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K-State Research And Extension Surveys Kansans About Information Needs And Delivery Methods Kansans know what information is important to them. They also know how they prefer to learn that information. Now, thanks to a recent survey, K-State Research and Extension knows that information, too. In 2003, K-State Research and Extension conducted a Family and Consumer Sciences Survey in an effort to determine the topics Kansans consider most important and the delivery methods that work best for reaching them with the information. The survey results will help Research and Extension know what topics to focus on when providing information to the public. Results also indicate the best tools for educating people on the information. Paula Peters, assistant director for Extension Family and Consumer Sciences, said this is the first survey of its kind in 20 years. "Every five years K-State Research and Extension puts together a plan for outcomes we want to achieve with our clients," she said. This survey was part of the most recent five-year plan. "In January through March 2003 we asked questions of our potential clients," said Peters. "Since it had been awhile since we asked these questions, we wanted to see what work we needed to do." Specialists who are K-State faculty designed the survey, funded by K-State Research and Extension, and it was distributed to county extension offices throughout the state. Extension agents and their program development committees conducted the survey at the county level. The survey asked questions about what topics the public is most interested in learning about. The top 15 topics all received a positive response of more than 80 percent, with Food and Nutrition for Adults coming in as most important, followed by Getting Enough Exercise or Physical Activity and Managing Stress. "The results show the high value people put on their health," said Peters. "They also show us that people today are dealing with a lot of stress." The topics were also broken down into specialty groups, such as age-related issues, family relationships and financial management. "This way," said Peters, "we can look at the high priority topics and specialty areas they fall into and determine if our agents need special training in any of those areas to meet a need." For the first time the survey included questions about the way information is presented to the public. Research and Extension wanted to know how people want to receive information in order to adapt the delivery methods, said Peters. "We don't want to do workshops and have no one show up," she said. "Because of the survey results, we know how people want to get the information." The top five means of receiving information were in a newspaper column, in a newsletter (both over 80 percent), by attending a program on a specific topic, by participating in a one-day event and by watching a television program. The Internet, however, proved unpopular as a learning tool. The categories for participating in Internet for-credit or non-credit courses received less than 40 percent response. "We found," she said, "that people everywhere are busy, and what they want is convenience, to have information mailed to them or to see it on television." More than 2,600 people responded to the survey, representing a broad demographic. The majority of the responses, 84.1 percent, came from females age 35-54. That was not a surprise, said Peters, because that group is the most likely to value the services offered. For the most part, the survey was comparable with the state census in ethnicity, education, and annual income percentages, although the ethnic diversity was not as high as desired, Peters said. One area that differed from the state census was the number of responses from people under 35, which at 16.1 percent was well below the census percentage of 36.8. Peters said this finding also was expected as that age group is usually not well represented in surveys because of its lack of response. The low response from low-income families, only 2.7 percent, was a discouraging finding, said Peters. "We are charged with reaching low-income families, so we will need to find another way to hear from this important group," she said. The number of responses from rural and urban areas was very similar, as were their answers. "There was really not much difference between rural and urban Kansas among any of the categories," said Peters. Because local extension agents conducted the survey, people throughout the state were able to respond. "It provided a good connection through the state and county levels," said Peters. "The way we conducted the survey, to involve many groups, there was not as much control as if we had done the survey ourselves," she said. "But we value the results more highly because of the wide variety of responses we were able to get." Peters said that when analysis is complete the survey results would be submitted to the Journal of Extension, a national online publication. "Other agencies across the country will be interested in these results," she said.
Kent Hildebrand
For information, contact Paula Peters at
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