee cultivation and coffee land values in
Colombia. The credit resources of the major agricultural
banks were insufficient to meet the heightened demands of
large and small farmers alike. As a stabilizing measure,
the commission recommended that agricultural banks develop
credit programs aimed directly at the small-scale coffee
grower.

After 1978, renovation loans from the agricultural

banks could be made only to farmers whose net assets were

 

lRevista Cafetera de Colombia, No. 169, May-August

 

1978.

50

less than 1 million pesos. This excludes most middle-
sized farmers whose property values have increased beyond
one million pesos with the coffee bonanza of the 1970's.

The under-utilization of credit is also partly
attributed to the collateral needed to obtain loans. A
number of small-scale farmers have neglected to register
titles with their municipalities. The attitude of the
local bank director is all—important in credit extension
to such farmers. As indicated in the table below, small
farmers with assets of less than one million pesos have
utilized in the first semester of 1979 only a fraction of
the renovation credit available to them.

Table 1

Credit Use January — June, 1979 (in pesos)

 

 

Renovation
Available Approved LE Utilized
Tolima 40,000 12,155 30.4
Colombia 300,000 41,539 13.8

De—pulping

 

Tolima 40,200 40,200 100.0
Colombia 300,000 263,955 88.0

 

In the state of Tolima, where this study took place,
land is cheaper than the rest of Colombia. Therefore, net
assets are less on the average and more farmers qualify for
renovation loans. This is reflected in the difference in re-

novation credit use between Tolima and the country as a whole.

51

The National Federation of Coffee-Growers

 

The changing pattern of land ownership and credit
allocation relates to recent efforts of the National Fede—
ration of Coffee-Growers (Federacion Nacional de Cafeteros -
FEDERACAFE) in coffee zone development. The objective of
this section is to describe the origins, organizational
structure, and nonformal education programs of FEDERACAFE
in order to place its role within the rural development
process in proper perspective.

Origins of FEDERACAFE

 

The creation of the National Federation of Coffee-
Growers was given impetus by the collapse of coffee prices
in the period immediately following World War I. While
the price of coffee in New York descended in the course
of one year from 31 to 18 cents per pound, the internal
price of a ”carga" of coffee (125 kilograms) fell even
more dramatically from $60 to $20 Colombian pesos. To
add to the anxiety of coffee producers, the reduction in
price occurred simultaneously with an inflationary rise
in the costs of consumer goods, tools, and agricultural
wages.l In an effort to defend the internal‘and external
price of coffee, several of the larger Colombian coffee
producers convened a congress of coffee growers.

The National Federation of Coffee-Growers was
created in June, 1927 at the Second National Coffee Growers
Congress in Medellin, The basic legislation which esta-

blished the pattern of relations betwen FEDERACAFE and the

 

lKoffman, 1969, p. 75.

52
government was Law 76 of 1927, which provided for a 10 cent
tax on each 60 kilogram sack of coffee exported. This tax
was designed to produce annually about $250,000 pesos for
such FEDERACAFE activities as coffee propaganda, technical
instruction to coffee growers, coffee warehouses and study
missions.

Functions on Behalf of the Small-Scale Farmer

 

Although the principal objective of the national
coffee organization, the international defense of the
Colombian coffee industry, has not changed since its
inception, one of the avowed purposes of FEDERACAFE is to
protect the small producer and to represent him at the
national level. Despite the fact that small and medium-
sized producers did not participate directly in the
creation and organization of FEDERACAFE, their economic
situation was improved by the price support and technical
assistance programs initiated by the new interest group.
In order to protect the producer from falling coffee prices,
FEDERACAFE has since its inception bought the farmers'
coffee when prices have descended below a certain minimum,
allowing the producer to reap a small profit, and then has
sold it in the domestic or foreign market or has stored

it within the country.

 

1Revista Cafetera de Colombia, No. 147, May-August

 

1970.

2Blutstein et. al., p. 358.

53

The number and kind of FEDERACAFE functions on
behalf of coffee producers represent a multidimensional,
wholistic understanding of rural social system interre-
lationships. Though generally specific to one crop, the
assistance program to coffee producers includes: diffusion
within the country of the most productive system of coffee
cultivation; creation of coffee warehouses, agricultural
supply stores, cooperatives and savings and credit banks;
organization and administration of experimental farms and
laboratories; establishment of hospitals and health centers
and campaigns to improve nutrition, drinking water and
general hygiene; rural youth and rural adult study and
discussion groups; and provision of aid and technical
assistance for works of common utility such as community
roads, electrification, water systems, and housing.1

The price support program of FEDERACAFE is reflected
in the evolution of internal and external prices of coffee

shown in the following table.

 

lEstatutosdela Federacion Nacional de Cafeteros,
1975, PP. 4-9.

54
Table 2

 

Evolution of Internal and External Coffee Prices
and National Indices of Cost of Living

(Index: January, 1975 = 100)

Internal Price External Price Cost of Living

 

 

 

Jan. 1975 100 0 100.0 100.0
April 1975 97.4 84.8 107.3
July 1975 102.4 105.4 110.6
Sept. 1975 120.0 115.2 111.9
Jan. 1976 168.0 127.8 116.9
April 1976 208.0 169.1 124.3
July 1976 243.6 204.2 132.6
Sept. 1976 250.9 236.0 136.7
Jan. 1977 296.8 281.0 147.2
April 1977 290.1* 407.2* 171.5*
July 1977 292.0 209.4 187.4
Sept. 1977 292.0 245.1 186.1
Jan. 1978 292.0 262.2 187.8
April 1978 292.0 246.1 199.9
July 1978 292.0 222.0 208.7
Sept. 1978 292.0* 230.2* 209.5
Percent of

Increase 192.0 130.2 109.5

 

Source: Congreso Nacional de Cafeteros, Informe del Gerente,
December 1978.

 

*It can be seen in the table that movements in the external
price of coffee from April 1977 to September-1978 are not
reflected in the internal prices. FEDERACAFE guarantees

a stable price to the producer through the distribution of
external income: 52 percent to the producer, 32 percent
to the National Coffee Fund, and 16 percent to state taxes.
The purchase, storage and sale of coffee is the primary
purpose of the National Coffee Fund. In addition the the
growers' contributions, the fund is financed by export
taxes, export sales made directly by FEDERACAFE and sales
to private exporters.

55

Organizational Structure of FEDERACAFE

 

The basic elements of the internal organizational
structure of FEDERACAFE includes the National Coffee
Congress, the National Coffee Committee, the General Manager,
and the state and municipal committees.

The National Coffee Congress has been since the
creation of FEDERACAFE the maximum body of direction and
control. The delegates to the Congress are elected by
departmental committees. The representation allowed
each department, between one and six delegates, is deter-
mined according to coffee production. The Coffee Congress
is normally convened in alternate years, however extraor-
dinary sessions may be called at any time. The main
activities of the Congress concern the determination of
policy on major coffee industry issues, election of members
to the National Committee, election of the General
Manager, issuance of the FEDERACAFE budget, and decisions
on salaries of FEDERACAFE employees.1

The National Committee of Coffee—Growers meets
once a week, with extraordinary sessions when dictated
by circumstances. The executive committee is composed of
eleven members, six elected each two years by the Coffee
Congress and five representatives of the national govern-
ment - the ministries of Foreign Relations, Housing and
Public Credit, Development, Agriculture, and the Manager of

the Agrarian Bank. There are also subcommittees in which

 

lEstatutosdela Federacion Nacional de Cafeteros,

 

1975.

56

only the coffee growers elected by the Coffee Congress
participate. Several of these committees, such as the
technical and propaganda committees, deal with specialized
functions of FEDERACAFE and have considerable autonomy.
The National Committee authorizes and implements
FEDERACAFE contracts which involve the national govern-
ment. It organizes the national and international campaigns
advertising Colombian coffee, such as the promotion of
the image of the ”typical" coffee-grower, Juan Valdez.
The National Committee promotes any legal arrangements
which favor the coffee industry, adopts and negotiates
means of developing and defending the industry with
private and official groups. The Committee also is
responsible for planning and budgeting of technical
services or research, instruction, rural projects, and
storage warehouses.l

The general manager of FEDERACAFE is chosen by
the Coffee Congress from a special three-man board elected
by a two-thirds vote of the National Committee. The general
manager is allowed a high degree of autonomy in both foreign
negotiations and the setting of domestic coffee policy.
He presents proposals to the Congress in the determination
of FEDERACAFE policies, reports monthly to National Committee
and the Congress on FEDERACAFE's financial situation and

the status of projects undertaken in the international markets.

 

1Estatutosdela Federacion Nacional de Cafeteros, 1975.

 

57
The general manager is the official FEDERACAFE spokesman
to Colombia and the world. Arturo Gomez Jaramillo has been
the general manager since 1958; the latest of only seven
general managers in FEDERACAFE's history.

At the national level, FEDERACAFE maintains a
Technical Division, charged with the diffusion of know-
ledge among coffee growers and the orientation and
administration of educational programs through the state
committees. Investigation into the methods of coffee
cultivation and processing is carried out by the Technical
Division in its experimental farms. The Division's Exten-
sion Service is responsible for the diffusion of the
technical knowledge gained in these investigations. Within
the Extension Service are four departments which are
responsible for nonformal and formal education programs
to improve the standard of living of the coffee growers:
Education; Communications; Supervision; and Feminine
Programs.

The claims of FEDERACAFE to be a representative,
cooperative association are supported by its foundation
of state and municipal committees. However, since
FEDERACAFE was first organized at the national level, it
had to create a local organization. By 1965, FEDERACAFE
had organized 70 state and municipal committees in 12 states
where coffee is grown.

The National Committee elects half of the members

of the state committees and the municipal committees elect

58

Figure 3

 

CONGRESO CAFETERO I

 

1

l CONFERENCIA CAFETERA 1

 

 

L COMITE NACIONAL '1

 

 

[WHITE TECNICO

l

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lito Moderna Ltd., Bogota, 1974.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

sue-comm
aecunvo
1 Comm. 5
_ J 7 Dopertambe
[ GERENCIA GENERAL l c, “Mm
nm L _ J T 7 OFICINAS EN
cm. w I J a. memos
[ GEHENCIA AUXILIAR ]
blade". Public-e
'._ - l I - l l ,
GERENCIA PROGFgliAHA DE PROGRAMA GERENCIA
1 720mm 695335.:8‘65‘33” DE sowsuzs ADMINISTRADVA
. DMelbn a. omnon do
__ - - m tendons“

, um» sue—omscclou _ c I I WEM” 32:35:33...
WM" 6. __ mm do Auntie
sumac». ”g”,,"°“,,,,g'," me-

+_ W OHM 60
General ‘ a
0mm do
Donna. L... .
— II. C m :rpuioctw:
L, comm
“mien
Source: Cenicafe, La Federacion Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia,

59
the other half. Koffman (1969) has observed that the
subordinate structure of state and municipal committees
does not really articulate the views of small coffee
producers. The members of state committees are either not
primarily coffee growers, or if they are, occupy an
economic and social plane beyond most growers. Municipal
committees, on the other hand, are often inactive for want
of people to serve.1 This situation can be attributed
to the lack of power invested in these committees. The
statutes of FEDERACAFE fail to delegate any administrative
responsibility or evident function to the municipal
committees beyond serving as a channel of communication
between the local producers and the state committee.

The development stimulation functions of the state
committees concern the provision of technical and marketing
assistance and a wide variety of services designed to improve
the welfare of the coffee-growing community. One of the major
programs is distribution of fertilizer, seeds, tools, and
other supplies at cost price to the producers. State
committee extension agents visit individual farms and hold
group meetings in order to advocate the adoption of modern
and productive practices, and recommend financial assistance
for approved projects. Budgetary limitations have been a

severe constraint on the rante and depth of extension

 

lKoffman, p. 187.

21bid.

60
Figure 4

 
 
 
 
 
  
     
  
 

Coldos

Riscroldo

 

Cundinomarco

Deportornent
Tolima

sex

8
\0

 
    
 

5?
e"

.9/
Q

ill 1. Villa Hermosa
V0 e 2. San Juan

3. Ibague

     

Couca

l_—l—

0 25 50 km.
_J

Atlas Banco de lo RepObllco.

61
activities; it was estimated in 1964 that FEDERACAFE
extension was making individual contact with only ten percent
of the coffee growers.1 Cost-effectiveness was a major
argument in the conversion of extension work from individuals
to friendship groups.

Work with Small-Scale Coffee Growers in Tolima

 

The State of Tolima covers 23,325 kilometers and
is situated in the center of the most economically active
area of Colombia. Approximately 44 percent of Tolima is
mountainous terrain with the temperate and cool altitudes
(1,000 - 3,000 meters) considered most ideal for the
cultivation of coffee. The contribution of Tolima's
agriculture production to the national agricultural pro-
duction is around ten percent. Tolima is Colombia's
leading producer of rice and peanuts, second in cotton,
and third in coffee.2

According to a 1974 census, population in Tolima
is about one million people or 4.2 percent of the Colombian
population. The urban population is 49 percent, most of
whom live in the cities of Ibague, Armero, Melgar, Honda,
Espinal, Libano, Fresno, Giradot, and Chaparral. About
51 percent of the state's inhabitants live in rural areas

and small towns.

 

JSaldriaga, M. ”La Fundacion Manuel Mejia," Revista
Cafetera de Colombia, No. 16, October, 1964, p. 14.

 

2Tolima Imagen Socioeconomica, nos. 25-26, 1979.

 

62

The fammers of Tolima's mountain highlands were
among the groups who suffered most during the period of
civil and political strife ("la violencia”) which beset
Colombia from 1945-1957.1 ‘Many of the farmers emigrated
to Ibague (the state capital), to Bogota and other cities
where they added to the urban explosion and social problems.

The production of cotton, rice, corn and other
tropical crops has undergone a process of mechanization in
the years since ”la violencia.” As the lowlands became
more important centers of agricultural production the Colom-
bian government began a water control development that now
provides for the irrigation of some 100,000 hectares of
productive lowland farms. However, in the more mountainous
terrain, traditional agricultural practices have until
recently been unchallenged.

The average size of coffee farms in Tolima is
slightly higher than the national average. The average
size of a coffee farm in Tolima is 22.65 hectares compared

to an average for the country as a whole of 15.02. As the

 

lThe ”violencia" in Colombia cost 100,000 lives.
Its origin was in the traditional antagonism between the
Conservative and Liberal parties as bands of faithful
of one party razed villages of the other, provoking ven-
geance in kind. The Conservative government grew
increasingly repressive and utilized police and armed
forces against the guerilla armies of the Liberals.

