Students� Perceptions of an Agricultural Communications Field Trip

Abstract

The study examined undergraduate agricultural communications students� perceptions of a day-long field trip to various employers in the communications and media industry. The participants were asked to complete two questionnaires (n=14) both before and after the field trip. A focus group was held two months after the field trip and included participants who had completed the first two instruments, or had gone on the field trip in previous semesters, but not participated in the first two data collection sessions. The first set of data was collected from the results of a four-point Likert-style questionnaire that gauged students� perceptions of field trips on five dimensions. The second questionnaire was a 10-question open-ended worksheet, and the third was the results of a focus group session. The data from the first questionnaire was analyzed using Observation Oriented Modeling, a form of statistical analysis that looks at themes and trends in a raw data set. The second questionnaire was analyzed for frequencies and coded using Initial coding methods. The focus group transcript was coded using In-Vivo coding. Results of the first questionnaire found that perceptions had increased on three out of the five dimensions. The results of the second and third instrument found that students highly value their writing and design skills, but often have trouble seeing the difference between classroom and newsroom. Results also found that students may have trouble connecting agriculture to non-food and fiber industries.