The purpose of this study was to evaluate the development and initial use of
Texas Cooperative Extensions (TCE) White-tailed Deer Management Module (WDMM)
delivered over the Internet. The results of this study will provide suggestions about
future online wildlife management modules.
Data were collected from two populations using questionnaires. A sample of six
county Extension agents (CEAs) and four Extension specialists were selected by an
Extension wildlife specialist who perceived them to be professionals in the fields of
wildlife and range management. This first sample is also referred to as change agents.
The second sample, also known as early users, consisted of 27 anonymous CEAs and
landowners within TCEs District 10. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to
collect and analyze data. The results are as follows:
Thus, the development of WDMM was the responsibility of the Extension
specialist and researcher. The Extension specialist and researcher did seek professional
opinions on content and layout information.
Results suggested that CEAs and Extension specialists agreed the WDMM would
be a beneficial educational tool for new landowners. Overall, WDMM was perceived to
be user friendly, visually appealing, and provided useful content. Although most change
agents responded positively to most questions, there were a few that would like to see
more educationally challenging questions. For example, there were a few questions that
respondents felt were of the elementary and kindergarten level. They would like
more questions concerning management.
The majority of early users were in support of WDMM. Data gathered from the
WDMM Feedback Questionnaire agreed with data gathered from change agents. In
general, most early users said that they were pleased with the WDMM.
Recommendations were made based on these findings to expand the WDMM.
Some of these include:
1) Expanding WDMM;
2) Replicating this study using random sampling;
3) Collecting computer knowledge and skills and demographics on future
studies;
4) Developing similar modules to see if they gain the same positive response.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/1411 |
| Date | 17 February 2005 |
| Creators | Bedgood, Mark Andrew |
| Contributors | Cummings, Scott |
| Publisher | Texas A&M University |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Thesis, text |
| Format | 302659 bytes, electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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