63
higher average suggests, the number and total acreage of
larger-sized coffee farms is greater in Tolima than the
number and total acreage of those classes in the country
asaiwhole. Table 3 shows comparative frequencies and
areas planted in coffee by size of farm for Tolima and

Colombia (all states).

 

 

Table 3
Tolima
Frequency (Z) Coffee Area (%)

Less than 1 ha. 3.98 .36
l - 5.99 has. 32.86 11.39
6 - 9.99 has. 15.86 9.75
10—19.99 has. 20.43 18.45
20—49.99 has. 17.06 25.21
50-99.99 has. 6.14 15.47
More than 100 has. 3.66 19.37

100.00 100.00

Colombia

Less than 1 ha. 12.64 1.59
l - 5.99 has. 44.20 18.60
6 — 9.99 has 12.69 10.90
10-19.99 has 13.85 18.04
20-49.99 has 10.81 23.24
50499.99 has 3.63 12.83
More than 100 has. 2.18 14.80

100.00 100.00

Source: Censo Cafetero 1971, Federacion Nacional de Cafe-
teros de Colombia, Division de Investigaciones Economicas,
Presentaciones Preliminares, Anexo No. 2.

 

 

It can be seen from Table 3 that 73.13 percent of
the coffee farms in Tolima are small and medium-sized
(less than 20 hectares) and these comprise only 39.5 percent
of the area planted in coffee. This compares with 83.8 per-
cent small and medium sized farms occupying 49.13 percent

of the area planted in coffee for Colombia as a whole.

64
The size difference between coffee farms in Tolima
and the rest of Colombia is also reflected in the average
size of the farms of friendship group members. Table 4
shows that: l) the average size of friendship group mem-
bers' farms is less than the national average; and 2) the
average size in Tolima of non-members' and members' farms

alike is higher than the national average.

 

 

Table 4
Average size of coffee farms Average size of coffee farms
(all coffee growers) (group members)
Tolima 22 65 has. 15.31 has.
Colombia 15.02 has. 11.77 has.

 

Source: Estudio de Investigacion Sobre Grupos de Amistad,
FEDERACAFE, 1974}

 

Despite the differences in average farm sizes be—
tween friendship group members in Tolima and the rest of
the country, the pattern of land tenure among group members
in Tolima adheres closely to the national average. As indi—
cated in Table 5, the difference in the frequency of

ownership is only 1.1 percent.

Table 5

 

Land Tenure of Group Members

 

 

Owners Renters Salaried

No. % No. % No. X

Tolima 3,984 80 700 14.1 180 3.7
Colombia 15,793 78.9 2,137 10.7 1,153 5.8

 

Source: Estudio Sobre Grupos de Amistad, FEDERACAFE, 1974.

 

65

Based on the preceding tables, we can conclude that
coffee farms in Tolima are slightly larger than the national
average with a corresponding greater frequency of medium
and large-sized farms. While friendship group activity in
Tolima corresponds to the rest of Colombia in its emphasis
on smaller-scale producers, the group members in Tolima
have on the average larger farms than group members in the
rest of the country. Finally, the pattern of land tenure
among group members in Tolima and in Colombia (all states)
is roughly the same.

Although these combinations of factors did not
directly play a role in the selection of Tolima as the
site of the study, in all probability they have some bearing
on the one factor that did determine site selection; i.e.,
the density of friendship group populations in the state.
Approximately thirty percent of the groups and 27 percent
of the participants in the nation-wide friendship group
program are located in Tolima.l

The Tolima State sections of Villa Hermosa, San
Juan, and Ibague are among the areas most densely popula-
ted with friendship groups in Colombia. Because of their
geographical isolation and the significant population
which they could provide for census study of communication

networks, they were selected as the setting for research.

 

1The author speculates that this phenomenon is
attributed to the greater capacity of the larger-scale
farmers to accept new innovations as well as the enthusiasm
and organizational ability of the Tolima State Committee's
administration.

66

Table 6

The Number and Membership of Friendship
Groups in Colombia and Tolima 1968-1978

 

Friendship Groups

 

 

 

7‘€Colombia **Tolima

Years Groups Members Groups Members

1968/69 39 4,728

1969/70 596 7,152

1970/71 1,109 12,424

1971/72 1,856 20,649

1972/73 2,398 27,251

1973/74 2,767 31,883 750 7,698

1974/75 2,931 32,667 777 7,564

1975/76 2,983 32,278 796 7,342

1976/77 2,861 30,838 769 7,353
'* 1977/78 2,425 26,394 725 7,078

 

*Economia Cafetera, Vol. 8, No. 12.

 

Economicas (December 1978), p. 5.

m"Coffee—Growers Committee of Tolima, report (mimeo).

Federacion Nacional
de Cafeteros de Colombia, Division de Investigaciones

7“*‘kBased on interviews conducted in August, 1979 with personnel
of the FEDERACAFE extension service and with former members
of friendship groups, it is assumed that the statistics
for 1976-78 are inflated as much as 50 percent and there-
fore do not adequately represent the drastic decline in
Local extension personnel have
frequently failed to report the disbanding of groups to
state and national committees.

group membership.

Ib—

67
CHAPTER IV
RESEARCH DESIGN

Level of Analysis

 

Research on communication network structure involves
various levels of social system complexity. As indicated
by Farace and Korzenny (1977), Guimaraes (1972), and
Rogers (1975), the social system complexity of which the
density of communication flows may be analyzed ranges from
the individual to the macro-social level. The focus of the
present study is on the pathways through which information
in rural community group systems flow.

The purpose of the network aspect of this study
is to analyze: 1) the patterns of interpersonal informa-
tion flows exhibited internally by several friendship
groups; 2) the patterns of interpersonal information flows
exhibited by each group in reference to each other; and
3) the relationships between the patterns of internal
interpersonal information flows and variuos sociopsycholo-
gical and socioeconomic variables.

Sample Design

 

The sampling designs of studies which employ net-
work analysis generally consist of all eligible respondents
so that all the linkages in a social system can be analyzed.
As compared to monadic analysis, network designs place less

emphasis on the ability to generalize research results and

 

1A network analysis study conducted by Braun (1975)
of radio school participants in Colombia failed to uncover
interconnections between social systems because the sample
of five communities in different geographical areas did not
allow for outsiders from contiguous communities.

68
more emphasis on determining how social structure variables
affect information flows (Rogers, 1975).

Communities in this study were chose from the same
geographic area (northern Tolima) in order to assess linkages
which may integrate the various small groups into a larger
communication system. The population consisted of
544 members of friendship groups in the Tolima State sec—
tionals of Villa Hermosa, San Juan, and Ibague.

The maps which follow indicate the sectionals or
regions, districts and friendship groups involved in the
present study. Region 1, Villa Hermosa, is divided into
four districts (0-3). Each district represents the work
zone of a practico and contains a number of friendship
groups which ranges from three (District 0) to eight
(District 3). The dots scattered around the map indicate
the houses of the friendship group members and other
farmers in the region.

Region 11, San Juan de la China, is composed of
one district and ten friendship groups. Region III, Ibague,
contains five districts with the number of friendship
groups in each varying from one (District 3) to ten
(District 1).

The friendship group is the level of analysis for
all but one of the hypotheses presented in the study.

The exception relates to the facilitativeness of the

practico, which uses the district as the level of analysis.

 

 

 

IEGION 11
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72

Instrument Construction and Data Collection

 

The survey instrument used was a questionnaire.
Most of the questions were close-ended and pre—coded. An
original English draft was submitted to evaluation by
Michigan State University experts and then corrected and
carried to Colombia for translation into Spanish and
pre-testing.

The corrected draft was pre-tested with small
groups of coffee growers, practicos, extension agents, and
agronomists, revised and then used in a pilot test involving
8 interviewers and 32 coffee grower respondents. Based on
the conclusions derived from the pilot test, several ques—
tionnaire items were modified and reorganized. Care was
taken to maintain the length of interviews at approximately
45 minutes.

The eight interviewers used in the pilot test were
divided into four teams for the final study. An assess-
ment of the pilot study performance of the interviewers
was made in order to focus training sessions on problem
areas prior to data collection. The actual field work was
completed in ten weeks. As a reliability check, each
interview was validated and edited by the researcher working
with the district supervisor familiar with both the friend-
ship group and respondent in question.

Questionnaires were forwarded to Michigan State

University, coded, and transferred to IBM cards.

73
Qperationalization of the Variables
The major purpose of the present study is to analyze

the relationships of dialogical orientation and network
structure with several other social structure, education

and communication variables. The following discussion
describes the rationale behind the variables and how each
of them was operationalized.

Dialogical Orientation

 

Dialogical orientation refers to the openness of

 

a system to diverse and conflicting information flows.

Our operational definition of dialogical orientation,
derived from measures indicated earlier, was the relative
perceived range of decision-making, disposition to express
opinions, and level of interpersonal trust among the
friendship groups in question.

The following items were used to measure perceived

range of decisiondmaking or the belief that one's role
in decision-making is significant and active:

1. When you are in a group meeting, do you prefer
to take decisions yourself, or do you prefer
others to take them for you?

2. When the group discusses a subject, should
one pay more attention to the ideas of the
group members or to the ideas of the practico?

3. Suppose an agricultural practice was being
discussed that you considered harmful or

inappropriate. What do you think you could do?

 

 

74

4. If you made an effort to have the group re-
consider the practice, how likely is it
that you would succeed?

The first of the above items was designed to
measure decision-making self-reliance, and the second
attempted to measure respect for ideas of peers and
superiors. The third and fourth items attempted respec-
tively to measure self-confidence in expressing dissent,
and the belief that one's role in decision—making is
significant.

The following items attempted to measure disposi-
tion to express opinions or the belief that to overcome
problems it is often necessary to express independent
or unpopular opinions:

1. If you considered that the agricultural
practice being discussed in the group was
harmful or inappropriate, how likely is it
that you would actually try to do something
about it?

2. Do you ever remember ever doing such a thing?

3. Some people say that an agriculturalist should
insist on his own opinion even if his group
disagrees with him. What is your opinion?

4. Suppose I talk to other men in this community
about coffee cultivation. Would many, a few,

or no one have different opinions than you?

 

75

The first of the above items attempted to measure
the possibility of expressing dissenting opinions, and the
second was intended to measure the respondent's history
of taking unpopular action. The third item.was designed
to measure belief in maintaining one's own opinion, and the
fourth, the difference of opinion with neighbors.

The following items were used to measure interper—
sonal trust or the belief that neighbors, the practico,
and people in general can be relied on to meet their
obligations:

1. When you have personal problems do you

discuss them with your neighbors?

2. Would you say that most people like to

help others or like to watch out for
themselves?
3. Would you say that practicos, in general,
keep the promises they make?

4. When you meet someone for the first time,
should you trust him until he proves
unworthy, be cautious until you know him
better, or not trust him because he may
take advantage of you?

The above four items were intended to measure
respectively: trust in neighbors; a more general belief
in the basic honesty of people; trust in extension agents;

and trust in new acquaintances.

76
An index of dialogical orientation was constructed
for each group be averaging individual raw scores for the
above twelve items. (See Appendix A)

Communication Network Variables

 

System connectedness refers to the degree to which

 

individuals in a system are linked by interpersonal commu-
nication flows.

Influence leader concentration is defined as the

 

degree to which individuals in a system have a relatively
greater degree of influence with respect to specific ideas,
innovations, and practices.

Reliance on extension service refers to the degree

 

to which members of the extension service have a relatively
greater degree of influence with respect to ideas, innova-
tions and practices.

The three variables above deal with patterns of
interpersonal communication network interactions. Socio-
metric questions have frequently been used as the basis for
the measure of interpersonal communication structure in
social systems (Korzenny, Farace and Greenberg, 1978;
Rogers, 1975; Braun, 1975; and Guimaraes, 1972).

System connectedness, influence leader concentration,

 

 

and reliance on extension agent were therefore measured by

 

the sociometric choices received by the group members in
response to questions explicitly concerned with interpersonal
discussion of especially selected innovations. The questions

asked were:

 

 

77

1. Would you please give me the names of all
persons with whom you have talked about
fertilizer in the last months?

2. Would you please give me the names of all
persons with whom you have talked about
credit in the last six months?

3. Would you please give me the names of all
persons with whom you have talked about
the most appropriate number of children for
a family in the last six monts?

The data obtained in response to the questions

above were run through a network program, whose output

 

provides an index of the relative integration of each
member of the communication structure from which can be
derived indices of system connectedness, opinion leader
concentration, and reliance on extension service.
Integration through direct links was measured by
the degree of direct, one-step connections between pairs
of individuals. Because it is too easy to misrepresent

oneself, enhancing one's ego, direct message flows were not

 

1System connectedness is expessed as the ratio of
actual communication relationships to possible communication
relationships in a group. Influence leaders were identified
as those individuals sociometrically nominated by at least
30 percent of the respondents in the group. Reliance on
extension service is expressed as the ratio of sociometric
choices received by the practico to the number of possible
sociometric choices he could receive in the group.

 

 

78

reconstructed by listing people who sought information
from whom they had sought information on credit and/or
fertilizer. Each respondent and contactee was assigned
a 6-digit code which identified him by region, subregion
(the territory of the practico), and friendship group (or,
as the case may be, as not belonging to a friendship group).

The sociometric data for the 544 respondents were
arranged by friendship group in a who-to—whom matrix re-
presenting the choosers and the individuals chosen for the
credit and fertilizer variables. (The family planning
variable was eliminated due to an insignificant number of
nodes.) An index of system connectedness for each friend-
ship group was then computed on the basis of all one-step
links to all possible in the group. This procedure required
130 computer runs; one run for fertilizer links and one run
for credit links for each of the 65 friendship groups.

