Psychometric Development of a Knowledge Test on Tick Infestation in Small Ruminants

Manju Sahu; Jayant Goyal; Ajay Kumar Chaturvedani; Souti Prasad Sarkhel; Sarvan Kumar; M.R. Vineeth; Rashmi Vishwakarma

doi:10.48165/IJEE.2025.614RT03

Authors

Manju Sahu
Jayant Goyal https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0623-0056
Ajay Kumar Chaturvedani
Souti Prasad Sarkhel
Sarvan Kumar
M.R. Vineeth
Rashmi Vishwakarma

https://doi.org/10.48165/IJEE.2025.614RT03

Keywords:

Knowledge test, Reliability, Small ruminants, Tick infestation, Validity

Abstract

A test was developed to assess farmers’ knowledge of tick infestation in small ruminants. Following the literature review, experts' input, and pilot findings, a list of 48 items was identified and screened for relevancy by experts, resulting in 36 items retained for item analysis. These items were pretested during 2024-25 on 60 purposively selected farmers from non-sampling areas using a direct interview method with dichotomous scoring of ‘1’ for correct and ‘0’ for incorrect response. Based on item difficulty and discrimination indices, 30 items were finalized. Validity of the instrument was established using point-biserial correlation, with all items exhibiting acceptable correlation values of more than 0.30. Reliability of the tool was measured by the Kuder-Richardson Formula 20 and was found to be excellent with the value of 0.9162. Finally, the test consisted of 30 well-structured items organized under six thematic dimensions of tick infestation. The developed test offers a valuable means to assess farmers’ knowledge, serving as a foundation for developing targeted awareness and capacity-building interventions.

Author Biographies

Manju Sahu

Ph.D. Scholar, Department of Veterinary Extension, Faculty of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Rajiv Gandhi South Campus-Banaras Hindu University, Mirzapur-231307, Uttar Pradesh, India
Jayant Goyal

Department of Veterinary Extension, Faculty of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Rajiv Gandhi South Campus- Banaras Hindu University, Mirzapur (U.P.) 231307
Ajay Kumar Chaturvedani

Department of Veterinary Extension, Faculty of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Rajiv Gandhi South Campus- Banaras Hindu University, Mirzapur (U.P.) 231307
Souti Prasad Sarkhel

Department of Veterinary Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Rajiv Gandhi South Campus- Banaras Hindu University, Mirzapur (U.P.) 231307
Sarvan Kumar

Department of Veterinary Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Rajiv Gandhi South Campus- Banaras Hindu University, Mirzapur (U.P.) 231307
M.R. Vineeth

Department of Animal Genetics and Breeding, Faculty of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Rajiv Gandhi South Campus- Banaras Hindu University, Mirzapur (U.P.) 231307
Rashmi Vishwakarma

Department of Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Extension Education, College of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry, NDVSU Jabalpur

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