Title: A SCALE TO MEASURE FARMERS' PERCEPTION TOWARDS CLIMATE CHANGE

Authors: Mrinal Pandey and I. M. Khan

Publisher: The President, Society of Extension Education Gujarat

Keywords: climate change, perception, scale development, likert scale, reliability; validity

Volume: 41

Issue: 1

Year: June 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.56572/gjoee.2026.41.1.0010

Abstract: Climate change is a major challenge for agricultural sustainability and farmers' livelihoods. Understanding how farmers perceive climate change is important for creating effective adaptation and mitigation strategies. This study set out to develop and standardize a reliable and valid scale to measure farmers' perceptions of climate change in selected agroclimatic zones of Rajasthan. The Likert summated rating scale method was used to build the scale. At first, 120 statements were created based on a literature review and expert input. These were narrowed down to 60 statements using Edwards' criteria. A panel of 40 experts then tested the relevancy of these statements, and 43 statements that met the required thresholds for relevancy percentage, weightage, and mean score were kept. Next, item analysis was done using the t-test method to see how well each statement could distinguish between different responses. Statements with t-values of 1.75 or higher were kept, resulting in 32 statements for the final scale. The scale covers four areas: perception of weather parameters, causes of climate change, climate risk perception, and overall perception of climate change. The split-half method showed the scale is reliable, with a coefficient of 0.865, which means it is highly consistent. Content validity checks confirmed the scale is suitable and appropriate. The developed scale provides a standardised and scientific tool to measure farmers' perception towards climate change and can be effectively used for research, policy formulation, and extension interventions.