Leader Role Conception

 

Leader role conception refers to the attitudes and

 

values of the extension agent related to his role as a
depositor of information or a stimulator of dialogue. In
order to measure extension agent facilitativeness, a separate
seven-item close-ended questionnaire was constructed and
administered to all nine of the practicos who coordinated

the friendship groups involved in the study. A leader role
conception index was constructed by summing the non-zero
responses (responses were coded either ”0" or "1") for each

practico. (See Appendix B)

 

79

Knowledge, Adaptation—Adoption and Continued Use of
Innovations

 

 

Knowledge of innovations was operationally defined

 

as the relative extent of a group's doubts about how to
put into practice ten agricultural and credit innovations,
as compared with other groups. The approach assumed an
equivalency in importance of the ten innovations. The
practices used to establish knowledge (as well as adapta-
tion-adoption and continued use were: coffee planting;
tiering of terrain; nursery construction; germinator
construction; pest control; disease control; erosion
control; fertilization; de—pulping machin construction;
and use of credit.

The group members were asked the degree of doubts
they had about how to put into practice on their coffee
farm the above ten innovations.

Adaptation-adoption of innovations refers to the

 

modification, rejection or adoption in form recommended
of the ten innovations specified in the present study.

The group members were asked which of the ten
practices they modified, discarded, or used as recommended
due to the special conditions on their coffee farms.

Continued use of innovations refers to the relevant

 

extent of a group's continued use of the ten practices as
compared with other groups.
Group members were asked how frequently they were

using the innovations at the time of the interview.

 

80

Utilization of Institutional Resources

 

The operationalization of utilization of institu-

 

tional resources consisted of asking group members the

 

frequency of their visits to the state and municipal
agricultural assistance offices and the motives for their
visits.

Activity for Situation Improvement

 

Activity for situation improvement refers to

 

activity to acquire more land, income, credit and tools.
Its operationalization consisted simply of asking the
group members whether they were doing something to obtain
more land, credit, income and tools.

Enabling Variables

 

Age.-—Respondents were asked their age.

Farm size.-—Respondents were asked to indicate the

 

total number of hectares they own.

Land Tenure Status --Respondents were asked if

 

they owned, rented the land, or worked for others.

Amount Owed on Land.--Respondents were asked the

 

amount they owed on their land.

Credit Use.-—Respondents were asked how many times

 

they had received credit.

Mass Media Exposure.——The indicators of mass media

 

exposure in the present study are frequency of exposure to

radio, newspapers and magazines, and journals and bulletins.
An index of exposure for each group was created by averaging
the percent of exposure for each medium and then calculating

the mean for the three categories of media.

 

81

Radio Program Preference.--Respondents were asked

 

to rank types of radio programs in order of preference.
.Agriculture received a 3, news, a 2, and sports and music,
a 1.

Radio and Television Ownership.—-Respondents were
asked if they owned: 1) a radio set; 2) a television set.

Years of Schooling,--Respondents were asked how
many years of formal schooling they had completed.

Reading Ability.--Respondents were asked to read a
4l-word passage in Spanish and were assigned 1-3 points
based on the interviewer's evaluation of their reading
proficiency.

Length of Time as Group Member.--Respondents were

 

asked how long they had been members of a friendship group.

Frequency of GroupParticipation.--Respondents were
asked how frequently they assisted in friendship group
meetings.

Statistical Analysis

 

The two main statistical procedures used to analyze
the collected data are network analysis and partial corre-
lation. Tests of significance were set at the .05 level
of probability.

Network analysis has its origins in sociometry,
where substantive interest has been in the interpersonal
choices of individuals. The network procedure assesses
sociometric data about communication flows among members

of a social system (Rogers, 1975). By means of reported

82

interpersonal communication linkages, network analysis
synthesizes the information regarding flows within the
communication network, rendering statistical descriptions
of the communication roles and relationships in the social
structure (Korzenny and Farace, 1978).

The lowest level units described by the network
procedure, communication roles or role systems, include
contacts, cliques, liaisons, bridges, isolates, and dyads.

A contact (contactee) is defined as a person who

 

is listed on a network questionnaire as someone with whom
the respondent has communicated about a specific topic.

A clique is defined as a structural sub-grouping
of contacts-contactees whose elements interact with each
other relatively more often than with other members of the
communication system.

A liaison is defined as an individual who links
two or more cliques in a system, but who is not a member
of any clique.

A bridge is defined as an individual who links
two or more cliques in a system from his position as a
member of one of the cliques.

An isolate is defined as an individual who has no
links with any member of the communication system.

A dyad is defined as a structural sub-grouping
in which two elements are engaged in mutual interaction.

Taking the friendship group structure as the level

of analysis, the network routine was used to measure the

83
communication connectedness and the communication leadership
of the groups. The former refers to the degree to which
the units in a system are inter-connected by communication
linkages. The latter, used to analyze influence leader
concentration and reliance on the practico, refers to per-
sons who are sought by other persons in the communication
system.with a relatively greater frequency than most other
members.

In operational terms, a system's connectedness is
defined as the sum of actual direct connections between
pairs of individuals divided by the sum of all possible
direct connections. The formula for computing the
system connectedness index is:

aij where a.. = the sum of actual

ij .
N(N—l) connections

and N(N-l) = the number of all
possible connections.

Once the roles and relationships in the friendship
group communication structure have been determined, the
network data can be transformed into variables entered into
partial correlation equations with dialogical orientation.

Partial correlation refers to the correlation
between any two variables when the effects of the other
variables have been controlled (Blalock, 1972). This
control is obtained by a procedure which adjusts values of
the dependent and independent variables in order to take
into consideration the scores of the control variables.

Partial correlation yields a single measure summarizing

 

84
the degree of relationship between dialogical orientation
and: 1) network structure; 2) innovation adaptation—
adoption, and 3) activity for situation improvement;

controlling for the effect of enabling variables.

85
CHAPTER V
FINDINGS

Validity of the Dialogical Orientation Variable

 

As indicated in Kerlinger (1964, pp. 444—445),
"the most commonest definition of validity is epitomized
by the question: Are we measuring what we think we are
measuring?” Based on the assumption derived from.the
review of comparable measures that the most important
determinants of openness of the group to diverse and
conflicting inputs are measured by the 12 items comprising
this variable, we can attribute to them face validity.
The issue of construct validity was faced by utilizing
factor analysis to obtain correlations which would provide
a measure of the internal consistency of the twelve items

and three dimensions of the variable.

 

 

Standard
A. Perceived Range of Decision-Making Mean Deviation
1. Preference to make own decisions 1.39 .49
2 Attention paid to ideas of group
members/agent 1.36 .52
3. Willingness to express doubts
about practices 1.44 .51
4 Belief that role in group
decisions is significant 2.39 .66
B. Disposition to Express Opinions
1. Possibility of taking unpopular
action in group 2.33 .71
2 History of taking unpopular
action 1.59 .69
3. Belief in maintaining own
opinions 1.56 .68
4 Difference of opinion with other
community members 2.14 .76

 

 

86

 

 

Standard
C. Interpersonal Trust Mean Deviation
1. Frequency consulting neighbors
on personal problems 1.67 .72
2 Belief that people place self-
interest first 1.24 .44
3. Belief that extension agents
fulfill prmmises 2.78 .43
4 Willingness to confide in new
acquaintances 2.00 .27

The following matrix shows the intercorrelation among
the items:
Matrix 1. Interitem Correlations of Dialogical Orientation

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

l -- .69 .67 .43 .38 .18 .42 .16 .20 .16 .06 .11
2 -- .58 .34 .30 .14 .48 .12 .25 .22 .01 .09
3 -- .47 .39 .13 .42 .12 .17 .11 .08 .13
4 -- .50 .15 .21 .15 .19 .12 .06 .11
5 -- .22 .27 .17 .22 .16 .01 .09
6 —— .12 .22 .14 .03 .02 —.02
7 -- .18 .16 .08 -.02 .06
8 -- .23 .01 .02 .00
9 —- .29 .02 .11
10 -- .01 .22
11 -- -.04
12 -—

The matrix shows a general picture of relatively
high, low and even negative correlations, which demonstrates
as was expected that the variable as operationalized is
multidimensional. In order to analyze the internal consis-

tency of the PRDM, DEO, and IT dimensions of the variables

87
matrices were developed for the intercorrelation of the
four items in each dimension.

Matrix 2. Iteritem Correlations of Perceived Range of
Decision-Making

1. 2 3 4

1 -— .69 .67 .43
2 -- .58 .34
3 -- .47
4 ..

The correlations among the items, especially among
items 1, 2 and 3 are relatively high. This leads to the

conclusion that the PDRM dimension is internally consistent.

Matrix 3. Interitem Correlations of Disposition to Express

Opinions
5 6 7 8
5 -- .22 .27 .17
6 -- .12 .22
7 —— .23
8 __

This matrix shows that although not with a high
coefficient, each item is positively correlated to every

other.

Matrix 4. Interitem Correlations of Interpersonal Trust

9 10 11 12

9 —- .29 .02 .11
10 -- .01 .22
11 -- .04

12 -—

 

88

This matrix evidences five 10W positive interitem
correlations. In one relationship, between items 11 and 12,
the correlation was low negative.

The outcome of the factor analysis indicates that
the questions used as indicators of perceived range of
decision-making and disposition to express opinions were
clearly related and the questions used to represent inter-
personal trust were less related to some common theme
which, on the face of it, could reasonably be called a
syndrome of dialogical orientation.

Analysis of Group Leader Consciousness

 

An important aspect of this evaluation of friend-
ship groups in Colombia is its effort toward not only
deriving measures of dialogical orientation and network
structure, but also towards devising a separate instrument
to measure the relative facilitative or banking attitudes
of the practicos' charged with leadership of the group
meetings.

In order to best manage the measurement of the leader
role conception variable it was operationalized with utmost
simplicity. On the basis of an analysis of the dimensions
of facilitativeness and banking approaches described by
Freire (1971) and O'Gorman (1979), a questionnaire was
derived which formed 7 pairs of items measuring leader role
conception along the banking-facilitative continuum. One
point was given for each facilitative item chosen; zero points
foreach banking item. The possible range of scores was

therefore from 0 (most banking) to 7 (most facilitative).

89

Each item.was presented to the respondent in the

form of the following types of questions:

”I am going to read you two ideas. Please tell

me which of the two you consider most important.

1.

The practico should teach and the group
members should learn. (banking)

The practico should serve to develop the
capacities of group members so that they

can become leaders in the area. (facilitative)
The practico should serve as an interme—

diary between the recommendations of the

group and the extension service. (facilitative)
The practico should serve to bring technical
information from the extension service to

the group members.‘ (banking)

This dichotomy worked well with the 9 practicos

responding to the questionnaire. Scores were well distri-

buted and ranged from 3 to 7. The following table shows

the breakdown of the practicos' scores by region, district

and friendship group clientele.

 

90

Table 7

Practicos' Leader Role Conception Scores by Region,
District and Friendship Group Clientele

 

Leader Role

 

 

 

 

Members Conception
(N) Score
1. Region I
Villa Hermosa
1. District 0 = Groups 100-103 37 5
2. District 1 = Groups 110-114 47 4
3. District 2 = Groups 120-125 33 7
4. District 3 = Groups 130-137 62 5
II. Region II
San Juan de la China
1. District 0 = Groups 200-209 86 7
III. Region III
Ibague
1. District 0 = Groups 300-306 74 4
2 District 1 = Groups 310-319 78 7
3 District 2 = Groups 320-325 54 6
4. District 3 = Group 330 10 6*
5 District 4 = Groups 340-348 70 3
*Districts 2 and 3 have the same practico.

Correlational Analysis

 

Zero-order and partial correlation coefficients,

set at the .05 probability level were used in hypotheses

one through six.

Table 8 presents an analysis of the

relationship between dialogical orientation and several

independent and dependent variables in the six hypotheses.

 

91
The partial correlation technique controlled for the effect
of the following sets of aggregated enabling variables:
education; mass media exposure; economic; and group

participation.

Table 8

Correlation Coefficients of Leader Role Conception and
Six Dependent Variables with Dialogical Orientation,
Zero Order and Partial

 

 

Variables Zero Order Partial
1. Leader Role Conception .4 * .47*
2. Doubts About Innovations .34* .37*
3. Adaptation of Innovations .46* .45*
4. Adoption of Innovations .24 .19
5. Utilization of Institutional -.10 -.21
Resources
6. Activity for Situation .44* .41*
Improvement

 

*Significantly differs from zero at the .05 level.

Hypothesis I

 

Hypothesis I suggests a positive association between
the leader role conception of the practicos and the degree
of dialogical orientation in the friendship groups which
was supported. Leader role conception was measured by a
questionnaire which consisted of seven dichotomous pairs
of items. Dialogical orientation was measured by the
aggregate group mean score of the respondents on the twelve
questionnaire items which comprised the three dimensions

of the variable.

92

As indicated in Table 8, the zero order and partial
correlations for leader role conception and dialogical
orientation are .40 and .47 respectively. Both measures
show a strong positive correlations, significant at the
.05 level.

Table 9 presents a detailed analysis of the rela—
tionship between leader role conception and dialogical
orientation at the group level. The sixty-five groups
interviewed in the study are listed in rank order accor-
ding to group mean dialogical orientation scores. The
leader role conception column indicates the scores received
by the nine practicos responsible for groups in the ten
districts and three regions in which the study took place.
For example, as can be seen in the map on page 57, Region 1,
District 0 includes friendship groups 100, 101, 102, and
103. The practico's score on the leader role conception

measure was 5.

93

Table 9

Dialogical Orientation and Leader Role Conception Scores
for Sixty-Five Friendship Groups of the State of Tolima,
Colombia by Rank Order with Number of Members (N).

 

 

Leader
Friendship ‘Members Role Dialogical
Rank Order Group (N) Conception Orientation

1 200 9 7 25.00

2 202 7 7 24.86

3 322 6 6 24.50

4 131 9 5 24.22

6 121 4 7 24.00

6 125 5 7 24.00

7 316 ll 7 23.73

8 123 6 7 23.67

9 122 5 7 23.40
10 345 8 3 23.38
11 318 9 7 23.33
13 120 6 7 23.17
13 304 12 4 23.17
14 133 ll 5 23.09
15 130 6 5 23.00
16 320 8 6 22.87
17 124 7 7 22.71
18 206 9 7 22.67
19 325 8 6 22.50
20 136 7 5 22.14
21 205 5 7 22.20
25 134 9 5 22.00
25 317 12 7 22.00
25 207 15 7 22 00
25 321 9 6 22.00
27 100 10 5 21.90
27 330 10 6 21.90
28 204 6 7 21.83
30 303 6 4 21.67
30 311 6 7 21.67
31 300 12 4 21.58
32* 101 10 5 21.50
33 315 5 7 21.40
35 203 5 7 21.20
35 314 10 7 21.20
36 310 8 7 21.12
37 302 13 4 21.08
40 137 6 5 21.00
40 319 5 7 21.00
40 324 7 6 21.00
41 347 10 3 20.90

 

*median

Table 9 (continued)

94

 

 

Leader
Friendship Members Role Dialogical
Rank Order Group (N) Conception Orientation
42 102 9 5 20.89
43 312 6 7 20.83
44 301 9 4 20.44
45 348 9 3 20.33
46 323 16 6 20.19
47 342 6 3 20.17
49 110 8 4 20.00
49 343 9 3 20.00
50 111 9 4 19.78
51 114 5 4 19.60
53 132 6 5 19.50
53 135 8 5 19.50
55 201 12 7 19.33
55 209 6 7 19.33
57 341 6 3 19.00
57 346 5 3 19.00
58 340 7 3 18.86
59 305 15 4 18.67
60 344 10 3 18.60
61 208 12 7 17.75
62 112 16 4 17.69
63 306 7 4 16.57
65 113 9 4 15.67
65 313 6 7 15.67

 

An analysis of Table 9 by the scores above the

median (5) or facilitative end of the leader role concep-

tion scale reveals that thirty-three of the sixty-five

groups (51 percent) pertained to practicos who scored

either six or seven on the leader role conception measure.

Twenty-one of these groups with leader scores of six or seven

(or above the median in facilitativeness)also ranked above

the median in dialogical communication. Thus, sixty-six per-

cent of the groups above the median in dialogical orientation

ranked high on the facilitative end of the leader role

conception scale.

95

The relationship between leader role conception
and dialogical orientation is even stronger at the bottom
or banking end of the scale. Twenty—one of the sixty-five
groups pertained to practicos who scored either three or
four on the leader measure. Fifteen of these groups were
among the twenty-two lowest in dialogical orientation.
Thus, while groups with leader scores of three or four
represented only thirty-two percent of all groups, these
groups comprised sixty-eight percent of the lowest
twenty-two groups in dialogical orientation.

The analysis of groups by rank order of dialogical
orientation and leader role conception scores helps to
further interpret the correlation finding that the rela—

tionship between the two variables is significant.

Hypothesis II

 

Hypothesis II, which claims that there is a posi-
tive relationship between the degree of dialogical
orientation in the friendship group and the degree of
doubts about an innovation, was supported. Innovation
doubts was measured by the question "For each of the
practices I am going to read tell me whether you have
many doubts (scored 3), some doubts (scored 2), or
no doubts (scored 1)."

As indicated in Table 8, the zero order and par—
tial correlations for dialogical orientation and doubts
about innovation are .34 and .37, respectively. Both
statistics show a positive association, significant at the

.05 level.

 

96

Table 10

Sixty-Five Friendship Groups by Rank Order of Dialogical
Orientation and Doubts About Innovation

 

 

Friendship Dialogical Orientation Doubts about Innovations
Group Rank Order Mean Score Rank Order Mean Score
200 1 25 00 29 26 56
202 2 24 86 30 26 43
322 3 24 50 6 28 83
131 4 24 22 19 27 56
121 6 24 00 57 23 50
125 6 24 00 37 26 00
316 7 23 73 34 26 27
123 8 23 67 64 18 83
122 9 23 40 46 25.00
345 10 23.38 25 27.00
318 ll 23 33 38 25.89
120 13 23 17 52 24.17
304 13 23.17 16 27.75
133 14 23.09 80 24.45
130 15 23.00 47 24.83
320 16 22.87 9 28.50
124 17 22.71 48 24.71
206 18 22 67 2 29.11
325 19 22.50 16 27.75
136 20 22 14 7 28.57
205 21 22.20 18 27.60
134 25 22.00 42 25.56
317 25 22.00 24 27.08
207 25 22.00 21 27.27
321 25 22.00 11 28.11
100 27 21.90 40 25.70
330 27 21 90 12 28.10
204 28 21.83 14 28.00
303 30 21.67 49. 24.67
311 30 21 67 9 28.50
300 31 21.58 4 29.00
101 32 21.50 59 23.10
315* 33 21.40 31 26.40
203 35 21.20 14 28.00
314 35 21.20 59 23.10
310 36 21 12 5 29.00
302 37 21,08 28 26.62
137 40 21.00 41 25.67
319 40 21.00 10 28.20
324 40 21.00 17 27.71
347 41 20.90 36 26.10
102 42 20.89 61 21.10

 

*median

97

Table 10 (continued)

 

 

Friendship Dialogical Orientation Doubts about Innovations
Group Rank Order Mean Score Rank Order Mean Score
312 43 20.83 51 24.33
301 44 20.44 23 27.22
348 45 20.33 39 25.78
323 46 20.19 33 26.31
342 47 20.17 32 26.33
110 49 20.00 43 25.50
343 49 20.00 35 26.11
111 50 19.78 63 19.33
114 51 19.60 60 21.20
132 53 19.50 23 27.33
135 53 19.50 1 29.25
201 55 19.33 55 23.75
209 55 19.33 53 24.00
341 57 19.00 44 25.17
346 57 19 00 20 27.40
340 58 18.86 27 26.71
305 59 18.67 26 26.93
344 60 18.60 45 25.10
208 61 17.75 56 23.58
112 62 17.69 62 20.31
306 63 16 57 5 24.86
113 65 15.67 65 17.33
313 65 15.67 54 23.83

 

Analysis of Table 10 reveals that 18 of the 32 groups
(56 percent) above the median in dialogical orientation
also ranked above the median in doubts about innovation.
The relationship between the variables is strongest among
the groups ranking lowest on the two measures. The
sixteen groups ranking lowest in dialogical orientation
comprised eight (50 percent) of the sixteen lowest ranking
groups in doubts about innovations.

The analysis shows that because in particular,
the groups who have least dialogical orientation also have
the least doubts about innovations, there is a significant

positive correlation between the two variables.

98

Hypothesis III

 

Hypothesis III states the proposition that there
is a positive relationship between the degree of dialo-
gical orientation in the friendship group and the likelihood
to modify or adapt an innovation. It also was supported.
The adaptation variable was measured by the question,

"For each of the practices I am going to read, tell me
whether you have modified it (weighted 3), discarded it
in favor of an alternative (weighted 2), or use it as
recommended (weighted 1), due to the special conditions
on your coffee farm.”

As indicated in Table 8, the zero order and par-
tial correlations for dialogical orientation and innovation
adaptation are .46 and .45 respectively. Both statistics
are consistent with the expectation of a strong positive
correlation, significant at the .05 level of probability,
bewteen the two variables.

Table 11

Sixty-Five Friendship Groups by Rank Order of Dialogical
Orientation and Innovation Adaptation

 

Friendship Dialogical Orientation Innovation Adaptation

 

 

 

Group Rank Order. Rank Order Mean Score
200 1 10 12.67
202 2 18 12.00
322 3 36 11.00
131 4 24 11.67
121 6 8 12.75
125 6 41 10.80
316 7 7 12.82
123 8 24 ll 67
122 9 18 12.00
345 10 5 13.13

99

Table 11 (continued)

 

 

 

 

 

Friendship Dialogical Orientation Innovation Adaptation
Group Rank Order Rank Order 'Mean Score
318 ll 37 10.89
120 13 24 11.67.
304 13 13 12.33
133 14 58 9.91
130 15 32 11.17
320 16 57 10.00
124 17 31 11.29
206 18 24 11.67
325 19 44 10.63
136 20 53 10.29
205 21 3 13.60
134 25 52 10.33
317 25 12 12.58
207 25 30 11.33
321 25 26 11.56
100 27 11 12.60
330 27 28 11.40
204 28 52 10.33
303 29 1 14.67
311 30 39 10.83
300 31 36 11.00*
101 32 18 12.00
315* 33 6 13.00
203 35 52 10.33
314 35 49 10.40
310 36 27 11.38
302 37 61 9.54
137 40 2 14.33
319 40 41 10.80
324 40 45 10.57
347 41 18 12.00
102 42 36 11.00
312 43 10 12.67
301 44 30 11.33
348 45 24 11.67
323 46 49 10.31
342 47 39 10.83
110 49 25 11.62
343 49 42 10.78
111 50 47 10.44
114 51 54 10.20
132 53 14 12.17
135 53 46 10.50
201 55 55 10.17
209 55 57 10.00
341 57 35 11.00

 

*median

100

Table 11 (continued)

 

 

 

 

Friendship Dialogical Orientation Innovation Adaptation

Group Rank Order Rank Order Mean Score
304 57 19 10.80
340 58 4 13.57
305 59 60 9.73
344 60 43 10.70
208 61 63 8.92
112 62 64 8.75
306 63 62 9.43
113 65 59 9.78
313 65 65 8.67

 

(66 percent) above the median in dialogical orientation also

ranked above the median in adaptation of innovations.

In Table 11 it may be noted that 21 of the 32 groups

However the most significant and unexpected relationship

is apparent at the bottom of the table.

ranking lowest in dialogical orientation comprised six

(or 86 percent) of the 7 lowest ranking groups in adaptation

of innovation.

pretation of the correlation between dialogical orientation
and innovation adaptation.
ranking lowest on both measures is a significant contributing

factor in the positive association between the two variables.

Hypothesis IV

 

The seven groups

The analysis by rank order contributes to the inter-

The correlation between groups

Hypothesis IV suggests that there is an inverse

relationship between the degree of dialogical orientation

in the friendship group and the degree of adoption of

 

101
innovation. The innovation adoption variable was measured
by the question, "For each of the practices I am going to
read, tell me whether you use it often (weighted 3), not
often (weighted 2) or not at all (weighted 1)."

As indicated in Table 8, the zero order and partial
correlations for dialogical orientation and innovation
adoption are .24 and .19 respectively. The zero order
correlation is significant at the .05 level; the partial
correlation is not significant. However, both correlations
are positive; a finding which forces us to reject the
hypothesis.

Table 12

Sixty-Five Friendship Groups by Rank Order of Dialogical
Orientation and Innovation Adoption

 

Friendship Dialogical Orientation Innovation Adoption

 

 

 

 

Group Rank Order Rank Order Mean Score
200 1 48 22.75
202 2 36 23.86
322 3 2 29.50
131 4 57 22.33
121 5 53 22.25
125 6 38 23.80
316 7 38 23.80
123 7 59 21.50
122 9 43 23.40
345 10 28 24.50
318 ll 39 23.78
120 13 17 22.83
304 13 10 27.58
133 14 50 22.55
130 15 45 23.00
320 16 2 29.50
124 17 61 21.00
206 18 18 26.44
325 19 15 27.00

136 20 6 28.86

 

102
Table 12 (continued)

 

 

 

 

Friendship Dialogical Orientation Innovation Adoption
Group Rank Order Rank Order Mean Score
205 21 20 26.20
134 25 54 22.00
317 25 45 23.00
207 25 35 23.87
321 25 5 29 00
100 27 31 24.10
330 27 3 29.40
204 28 15 27.00
303 30 24 25.17
311 30 19 26.33
300 31 9 28.17
101 32 59 21.50
315* 33 23 25.20
203 35 15 27.00
314 35 51 22.40
310 36 34 24.00*
302 37 12 27.15
137 40 11 27.17
319 40 25 24.80
324 40 5 29.00
347 41 30 24.00
102 42 59 21.50
312 43 44 23.33
301 44 7 28.78
348 45 27 24.56
323 46 16 26.75
342 47 41 23.67
110 49 46 22.87
343 49 34 24.00
111 50 65 14.33
114 51 60 21.20
132 53 22 25.33
135 53 8 - 28.75
201 55 62 20.92
209 55 49 22.67
341 57 34 24.00
346 57 21 25.60
340 58 40 23.71
305 59 17 26.60
344 60 43 23.40
208 61 55 21.58
112 62 64 17.63
306 63 26 24.56
113 65 56 21.89
313 65 63 20.83

 

*median

103

The data in Table 12 show the inconsistent corre-
lation of the variables. Despite the overall positive
correlation of dialogical orientation and innovation
adoption, only 15 of the 32 groups (47 percent) above
the median in dialogical orientation also ranked above
the median in adoption of innovations. Again, the
strongest relationships are at the bottom of the two
scales. The sixteen groups ranking lowest in dialogical
orientation comprised seven (or 44 percent) of the sixteen

lowest ranking groups in adoption of innovations.

Hypothesis V

 

Hypothesis V suggests that the greater the degree
of dialogical orientation, the greater the utilization
of institutional resources among group members. The
institutional resources variable was measured by asking
the respondents how many visits they made in the last
six months to institutions which provide agricultural
services. 362 of the 544 persons responding to the
question said they had visited an institution at least
once in the last six months.

As indicated in Table 8, the zero order and
partial correlations for dialogical orientation and
utilization of institutional resources are —.10 and —.21
respectively. The correlations not only fall short of

significance but are in the opposite direction predicted

by the hypothesis. Based on this finding, the hypothesis

is rejected.

 

104
The distribution of the group data backing the
rejection of the hypothesis is presented in Table 13.
Table 13

Sixty-Five Friendship Groups by Rank Order of Dialogical
Orientation and Utilization of Institutional Resources

 

Friendship Dialogical Orientation Resource Utilization

 

 

 

 

Group Rank Order Rank Order Mean Score
200 1 12 5.20
202 2 36 2.83
322 3 8 6.17
131 4 65 ---
121 6 21 4.00
125 6 37 2.80
316 7 22 3.73
123 8 63 .33
122 9 53 1.40
345 10 16 4.50
318 11 44 2.22
120 13 45 2.17
304 13 18 4.25
133 14 65 --—
130 15 57 1.17
320 16 3 10.25
124 17 52 1.57
206 18 34 2.89
325 19 2 10.50
136 20 52 1.57
205 21 50 1.60
134 25 63 .33
317 25 56 1.25
207 25 30 3.20
321 25 10 5.78
100 27 42 2.30
330 27 12 5.20
204 28 17 4.33
303 30 29 3.33
311 30 24 3.50
300 31 13 5.17
101 32 58 1.10
315* 33 5 7.20
203 35 40 2.40
314 35 7 7.00
310 36 43 7.00
302 36 43 2.25

 

*median

105

Table 13 (continued)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friendship Dialogical Orientation Resource Utilization
Group Rank Order Rank Order ‘Mean Score
137 40 63 .33
319 40 38 2.60
324 40 4 8.29
347 41 14 4.90
102 42 60 .56
312 43 49 2.00
301 44 25 3.44
348 45 39 2.56
323 46 7 7.00
342 47 29 3.33
110 49 23 3.62
343 49 29 3.33
111 50 55 1.33
114 51 49 2.00
132 53 49 2.00
135 53 60 .63
201 55 31 3.17
209 55 33 3.00*
341 57 35 2.83
346 57 19 4.20
340 58 33 3.00
305 59 15 4.87
344 60 46 2.10
208 61 41 2.33
112 62 26 3.38
306 63 l 11.14
113 65 55 1.33
313 65 9 6.00

*median

The distribution by rank order in Table 13 supports
the finding of a low overall correlation. Fifteen of the
thirty-two groups (47 percent) above the median in dialo-
gical orientation ranked above the median in utilization
of institutional resources. The strongest relationship
between the variables is evidenced among the groups at

the bottom of the two scales, where eight of the sixteen

106
(50 percent) lowest ranking groups in dialogical orienta-
tion also ranked lowest in resource utilization. However,
the positive association at the bottom.is counter-balanced
by the negative tendency at the top of the two scales.
Included among the top fourteen groups in dialogical
orientation are the three lowest ranking groups in
resource utilization.

The questionnaire item on frequency of visits was
followed by an item concerning motivation for the visits.
In response to the motivation question, 37.3 percent
said they sought technical assistance, 29.5 percent
said they solicited credit, 16.3 percent said they
solicited approval for fertilizer, 6.4 percent said they
sought information on friendship groups, 4.7 percent
said they solicited membership in FEDERACAFE, 3 percent
said they requested public works, 2.8 percent said they
requested electrification, and .6 percent stated other

motives.

Hypothesis VI

 

Hypothesis VI suggests a positive association between
the degree of dialogical orientation in the friendship
groups and agrarian activity for situation improvement.

It was supported. The latter variable was measured by the
aggregate group mean score of the respondents on the four
questionnaire items which comprised the four dimensions

of the variable. The dimensions of the variable were

measured by asking the respondents whether or not they were

107
doing something to: 1) acquire more land; 2) obtain more
credit; 3) acquire more income; and 4) acquire more tools.
Persons who responded affirmatively to any of the four
questions were then asked what specific type of activity
they were undertaking or had undertaken.

As indicated in Table 8, the zero order and partial
correlations for dialogical orientation and agrarian
activity for situation improvement are .44 and .41 respec—
tively. Both statistics are significant at the .05
probability level and consistent with the expectation of
a high positive correlation.

The question on the land acquisition dimension drew
only 66 affirmative answers; 12.6 percent of the 544 persons
responding. In response to the question of what action
they were undertaking, 52.2 percent said they had solicited
credit, 20.9 percent said they were saving money, 19.4 per-
cent said they had increased agricultural production, and
4.5 percent cited additional employment and other activities.

The question on the credit activity dimension drew
238 affirmative answers; 45.4 percent of the 544 persons
responding. In response to the question of what type of
credit action they were taking, 70.4 percent indicated
that they had consulted with the Agrarian Bank, 17.9 percent
said they had technified their coffee lands, 4.6 percent
said they had increased agricultural production, 2.5 percent
said they had extended mortgages on their farms, 2.5 percent
said they had filed ownership papers, and 2.1 percent

cited other activities.

 

108

The question on the income acquisition dimension
drew 325 affirmative answers; 62 percent of the 544 persons
responding. In response to the question of what type
of income action they were taking, 70.9 percent said they
had technified their coffee lands, 22.3 percent said they
had increased agricultural production, 4 percent said
they were applying more fertilizer, 1.2 percent said they
were working with the friendship groups, 1.2 percent said
they had acquired additional employment, and .3 percent
cited other activities.

The question on the tool acquisition dimension drew
only 125 affirmative answers; 23.9 percent of the 523 per-
sons responding. In response to the question of what type
of action they had taken, 64.8 percent indicated that they
were saving money, 16.4 percent said they had increased
agricultural production, 14.1 percent said they had soli-
cited credit, 3.9 percent said they had acquired additional
employment, and .8 percent cited other activities,

The distribution by group ranking of the aggregated
mean scores on the four dimensions of the variable is

presented in Table 14.

 

109
Table 14

Sixty—Five Friendship Groups by Rank Order of Dialogical
Orientation and Agrarian Activity for Situation Improvement

 

 

 

Friendship Dialogical Orientation Agrarian Activity

Group Rank Order Rank Order Mean Score
200 1 29 5.33
202 2 4 6.14
322 3 11 5.83
131 4 55 4.67
121 5 33 5.25*
125 6 16 5.80
316 7 l 6.55
123 8 21 5.67
122 9 2 6.40
345 10 5 6.13
318 11 17 5.78
120 13 53 4.83
304 13 25 5.50
133 14 65 4.00
130 15 48 5.00
320 16 33 5.25
124 17 22 5.57
206 18 8 5.89
325 19 25 5.50
136 20 58 4.57
205 21 48 5.00
134 25 55 4.67
317 25 41 5.08
207 25 31 5.27
321 25 8 5.89
100 27 19 5.70
330 27 30 5.30
204 28 21 5.67
303 30 29 5.33
311 30 48 5.00
300 31 25 5.50
101 32 16 5.80
315* 33 16 5.80
203 35 6 6.00
314 35 40 5.10
310 36 10 5.88
302 37 39 5.15
137 40 53 4.83
319 40 16 5.80
324 40 50 4.86
347 41 16 5.80
102 42 35 5.22
312 43 64 5.33
301 44 35 5.22

 

*median

 

110

Table 14 (continued)

 

Friendship Dialogical Orientation Agrarian Activity

 

 

 

 

Group Rank Order Rank Order Mean Score
348 45 29 5.33
323 46 49 4.88
342 47 53 4.83
110 49 10 5.88
343 49 48 5.00
111 50 59 4.56
114 51 57 4.60
132 53 38 5.17
135 53 63 4.25
201 55 38 5.17
209 55 48 5.00
341 57 3 6.17
346 57 26 5.40
340 58 18 5.71
305 59 47 5.00
344 60 36 5.20
208 61 48 5.00
112 62 56 4.69
306 63 62 4.29
113 65 61 4.33
313 65 61 4.33

 

Analysis of Table 14 reveals that 21 of the 32 groups
(66 percent) above the median in dialogical orientation
ranked on or above the median in agrarian activity for
situation improvement. As the high positive correlation
would seem to suggest, the correlations are strong at both
the top and bottom ends of the two scales. The top eleven
groups in dialogical orientation comprise five (or 45 percent)
of the top eleven groups in agrarian activity for situation
improvement. At the other end of the scale, 70 percent
of the ten groups ranked lowest in agrarian activity are

included among the sixteen lowest ranking groups in

 

111
dialogical orientation. Even more noteworthy, the three
lowest ranking groups in dialogical orientation are also
among the six lowest ranking groups in agrarian activity.

Communication Networks

 

As indicated on page 77, network data were obtained
by the sociometric choices of group members in response
to questions concerned with interpersonal discussion of
three innovations: fertilizer, credit, and family
planning. The findings reveal that communication networks
differ from innovation to innovation. In nearly all
65 groups, the number of communication contacts decreased
from fertilizer, to credit, to family planning. In fact,
there was so little family planning contact reported that
cliques could not be identified in the majority of the
groups. It was therefore determined to limit the network
analysis to interpersonal discussions of fertilizer and
credit.

There are two readily apparent reasons for the
greater number of reported communications concerning
fertilizer. First, fertilizer is an innovation which is
given particular stress by the FEDERACAFE extension
service in its publications and in friendship group
meetings. Fertilizer is also obtainable from FEDERACAFE
warehouses, whereas credit is usually sought from an
institution not directly invovled in the friendship groups
(the Agrarian Bank). The family planning innovation is

also less the purview of FEDERACAFE than the family planning

112
agency, Bienestar Familiar. Secondly, family planning
messages in the devoutly Catholic rural sector of
Colombia belong to the category of taboo communication,
in which messages are perceived as extremely private
and personal in nature because they deal with proscribed
behavior. It is highly probable that the low number of
reported communications is an indicant of the degree of

tabooness of family planning.

Network Correlations

 

Zero—order and partial correlations, set at the
.05 level of probability, were used in hypotheses seven
through nine. Table 15 presents an analysis of the
relationship between dialogical orientation and three
fertilizer and credit communication network variables.
Table 15

Zero Order and Partial Correlation Coefficients of Dialogical
Orientation and Three Credit and Fertilizer Network Variables

 

 

 

Zero Order Partial
Ferti- Ferti-
Variables Credit lizer Credit lizer
7. Communication System .01 -.03 -.07 -.09
Connectedness
8. Information Reliance .03 .11 -.02 .12
on Extension Service
9. Opinion Leader .07 -.04 —.002 -.10

Concentration

 

None of the relationships differ significantly from
zero at the .05 level of probability. The distribution of

group data is shown in Table 16.

113
Table 16

Variability on Network Measures

 

 

(65 cases)
Standard

Variables Mean Deviation Variance
Fertilizer .285 .149 .022
connectedness
Credit .203 .124 .015
Connectedness
Fertilizer reliance .284 .264 .070
extension service
Credit reliance .278 .167 .028
extension service
Fertilizer influence .250 .150 .022
leader concentration
Credit influence .120 .164 .027

leader concentration

 

Hypothesis VII

 

Hypothesis VII stated that a positive relationship
would be found between the degree of dialogical orientation
in the friendship group and the degree to which group
members are linked by interpersonal communication flows
(communication system connectedness). Data for the
measurement of the connectedness variable and the other
two network variables was obtained by the sociometric
question, "Please give me names of all persons with whom
you have sought information on (1) credit and (2) fertilizer

during the last six months." Once the ratio of actual

 

114

internal group communication contacts to possible group
communication contacts was computed, the data were
transformed into correlation equations.

As indicated in Table 15, the zero order correla-
tions between dialogical orientation and the connectedness
of the credit and fertilizer communication networks are
.01 and -.03 respectively. The partial correlations are
respectively -.07 and -.09. All correlations are near

zero; a finding which emphatically rejects the hypothesis.

Hypothesis VIII

 

Hypothesis VIII suggests that the greater the
degree of dialogical orientation, the lesser the degree
of information reliance in relation to the extension
service. Based on the sociometric identification of
connections in the fertilizer and credit communication
networks, the ratio of actual group-extension service
linkages to possible group-extensionservicelinkages was
determined. This information reliance index was then
transformed into zero order and partial correlation
equations.

As indicated in Table 15, the correlations between
dialogical orientation and information reliance in relation
to the extension service are uniformly low; .03 and .11
zero order correlations and -.02 and .12 partials for the
credit and fertilizer networks respectively. Once again,
none of the relationships differ significantly at the

.05 probability level and the hypothesis is rejected.

115
Hypothesis IX

 

Hypothesis IX conceptualizes a positive association
between the level of dialogical orientation and the
degree of opinion leader concentration in the friendship
groups. Individuals who were nominated as information
sources by at least thirty percent of the group were
designated as influence leaders. The opinion leader
concentration score was derived by dividing the number
of individuals designated as influence leaders by the
number of individuals in the group.

As indicated in Table 15, the zero order and
partial correlations for dialogical orientation and
influence leader concentration are very near zero. Zero
c>rder correlations are .07 for credit and -.04 for
fertilizer. Partial correlations are also negligible;
-.002 for credit and —.10 for fertilizer. Based on

these findings, the hypothesis is rejected.

 

 

   

116
Table 17
Sixty-Five Friendship Groups by Rank Order of Dialogical

Orientation and Three Network Variables: Connectedness,
Reliance and Concentration

 

 

Friendship

Group Information Leader

By Rank Order Connectedness Reliance Concentration

of Dialogical Ferti- Ferti- Ferti—

Orientation Credit lizer Credit lizer Credit lizer
200 .22 .24 .50 .44 .11 .11
202 .12 .37 .21 .43 .00 .57
322 .22 .29 .25 .25 .17 .33
131 .04 .20 .11 .28 .00 .00
121 .21 .36 .25 .50 .25 .25
125 .40 .20 .80 .31 .20 .20
316 .26 .40 .50 .41 .18 .46
123 .07 .15 .08 .25 .00 .17
122 .10 .10 .20 .20 .00 .00
345 .32 .36 .31 .25 .25 .50
318 .22 .37 .50 .44 .00 .11
120 .12 .26 .00 .17 .17 .17
304 .90 .11 .04 .00 .50 .08
133 .03 .15 .09 .33 .00 .00
130 .19 .08 .25 .18 .00 .00
320 .19 .15 .25 .33 .00 .00
124 .17 .11 .36 .21 .00 .00
206 .19 .48 .39 .33 .00 .56
325 .32 .36 .19 .31 .13 .25
136 .03 .17 .00 .07 .00 .14
205 .35 .60 .50 .40 .20 .80
134 .06 .17 .17 .33 .00 .00
317 .22 .33 .38 .42 .17 .17
207 .20 .31 .40 .33 .27 .60
321 .22 .30 .22 .28 .00 .22
100 .06 .26 .15 .30 .00 .10
330 .19 .31 .15 .30 .20 .30
204 .52 .63 .33 .25 .50 1.00
303 .22 .19 .33 .08 .33 .33
311 .37 .67 .42 .42 .33 .83
300 .14 .67 .08 .42 .17 .83
101 .20 .37 .35 .35 .20 .50
315 .30 .30 .40 .30 .20 .40
203 .75 .70 .50 .40 1.00 1.00
314 .22 .34 .40 .40 .10 .30

310 .21 .46 .19 .44 .13 .50

 

117
Table 17 (Continued)

 

 

Friendship

Group Information Leader

By Rank Order Connectedness Reliance Concentration

of Dialogical Ferti- Ferti- Ferti—

Orientation Credit lizer Credit lizer Credit lizer
302 .09 .14 .12 .12 .15 .23
137 .07 .26 .00 .08 .00 .17
319 .35 .60 .30 .40 .20 .80
324 .40 .26 .43 .36 .29 .00
347 .22 .28 .30 .15 .10 .10
102 .07 .15 .11 .17 .00 .11
312 .19 .37 .33 .50 .00 .29
301 .24 .18 .33 .06 .ll .22
348 .20 .26 .39 .11 .10 .00
323 .06 .08 .09 .06 .06 .06
342 .26 .37 .42 .50 .00 .17
110 .20 .23 .50 .44 .00 .00
343 .17 .37 .33 .44 .00 .00
111 .09 .07 .22 .11 .11 .00
114 .30 .45 .00 .00 .40 .80
132 .ll .22 .25 .42 .00 .00
135 .14 .21 .31 .31 .00 .00
201 .26 .26 .46 .25 .25 .42
209 .33 .41 .58 .50 .17 .50
341 .22 .52 .42 .50 .00 .50
346 .25 .60 .30 .50 .20 .40
340 .10 .31 .07 .29 .00 .29
305 .04 .13 .00 .07 .00 .33
344 .19 .32 .30 .31 .00 .00
208 .17 .29 .21 .29 .08 .58
112 .06 .16 .22 .31 .00 .13
306 .14 .20 .07 .00 .29 .23
113 .17 .09 .28 .00 .00 .00
313 .33 .52 .50 .50 .00 .50

 

The relationship of the network variables with dialo-
gical orientation shown in Table 17 is analyzed in the
network connectedness, information reliance, and influence
leader sections which follow.

Network Connectedness

 

Only 17 of the 33 groups (52 percent) ranking above

the median in dialogical orientation ranked on or above

118

the median in credit network connectedness. Similarly,
only 18 of the 33 groups (55 percent) ranking above the
median in dialogical orientation also ranked above the
median in fertilizer network connectedness. These
distributions are in accord with the findings of near
zero overall correlations for dialogical orientation
and the two network connectedness measures.

Moreover, unlike the distribution patterns of the
innovation variables, strong correlations are not yet
present at the lower ends of the rankings. Following
the overall pattern, only 4 of the 16 groups (25 percent)
ranking in the lowest quartile of dialogical orientation
ranked in the lowest quartile on both the credit and
fertilizer network connectedness measures.

Information Reliance on Extension Service

 

The distribution by groups is generally supportive
of the finding of a low overall correlation between infor-
mation reliance on the extension service and dialogical
orientation. Only the ranking distribution for the
credit network variable partially supports the inverse
relationship predicted in the hypothesis. Twenty of the
33 groups (61 percent) ranking on or below the median in
dialogical orientation ranked above the median in credit
information reliance on the extension service. However,
in the fertilizer network, only 17 of the 33 groups
(52 percent) ranking on or below the median in dialogical
orientationranked above the median on the extension service

reliance measure.

119

The overall distribution is also supported at the
bottom of the scales. Only 4 of the 16 groups (25 percent)
ranking in the lowest quartile of dialogical orientation
ranked in the lowest quartile on the credit network
measure. Likewise, only 5 of the 16 lowest ranking groups
in dialogical orientation (31 percent) ranked among the
16 lowest groups on the fertilizer network measure.

Influence Leader Concentration

 

Due to the large number of scores on or about
zero on the influence leader measures for credit and
fertilizer, the median measure of central tendency is
less significant than in the other two network variables.
Twenty of the groups scored zero in influence leader
concentration on the credit measure. Sixteen groups
of the groups scored zero in fertilizer influence leader
concentration. Consistent with the negative partial
correlations, 14 of the 20 groups with no credit information
leader ranked above the median in dialogical orientation.
Less consistent however, is the finding that only 7 of
the 16 groups with no fertilizer influence leader ranked
above the median in dialogical orientation.

In sum, the group data in Table 17 shows the
inconsistent relationship of the network variable with
dialogical orientation.

Additional Analyses

 

The results of the correlation of the dialogical

orientation index with nine variables supported four of

120
the hypotheses and refuted five others. In order to
examine in more detail some of the most unexpected results
yielded by the data, additional analysis were made.

The prediction in Hypothesis IV of an inverse
relationship between dialogical orientation and adoption-
continued use of innovations was not supported by the
correlational findings. The zero order and partial
correlations are .24 and .19 for dialogical orientation
and adoption—continued use, as opposed to .46 and .45
for adaptation of innovation. The findings show that while
dialogical orientation is more strongly related to adap-
tation-modification of innovation, as was predicted, it
is nonetheless also related to adoption—continued use of
:hnovations in the form recommended.

One possible explanation for these results is that the
overall quality of the ten innovations recommended in the
friendship groups was found to be superior by many friend-
ship group members who did consider other alternatives.
This interpretation would support the claims by FEDERACAFE
that the technology developed on its experimental farms
is the most relevant to the environmental and economic
situations of coffee-farmers in the area.

Another explanation, perhaps more realistic, is
related to the degree of usage and complexity of the
individual innovation being considered. Several innovations
listed in the questionnaire dealt with technical knowledge

needed to modify the labors most basic to coffee-growing;

121

most or all of which in one form or another were already
in practice. In these labors most basic to coffee growing,
farmers require little impetus beyond knowledge to adopt
and continue to use innovations; particularly innovations
which are relatively inexpensive, easy to learn and involve
low risk. Among the innovations listed in the questionnaire
that fall into this category are coffee planting, rowing
or tiering, fertilization, and construction of germinators
and nurseries.

On the other hand, several innovations require
more decision-making on the part of the farmer because
of their relatively greater complexity, cost, and more
indirect effect Such preventitive measures as erosion,
disease, and pest control fall into this category as well
as costly innovations such as depulping machinery. Finally,
credit, which requires substantial effort for qualification,
could be considered within this group.

A computerized breakdown of the responses of the
544 farmers on the ten dimensions of the innovation
variable revealed that the innovations in the first cate-
gory most definitely did provoke more affirmative responses
in the adoption-continued-use question than did the
innovations in the second category. On a one-to-three
scale, the mean scores were as follows: fertilization,
2.67; nursery construction, 2.65; germinator construction,
2.65; coffee planting, 2.64; rowing, 2.61; pest control,

2.35; disease control, 2.33; erosion control, 2.32;

122
credit, 2.24/ depulping machinery, 1.79. The evidence leads
to the conclusion that the weight of the first category
of practices, acting almost as a constant, influenced the
overall positive correlation of the variable with dialo-
gical orientation.

Hypothesis V, which predicted a positive correlation
between dialogical orientation and utilization of institu—
tional resources was also rejected. Moreover, the zero
order and partial correlations of -.10 and —.21 were in the
opposite direction of what was predicted.

A frequency breakdown of the motives for utilizing
institutional resources revealed that 362 of the 544 group
members visited assistance agencies in the six months prior
to the interviews. Thirty-seven percent of these coffee-
growers sought agricultural assistance; 29 percent solicited
credit; 16 percent requested fertilizer; and 6 percent
sought information on friendship groups.

Perhaps the most insightful finding of the frequency
breakdown is the data on types of institutional offices
visited. Seventy-nine percent of the total institutional
visits were to extension offices of FEDERACAFE; 11 percent
were to the National Apprentice Service (SENA); and
4 percent were to the Colombian Agricultural Institute (ICA).
A comparative frequency analysis by group ranking indicated
that groups 200, 201, and 318, which respectively ranked
1, 2 and 10 in dialogical orientation, were among the top

4 groups in utilization of institutional resources other

123
than FEDERACAFE. These same groups were also infrequent
users of FEDERACAFE services.

The frequency analysis by assisting agency when
combined with informal interviews provides further insight
into factors affecting the relationship between the two
variables in the hypothesis. The analysis showed that
in about half of the veredas in the area of the study,
there were no visits to assistance agencies other than
FEDERACAFE extension offices. Thirty-three of the 65 groups
reported zero visits to assisting agencies other than
FEDERACAFE. Based on conversations with group members and
local FEDERACAFE extension personnel, we may surmise that
this situation accrues from either the inexistence of
other assisting agencies in the veredas or the non—coffee-
related nature of services provided. Hence, it is
reasonable to assume that many groups with greater dialo—
gical orientation are presented with the option of seeking
assistance from FEDERACAFE or not seeking it from any agency.
A case study approach would be required to explore further
into the issue of whether greater consciousness leads to
assistance-seeking or frustration and to determine whether
the application of dialogical orientation in the friendship
group includes apprising members of where to go to seek
social services. Nonetheless, the comparative frequency
analysis by group ranking does point out that in those
cases where other agencies are present in the area, the
groups ranking highest in dialogical orientation rank

among the highest in seeking assistance outside of FEDERACAFE.

124

Because of the extensive body of research litera-
ture supporting a positive relationship between functional
and structural communication variables the most surprising
finding in this study was the rejection of the three
hypotheses relating network structure to dialogical orien-
tation. Unlike the other two rejected hypotheses, there
are no exceptions at the extremes of the scales and no
readily apparent extenuating factors which help to explain
the results.

On the contrary, a more detailed analysis of the
relationship of the network variables to the other corre-
lates of dialogical orientation gives further credence to
the finding that the functional and structural variables
operate independently. Table 18 presents the partial
correlations of the three network variables with the six

dependent variables included in the other hypotheses.

Table 18

Partial Correlation of Connectedness, Reliance and Concen-
tration Network Variables with Six Dependent Variables

 

Connectedness Info. Reliance Ldr. Concen.
Ferti- Ferti- Ferti-
Credit lizer Credit lizer Credit lizer

 

Ldr. Role Concept. .13 .15 .13 .14 .06 .31*
Innovation Doubts —.03 .09 -.15 .002 .03 -.003
Adaptation .01 .02 .002 .02 .10 '- .06
Adoption -.12 .07 —.30* —.32* —.02 - .13
Util. of Resources .02 -.13 —.ll -.19 .04 - .05
Act. for Sit. Imp. .10 .07 .17 .12 .02 .08

 

*Significantly differs from zero at the .05 level.

125

A comparison of the correlates in Table 8 and
Table 18 evidences the disparity between dialogical orien—
tation and network structure. Dialogical orientation is
significantly related to leader role conception, doubts about
innovations, adaptation of innovations, and activity for
situation improvement. Neither the fertilizer nor credit
connectedness variables are significantly related to any
of the six variables. Both the credit and fertilizer
dimensions of the reliance on extension service variable
were found to have significant negative relationships with
adoption of innovations. Finally, the two dimensions of
the leader concentration variable correlated significantly
on only one of the twelve possible correlations (fertilizer,
leader concentration and leader role conception).

In sum, the lack of a significant positive rela-
tionship with utilization of institutional resources is
thecuflgrcommon correlate among the six dependent variables,
dialogical orientation and the network variables.

An interpretation of this phenomenon based on an
analysis of the effects of group processes upon individual
communication behavior is offered in the next chapter.
Limitations

Due to the fact that the network routine used in
the study is still in a relatively early stage of develop-
ment and contains several "bugs” that require refinement

through costly experimentation, the network measures used

in this study may not be tapping all the critical dimensions

 

126

of communication structure. Therefore, the correlations
of the network variables with dialogical orientation may
not represent a refutation of the structural-functional
interconnections, but a refutation of a particular set of
operationalizations. In this regard, a more comprehensive
analysis of the cliques, liaisons, bridges, isolates and
dyads described by the network procedures may render
statistical descriptions which more closely approximate
the actual communication roles and relationships in the
social structure.

Two other constraints relate to the relatively
limited variation in the leader role conception score and
the lack of open-ended interviews with practicos to
accompany this measure. Although the scores were well
distributed (3 to 7 from a possible range of O to 7), a
questionnaire which incorporates a greater number of paired
items would have allowed for greater range and variation,
more reflective of the attitudinal differences among the
practicos. Moreover, time constraints prevented the conduct
of intensive interviews with the practicos; interviews
which would have served to give some indication of the

validity of the leader role conception measure.

127

CHAPTER VI
DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSIONS

Friendship Group Methods

 

In order to seek an explanation for the independent
operation of the dialogical orientation and network
variables, it is necessary to consider the pedagogical
methods and psychological processes operating within the
group meetings. FEDERACAFE communication objectives and
recommended procedures for friendship group leadership
are contained in a guide which is supplied to each prac-
tico working with the group.1 Following the practico's
pre-demonstration planning and preparation of written
material, the meeting structure is as follows:

1) The coordinator (elected by the group) intro-
duces the theme (usually centering aroung an agricultural
practice);

2) Group members are asked to relate positive
experiences and/or negative experiences that they have
had with the practice;

3) It is discovered through discussion with members,
if any have had favorable experiences with the practice,
so that one of them can be chosen to demonstrate the prac-
tice with the assistance of the practico.

4) The establishment of discussion over the prac-
tice makes it possible for the practico to assess the
existing level of knowledge and the depth at which he
should cover the subject;

5) Group members are urged to discuss the economic
significance of the innovation. In order to stimulate
dialogue, the practico asks questions such as the following:
Why does the farm of Don Jose produce so much coffee per
hectare? A possible answer could be: Don Jose uses ferti-
lizer, coffee nurseries, etc.;

 

lFEDERACAFE, "Pauta Para Demostracion de Metodo
Humanizada," August 23, 1978.

128

6) The extension agent moderates the group members'
discussion of their experiences, and the ideas and recom-
mendations of the members concerning the innovation;

7) If demonstration materials are used which are
unknown to the majority of members, their purpose and
function are explained;

8) During the demonstration, the practico reminds
the members of the positive and negative experiences
previously discussed in order to emphasize the proper
application of the innovation;

9) Once the demonstration is completed, questions
are solicited and the key points and different stages
of the practice are reviewed. Each of the members of
the group are urged to repeat the demonstration. If this
is not possible, small groups are organized so that every-
one can participate in the repetition. The practico
observes the members, pointing out errors and emphasizing
key points.

Analysis of Friendship Group Methods

 

One way to assess the goals and character of
friendship group communication is through feedback.
Although the disparity in leader role conception scores
suggest that pedagogical methods vary from one practico
to another, feedback within the context of the guidelines
given for friendship group meetings appears to be a highly
structured message-adjusting mechanism, enabling the
practico to elicit the desired behavior from the group
members. While the communication flow is bi-directional,
its character is monological; the emphasis in the guidelines
remains on transferral of message from source to receiver
with the intention of changing the receiver's behavior.

The group members are asked to relate positive and negative
experiences that they have had with the practice in order

to discuss the proper application (and not the merits) of

129
the practice. The character of the guidelines diverges
considerably from the conception of friendhip groups as
vehicles for extension service information-seeking,
fostering dialogical orientation to promote local self-
reliance and services more adapted to local needs.

As Schramm and Lerner (1976) noted, approval by
the group tends to permit an individual who changes in a
group context to feel more secure in his or her decision.
The inverse proposition seems equally valid. Disapproval
by the group tends to make the individual who changes in
a group context to feel less secure in his or her decision.

Individuals who promote changes other than those
recommended by the leadership of the friendship groups may
be, depending on the facilitativeness of the practico, made
conscious of their role as deviants from the group norm. If
this is the case, this might negatively affect the tendency
of individuals with greater dialogical orientation to become
engaged in interpersonal communication with other group
members.

The responses to two questionnaire items seem to
back this supposition. One question asked, ”When the group
is discussing a practice, which two group members express
the most doubts about the suitability of the practice?"

The second question asked, "Which two group members are

the first to adopt new practices?” The individuals named
in response to the first question may be considered doubt—
adaptation leaders. The names offered in response to the

second question clearly belonged to adoption leaders.

130
Although the level of analysis in this study was group and
not individual, one could not help but notice in the coding
of the questionnaires that persons designated as doubters—
adaptation leaders were infrequently named as communication
network contactees. On the other hand, farmers designated
as adoption leaders were commonly the first listed as
network contactees. Quite obviously, a positive relation-
ship existed between early acceptance of innovation and
group communication activity. Viewed in this context, the
rejection of the network hypotheses is less surprising.

The network hypotheses were based on the supposi—
tions that friendship group methods consisted of problem-
posing, dialogue and critical co-investigation, and that
this non-indoctrinative approach would lead to, as Davis
and Phares suggested, increased information-seeking activity
among the members. But the methods in many friendship
group sessions lean more toward persuasion and generate
an atmosphere that promotes interpersonal communication
while perpetuating paternalism. This argument is supported

by the results of the analysis of friendship group evolution.

Evolution of Friendship Group Self-Reliance

 

Theoretical Evolution

 

Beyond serving the immediate purpose of increasing
the effectiveness of FEDERACAFE in diffusing information to
a mass audience, an objective of the friendship group is
to liberate the small-scale coffee-grower from the direct

and continued influence of the extension service. According

 

131

to FEDERACAFE this end is fostered in group meetings by
emphasis on increased community dialogue and responsibility.1

Gonzalez (1979) illustrated the theoretical func-
tion of the friendship groups with a baseless triangle
model, focussing on intra and extra-group linkages of
group members.2 In situation I (see Figure 5), the
extension agent or practico (A) establishes individual
contact with small-scale farmers (F1, F2, and F3). Group
activities organized among farmers in the area are infre-
quent, relegating many of the farmers in the region (F4)
to marginal provisions of technical education and assistance.
There are neither linkages among the farmers themselves,
nor ties between the farmers and other service institutions
which exist in the region (I). This triangle represents
a classical situation of dependency; a group of peripheral
entities unconnected to each other, yet all tied to a
dominant core, or, in this case, apex.

Situation 2 represents the initiation of non-formal
education activities within a friendship group structure.
An important feature is the establishment, through parti-
cipation in the group activities, of bi-directional linkages

among farmers and between farmers and the extension agent.

 

lGonzalez, A. "Independencia Tecnologica en el
Cultivo de Cafe,” FEDERACAFE, Bogota, February, 1979, p. l.

21bid.: 9-12.

132

Figure 5

Theoretical Evolution of Friendship
Group Linkages

AL/AI

SITUATION 1

F4
Fl

1

/ .
90” SITUATION 2

  
  
  

01 <.-..__..

133
The farmers are encouraged to exchange ideas and informa-
tion, analyze problems and seek solutions within the group
before consulting with the extension agent.

During a period of two or more years and as the
non-formal education program develops, friendship group
members' dependence on the practico to mediate between them
and other service institutions will theoretically diminish.
Situation 3 represents the evolution after two or more years
of more direct ties between the members and service insti-
tutions in the community, fortified internal communication
within the group, and lessened dependence on the practico,
(freeing him to initiate Situation 2 activities in other
regions).

Friendship groups, according to this model, are
designed to perform most of the important intermediary
functions necessary to rural development: articulation
of needs that take into account specific natural conditions
and the institutional environment in which the farmers
work; aggregation of small producers into horizontal commu-
nication networks which diffuse technological innovation
and at the same time adapt and interpret messages to make
them more relevant to specific needs; integration and
coordination of farmer interests to place pressure on
support institutions to provide more services and

resources, etc.

134
Thus far the discussion has been confined to the
theoretical realm. The study has found the actual perfor-
mance of the groups to diverge somewhat from the model.

Actual Evolution

 

In order to test the effectiveness of the friend-
ship groups in meeting their stated objectives, zero orcer

and partial correlations were run on years of group member—

 

ghip_and: 1) communication network variables; and
2) dialogical orientation. The tests yielded quite oppo-
site results.

Table 19 confirms the positive relationship pre-
dicted in the model between years of group membership,
communication system connectedness, and influence leader
concentration. However, the finding that a positive rela-
tionship also exists between mean years of group membership
and information reliance on the extension service refutes
the model's assumption that increased member communication
exchanges are accompanied by diminished communication with

the practico.

 

 

135
Table 19

Zero Order and Partial Correlations of Years of Group Mem-
bership and Three Credit and Fertilizer Network Variables

 

Zero Order Partial
Credit Fertilizer Credit Fertilizer

 

Communication System
Connectedness .50* .49* .48* .40*

Information Reliance
on Extension Service .34* .31* .32* .20*

Influence Leader
Concentration .29* .36* .27* .31*

 

*Significantly differs from zero at the .05 level
In contrast to the results presented in Table 19,
the zero order and partial correlations of years of group
membership and dialogical orientation are —.03 and -.19,
respectively. The distribution by mean years of group
membership is presented below.
Table 20

Friendship Groups by Mean Years of Group Membership and
Dialogical Orientation

 

Number of Mean Dialogical

 

Groups Orientation Score
Less than 1 year 5 19.9
1 - 2 years 6 21.5
2 — 3 years 6 21.6
3 — 4 years 10 21.1
4 - 5 years 21 20.7
More than 5 years 18 21.6

 

136

The prediction implicit in the model is that the
inter—group comparison would show the friendship groups
that have been longest established to be significantly
higher in dialogical orientation. However, the data in
Table 20 suggests a more curvilinear evolution. The
dialogical orientation index manifested its greatest
increase in the second year of activities. A slight
increase was also registered in the third year. These
findings are consistent with the Situation 1 and Situa-
tion 2 expectation of evolving consciousness and
self-reliance. However, the fourth year of activity appears
to represent a dialogical orientation threshold: scores
dropping off in that year and the next to a level well below
that of the second year.

In order to interpret the dialogical orientation
scores for groups with five or more years of activity,
it would be useful to refer back to Table 6 on page 66.
The data in Table 6 indicate a decline in the number of
friendship groups in Tolima from 796 in 1975/76 to 725
in 1977/78. It is also noted in Table 6 that these offi-
cial statistics do not adequately reflect the drastic
decline in group membership. Based on these statistics,
it may be hypothesized that at least part of the increase
in dialogical orientation for groups with means of more
than five years of membership is attributable to the dis-
banding of groups with lower dialogical orientation scores.

An alternate hypothesis is that the evolution of dialogical

137

orientation is a slower process than conceptualized in

the model and that states of consciousness consistent with
Situation 3 do not develop until after the fifth year.
Questions remain therefore, for future research, as the
most responsible factors for the apparent rise in
dialogical orientation after five years.

It can be said, however, that the finding of low
and negative correlations of dialogical orientation with
communication network connectedness and years of group mem-
bership forces a reinterpretation of the theory linking
communication function and structure. It appears that an
absolutist expectation of more internal communication,
greater communication independence has less validity than
an immanent approach which allows for a negative relation-
ship, depending on the norms of the group and communication

methods employed.

Factors Affecting the Disbanding of Groups

 

The data in Table 6 indicate that work with the
friendship groups had two definite phases. A growth phase
occurred through 1976. The second phase was characterized
by a decline in the number of groups in 1977:

In a 1978 report from the General Manager of
FEDERACAFE the decline of friendship group activity in
several states is attributed in part to the emphasis given
in 1976 to increased coffee production and neglect of edu-

cational activities with small and medium-scale farmers.1

 

1XXXVI Congreso Nacional de Cafeteros, Informe del
Gerente, December, 1978, Anexos, p. 111.

 

138

The so-called "coffee bonanza” in Colombia, engendered by
the 1975 frost in Brazil, produced a sizeable increase in
Colombian coffee cultivation. The credit resources of the
Agricultural Finance Fund, Coffee Bank, and Agrarian Bank
were insufficient to meet the heightened demand for credit.
As part of the tightening measures, special credit incen—
tives extended to group members were terminated.

In support of the credit argument, an analysis of
Region I in this study by an extension agent of the Tolima
Committee concluded that the number of groups in the
region was highest when the credit was highest.

However, in interviews with former group members,
two other factors, unrelated to credit availability, were
identified as contributing to discontinuance of group
activities. Several former members complained that the
practico responsible for the group lacked credibility;
failing to attend group meetings and fulfill his promises
to the group. This criticism gains credibility when consi-
dered along with the argument of one practico, who observed

that once a group succeeded in achieving its "goals, there
was no longer any need to continue meetings.

The second factor relates to the agricultural
practices in Tolima, discussed in Chapter 111. Interviews
with former group members revealed that a confusion existed
between the educational function of the groups and the

"minga" (a form of cooperative assistance in which one day

a week all members work on the farm of a group member).

139

Among the sources of friction associated with the minga
were: 1) lunches for all group members served by the host
farmer were of varying quality; 2) the levels of difficulty
of the work on each farm varied in the extreme; and 3) some
members sent children to act as substitutes. Given that a
distinction was never made clear between the educational
function of the friendship groups and the work function
contained in the mingas the disillusionment of group
members with the minga engendered the disintegration of
some groups.

Finally, a third factor, which came to light in
discussion with friendship groups administrators, indicates
that in at least a few cases, the disbanding of groups
was the result of a conscious effort by FEDERACAFE. In a
number of municipalities, coordinators from different
veredas had formed regional juntas to coordinate activities
and increase their political bargaining power with local
and national governments. Junta demands often involved
challenges to the local power structure. Interviews revealed
that FEDERACAFE has constricted the "pressure group” role
of the juntas, arguing that the friendship group movement
has to be an apolitical, technical program. This rationale
has been employed for disbanding any juntas that take
dissident or radical stands.

Implications for Practice

 

One conclusion of the field study is that rural

community discussion groups can greatly facilitate information

140
exchanges among their members and help to increase the
effectiveness of extension services in transmitting
messages to their mass clientele. Perhaps the most
obvious implication of the friendship group program
is that it has reduced the cost in reaching great numbers
of farmers, as compared with individual contact. However,
more important than the size of the audience is the issue
of actual behavioral change. Impersonal mass media channels
have by definition capacity to disseminate messages to
large audiences. But, in the view of extension services,
the factor which has made programs like the friendship
groups a viable alternative to mass media is their effec—
tiveness in giving participants the knowledge and skills
which necessarily must precede the adoption of new
technologies.

As instruments for persuasion, the methods employed
in the friendship groups have been highly effective.
Demonstration in which every participant performs new skills
under close supervision of extension personnel, has enabled
the FEDERACAFE Extension Service to realize significant
progress in its program aimed at adoption of a coffee
technology characterized by new high-yielding varieties,
high density planting, and intensive use of fertilizer.

Nonetheless, education is only a complementary factor
in development and it can have only limited effectiveness
unless attention is paid to socio-economic constraints
associated with the wider social system. If a nonformal

education program is to raise the standard of living of

141

the majority of people in the community, it must provide
for more equal access and control of institutional resources.
Considered in this context, the FEDERACAFE friendship group
program is vulnerable to the same two criticisms waged against
programs which rely on mass media channels: failure to
provide for feedback and insufficient attention to the
quality of the innovations being promoted.

In looking at the friendship group methods and the
leader role conception of some of the practicos, it is
clear that a large part of the program operated in one-way
'banking fashion, with the practicos imposing their views
on what the people need. As the evolution of friendship
group activities suggest, communication must ultimately
imply a dialogue in which the initiative can come just as
well from one of the parties involved in the process as
another. It is not enough to pay lip service to the concept
of feedback or even to administer, as FEDERACAFE did in
Tolima, methods for systematic feedback information.

Social Structure

 

The key constraint to social change through the
friendship group program is the structural inequity of the
coffee zone. Any effective rural development program must
begin by taking account of the ownership of the land, the
size of the land-holdings, and the traditional sources of
control. As is true of most of Latin America, the possession
of large concentrations of land by comparatively few owners
has been the greatest contributor to the molding of Colombia

extension service programs. Despite its two—way directional

142

capacity, the friendship group program is a product of this
inequitable social structure.

Three factors which the study has identified as
most contributory to the elaboration of the friendship
group program are: 1) the commitment of a large part of
the extension bureaucracy to progressive social change;

2) the economic policy aimed at increasing Colombia's
share of the world coffee market; and 3) the social struc-
ture of the leadership in the coffee sector.

The commitment to the maintenance of the small-
scale farmer and programs tending to support him on the
part of FEDERACAFE's extension workers had its greatest
impact in the design and establishment of the friendship
groups. The more progressive extension personnel designed
a program ideally controlled by the participants which
would help them express their concerns and acquire what
they need from governmental and private institutions.
However, the designers of this strategy did not take into
account the amount and strength of pressures resisting
a considerable increase in the power of the small-scale
coffee-growers. Hence, the problem originated in the
earliest conception of the friendship group program, which
did not sufficiently acknowledge the national commercial
interests and the interests of local elites.

As a result of coffee's importance to Colombia's
economy and foreign trade balance, the middle and upper
sector coffee producers are closely integrated with the

government. These interests, which can easily absorb the

143

economic loss by adoption of new technologies, are clearly
served by changing technology to increase production.

The study found that the effect of the coffee bonanza

had been to de-emphasize work with the friendship groups.
One must conclude that national economic interests made
production efficiency a higher priority than the defense

of small-scale farmers who cannot afford to take their

land out of production and purchase much greater quantities
of chemical fertilizer.

The social structure of leadership in the coffee
zone also emerged as a significant constraint on the
political responsibility and participation goals of the
friendship groups. In the few cases where friendship
groups succeeded in provoking the participants to collec-
tively challenge vested interests, the programs were
terminated. This policy was enacted because FEDERACAFE
relies on the support of the traditional leaders (medium
and large-scale producers) to accomplish its production
objectives. Once the junta of friendship group coordinators
began to pose a threat to these traditional leaders by
absorbing their political functions and supplanting their
leadership, institutional support for the groups was

withdrawn.1

 

1According to one FEDERACAFE official, the juntas
were terminated because the coordinator leadership tended
to attract various ideological streams, which could provoke
conflict with the government and engender a reaction from
the latter to end the educational activities of the friend—
ship groups.

144

The most significant conclusion and implication
for practice to be drawn from this study of the friendship
group program is that the participatory capacity of rural
community discussion groups is limited by the inequities
of the social structure with which they interact. The
degree of participation originally designed into the
friendship group program was circumscribed by the opposi—
tion of traditionally dominant interests within and outside
the establishing agency. No rural community discussion
group can effectively serve as a mechanism for local parti-
cipation in education and collective action for social
change unless the institution(s) supporting it is willing

to accept local control and the consequences of such control.

Implications for Research

 

The group level analysis of a rural community
discussion group program in Colombia has provided some
interesting findings and speculations which may prove
useful for the development of theory in the fields of
nonformal education and communication. Therefore, some
concluding statements are in order regarding the interre-
lations of the variables analyzed in the hypotheses.

First of all, the study provides evidence that the
degree to which the group leader genuinely desires to
democratize the educational process and encourage parti-
cipatory styles of learning is a consistent predictor
of dialogical orientation, adaptation of innovations, and

activity for situation improvement. Zero order and partial

 

145

correlations between leader role conception and these three
variables were found to be highly significant. Future
research into the role of group processes in promoting
social change may be more efficient by giving priority

to the systematic measurement and evaluation of the
training, attitudes, and values of the group leaders related
to their roles as depositors of information or stimulators
of dialogue.

Secondly, dialogical orientation does seem to be
conducive to objective questioning and doubts of innovations
as well as the active modification of innovations. As
predicted, when the norms of the group are favorable toward
dialogue and critical co-investigation, group members
adhere to the norms and actively question, adapt and reject
recommended changes. While empirical studies have consis-
tently found group norms to be related to change behavior,
the overwhelming majority of this research has been of the
diffusionist perspective, focussing on innovation adoption.
Scant attention has been given the development of independent
thought and action. The finding, in this study, that small-
scale farmers can develop self-reliance and self-confidence
in their indigenous knowledge and that these farmers are
neither innately fatalistic nor dependent on superiors,
constitutes a strong rationale for pursuing research into
the democratization of rural educational processes in

Latin America.

146
Moreover, the study found that dialogical orientation

is not conducive to utilization of institutional resources.
This finding implies that disengagement from traditional
norms of resignation and acceptance is accompanied by a
rejection of institutions associated with previous depen—
dence and exploitation. This result is consistent with
Freire's second level of raised consciousness, which he

terms naive consciousness. Longitudinal studies with the

 

friendship groups or other programs with consciousness—
raising components may establish whether or not utilization
of institutional resources increases, as suggested by

Freire, as participants enter the highest stage of conscious-
ness and begin to work with institutions to transform their
situation.

The study made clear, however, that resistance to
institutional services by groups with higher dialogical
orientation does not mean a corresponding decline in
activity for situation improvement. On the contrary,
zero order and partial correlations for dialogical orien-
tation and activity for situation improvement were high.
The typical pattern seems to be that these groups more
actively defend their own interests while disengaging from
traditional sources of assistance. Appropriate research
designs and measurement techniques need to be developed in
order to understand the effects of various states of
consciousness on activity for situation improvement and

enrich our capacity to accommodate these activities.

147

This work also has implications for future research
on communication networks. It should be clear from this
study that contextual effects mitigate against an
absolutist interpretation of the linkages bewteen
communication function and structure. The potential of
network analysis for illuminating the role of structure
in the social change process has been illustrated in this
study. For example, the network method provided the most
appropriate measure for testing the validity of the
baseless triangle model of the evolution of the friendship
group. Network analyses should be incorporated in further
studies on communication system effects in non-formal
education.

In conclusion, despite isolated examples, research
of an empirical nature on the application of consciousness-
raising education is scarce. Moulton's (1977) assessment
of Animation Rurale in West Africa typifies the literature
on the impact of consciousness-raising programs:

It cannot be demonstrated conclusively that

animation rurale has either "succeeded" or

”failed“. Quantitative data is not very

instructive, since an account of the numbers

of villages affected and of animateurs trained,

gives not indication of the animateurs achieve-

ments. Although such statistics are available

and have been cited in this study as relevant,

they are misleading if not accompanied by an

account of the qualitative results of the

training and village development programs.

Unfortunately, there has been a lack of this

kind of evaluative information--a lack which

has made it difficult to adjust the program on
the basis of formative evaluation information.

 

 

1Moulton, J., Animation Rurale: Education for Rural
Development, p. 70,

 

148

Clearly, in order for evaluation of nonformal
education to capture more than only the formal elements
in educational settings, it should seek inspiration from
the case study and survey techniques of anthropology and
sociology. It is hoped by the application of affective
coding instruments, network analysis, and open—ended
interviews in this study that some educational researchers
and planners will become aware that despite obvious
difficulties in the assessment of affective learning,
progress can be made towards the development of relevant

research and evaluation designs.

149
APPENDIX A

Municipality Vereda

 

 

Name Group Name

 

 

1. What is your opinion of the friendship groups?

 

2. When you are in a group, do you prefer to make decisions
yourself or do you prefer others to make them?

(2) (1)
Self Others

3. Suppose I talked to other men in the group. How much
much attention should I pay to the ideas of the group
members as against the extension agent?

(3) Most attention to what the group members say
(2) Equal attention to what the group members say
(1) Most attention to what the extension agent says

4. Suppose an agricultural practice was being discussed in
the group that you considered to be harmful or inappro-
priate. What do you think you could do?

 

5. If you made an effort to have the group reconsider the
practice, how likely is it that you would succeed?

(3) (2) (1)
Very likely Somewhat likely Not at all likely

6. If you considered that an agricultural practice being
discussed in the group was harmful or inappropriate,
how likely is it that you would actually try to do
something about it?

(3) (2) (1)
Very likely Somewhat likely Not at all likely
7. Do you remember ever doing such a thing?

(3) (2) (1)
Many times A few times Never

8. Some people say a boy should insist on his own opinion
even if his group disagrees with him. In the face of
disagreement by his group, should you teach a boy:

(1) Most times to go along with the group
(2) Sometimes to go along with the group
(3) Most times to hold to his own opinion

12.

13.

(3)
(2)
(l)

14.

H

150
Suppose I talk to other men in this community. Would:

Many have different opinions than you
A few have different opinions than you
All have the same opinion as you do

Some people say if your neighbors know all about your
private affairs they may take advantage of you. What is
your opinion?

There is a good chance they will take advantage
Little chance
No chance

 

Would you say most people like to help others or like
to watch out for themselves?

(2) (1)

Help others Look out for themselves

Would you say extension agents, in general, keep the
promises they make?

(3) (2) (1)

Almost all the time Some of the time Almost never

When you meet someone for the first time what should
you do?

Trust the person until he proves to be not worthy of
that trust

Be cautious about trusting the person until you know
him better

Not trust the person because he may take advantage of
you

Do you have doubts about how to put into practice on
your coffee farm any of the following practices?
Some
Many_doubts Doubts No Doubts

 

sembrar cafe
trazado de cafetales
construccion de
almacigo
construccion del
germinador
control de plagas
control de enfer-
medades

control erosion
fertilizacion
uso de credito
construccion de
beneficiadero

 

OKOOON O\U1 45 LAND—4

 

15.

l6.

17.

H

151

Who have you consulted with about these practices?

 

Coordinator of the group Group member
Extension agent Non-member farmer
Manuals or booklets

Others

Nobody

Which of these practices have you had to modify or had
to discard in favor of an alternative due to the special
conditions on your coffee farm?

Used as
Modified Discarded Recommended

 

 

siembra de cafe
trazado de cafetales
construccion de
almacigo
construccion del
germinador
control de plagas
Control de
enfermedades
control erosion
fertilizacion

. uso de credito
construccion de
beneficiadero

 

OKOCDN mm b (JONH

 

Which of the following practices are presently being used
on your farm? Tell me if you use them.much, little or
not at all.

Much Little Not at all

 

siembra de cafe
trazado de
cafetales
construccion de
almacigo
construccion del
germinador
control de plagas
control de
enfermedades
control erosion
fertilizacion
uso de credito
construccion de
beneficiadero

O‘UI D U.) NI—l

OOCDV

HHHHH

 

152
18. Who in the group do you regard as generally being the
most likely to introduce doubts about the appropriate-
ness of a practice into group discussion? WRITE NAMES

Most likely

 

Who do you regard as the second most likely to introduce
doubts?

Second most likely

 

19. Who in the group do you regard as generally being the
first to adopt new practices? WRITE NAMES

First

 

Second

 

20. Are you doing something to acquire more land?

(2) (1)
Yes No

IF YES: What?

 

21. Are you doing something to obtain more credit?

(2) (1)
Yes No

IF YES: What?

 

22. Did you receive credit before becoming a member of the
friendship group?

Yes No
IF YES: (IF NO GO TO 24)
23. How many times?

24. Are you doing something to acquire more income?

(2) (1)
Yes No

IF YES: What?

 

25. Are you doing something to acquire more tools?

(2) (1)
Yes No

IF YES: What?

 

26.

27.

28.

29.
30.
31.

153

How often have you used services provided by the Comite
de Cafeteros in the last six months?

What types of services did you request?

 

 

What other institutions have provided you with
agricultural services in the last six months?

 

 

How old are you?

 

How many years have you attended school?
Please read the following paragrah:

LOS HOMBRES Y LAS MUJERES DEL CAMPO DEBEN ESTAR
PREPARADOS PARA ENFRENTAR LOS DESIGNIOS DEL
FUTURO. COLOMBIA NECESITA DE LOS TRABAJADORES
DEL CAMPO Y TODOS DEBEMOS ESTAR UNIDOS EN LA
TAREA COMUN DE HACER QUE COLOMBIA SEA CADA
DIA MAS PROSPERA.

INTERVIEWER: THANK THE PERSON AFTER THE PARAGRAPH IS READ.
WRITE YOUR EVALUATION OF THE INTERVIEWEE'S READING CAPACITY:

Reads well Reads with difficulty Does not read
IF READS WITH DIFFICULTY OR DOES NOT READ: (IF READS WELL
GO TO 33)

32. Is there someone who regularly helps you to read?

33.

34.

Yes No

 

 

How often do you read or have someone read for you
newspapers or magazines?

(4) (3)
Every day At least once a week
(2) (1)

At least once a month Less than once a month

How often do you read or have someone read for you
agricultural bulletins or manuals?

(4) (3)
Every day At least once a week
(2) (1)

At least once a month Less than once a month

35. Do you own a radio? Yes No
36. In a normal day, how many hours do you listen to the
radio?
Morning. Afternoon Night
37. What are your favorite radio programs? Rank them in
order of preference: 1 for most favorite through 4
for least favorite.
sports music
news agricultural information programs
38. What is the number of hectares on your farm?
39. Do you: Own the land
Rent the land
Work for another
IF OWN: (IF NO GO TO 41)
40. What amount is the mortgage on your land?
41. How long have you been a member of the friendship group?
years _____ymonths
42. How often do you attend group meetings?
(4) (3)
Every 15 days Once a month
(2) (1)
Once every 2 months Less than once every 2 months__
43. Did you vote in the last FEDERACAFE Municipal Committee
Election?
Yes No
44. Are you a member of FEDERACAFE?

154

Yes No

INTERVIEWER: THANK THE PERSON FOR HIS/HER ASSISTANCE.

155

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Ame am<u zH mmzHe .mmpomm mo mz<z .mom

.mz<zmon .mmmmmn<v

Amv one<onHezmmH

wm0fi>©m paw coaumapomfifl %HHm5U0 050nm mumnm %HumoE

50% man no ~50% Eonm 00fi>pm mam cowumEHomcH x000 %Hum08

Gownmm mfifiu can no NGOmumm mflfiu Eoum mofi>pm mam cowumEMomaw
x000 %Humoa 50% can .mmz<z MHHMB .mmeHH> mnu mpwmu50 H0
mmeHH> .m50uw mflfimmamwum .%HHEmm H50% 5H GOmHmm %cm on 0H500
wage wmsucofi o ummH 05“ ca coauomamm 000m 050nm pwxamu 0>w£
50% 5053 £0H3 mSOmHmm Ham MO 00505 030 we m>ww mwmmam 50% pH503

<H<Q MMOBHMZ

mz<z

Name

Group Name

156
APPENDIX B

Coordinator

Extension Agent

 

 

Length of time in present position

A.

I

will read you two ideas. Please tell me which of

them is the most important

I

The Coordinator should serve as an intermediary
between the recommendations of the group and the
Extension Service of the Committee.

The Coordinator should serve to bring technical
information from the Extension Service of the
Committee to group members.

will read you two ideas. Please tell me which of

them is the most important

I

The Coordinator teaches and group members are taught

The Coordinator serves to develop the capabilities
of other farmers so they can run the vereda.

will read you two ideas. Please tell me which of

them is the most important.

I

The Coordinator should analyze issues raised by
group members

The Coordinator should select themes for the
group meeting and have group members adapt to
them.

will read you two ideas. Please tell me which of

them is most important

The Coordinator should assure that the group studies
entirely production problems.

The Coordinator should attempt to have the group
consider economic problems and others that can
affect the farms of each farmer.

E.

I

157

will read you two ideas. Please tell me which of

them is most important

I

The Coordinator should convince the group that prac—
tices discovered on experimental farms are better
than those traditionally used.

The Coordinator should have the group discuss
different techniques to adapt them to each farm.

will read you two ideas. Please tell me which of

them is most important

I

The Coordinator should encourage open discussion
in group meetings even when it is in conflict
with adoption of recommended practices.

The Coordinator should have the group discuss only
topics shown by the extension agent.

will read you two ideas. Please tell me which of

them is most important

The Coordinator should have the group present
ideas that serve toward better programming of
the Committee.

The Coordinator should see to it that farmers are
concerned only with problems of the group.

158

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