scholarly journals Adoption of agricultural technology in the developing world: A meta-analysis of the empirical literature

2021 ◽  
Vol 146 ◽  
pp. 105599
Author(s):  
Sacha Ruzzante ◽  
Ricardo Labarta ◽  
Amy Bilton
Author(s):  
Sacha W. Ruzzante ◽  
Amy M. Bilton

Agricultural technology transfer to people in the developing world is a potentially powerful tool to raise productivity and improve livelihoods. Despite this, many technologies are not adopted by their intended beneficiaries. Qualitative studies have identified guidelines to follow in the design and dissemination of agricultural technology, but there has been comparatively little synthesis of quantitative studies of adoption. This study presents a meta-analysis of adoption studies of agricultural technologies in the developing world. The results confirm most earlier findings, but cast doubt on the importance of some classic predictors of adoption, such as education and landholding size. Contact with extension services and membership in farming associations are found to be the most important variables in predicting adoption. Attributes of the technologies are found to modify the relationships of predictor variables to adoption. Membership in farming associations and farmer experience are found to be positively linked to adoption in general, but for technologies that reduce labour the effect is amplified. The findings have potential implications for researchers, extension workers, and policy makers.


2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christophe Revelli ◽  
Jean-Laurent Viviani

Over the last twenty years, the debate on financial performance of socially responsible investment (SRI) has not yielded a clear consensus, arguing mainly that there was no difference in performance between SRI and ‘conventional’ investment, although SRI could underperform or outperform in some cases. Our research, based on a meta-analysis ‘vote-counting’ approach of the empirical literature, allows us to observe that the effects of SRI on financial performance are multiple. Second, we conclude that the financial performance of SRI is radically changing according to the empirical methods employed by researchers.


2021 ◽  
pp. 152483802199128
Author(s):  
David S. Lapsey ◽  
Bradley A. Campbell ◽  
Bryant T. Plumlee

Sexual assault and case attrition at the arrest stage are serious problems in the United States. Focal concerns have increasingly been used to explain police decision making in sexual assault cases. Because of the popularity of the focal concerns perspective and potential to inform evidence-based training, a systematic review and meta-analysis are needed to condense the literature. In this study, we assess the overall strength of the relationship between focal concerns variables and police decisions to arrest in cases of sexual assault. Our assessment of the effects of focal concerns variables on arrest decision making in sexual assault cases followed the systematic review protocols provided by the Campbell Collaboration of Systematic Reviews. Specifically, we used the Campbell Collaboration recommendations to search empirical literature and used meta-analysis to evaluate the size, direction, and strength of the impact of focal concerns variables on arrest decisions. Our search strategy detected 14 eligible studies and 79 effect sizes. The meta-analysis found several robust and statistically significant correlates of arrest. In fact, each focal concerns concept produced at least one robust arrest correlate. Overall, focal concerns offers a strong approach for explaining police decisions in sexual assault cases. Although practical concerns and resource constraints produced the strongest arrest correlates, results show the importance of additional case characteristics in officers’ decision to arrest.


2002 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 344-360 ◽  
Author(s):  
Travis C. Pratt ◽  
Francis T. Cullen ◽  
Kristie R. Blevins ◽  
Leah Daigle ◽  
James D. Unnever

In recent years, criminologists have begun to focus more closely on how certain biosocial and/or neuropsychological factors may influence criminal and delinquent behaviour. One factor that is emerging as a potentially important correlate of such behaviour is Attention Deficit — often combined with hyperactivity — Disorder (ADD and/or ADHD). The results of the growing body of empirical literature assessing this link are, however, inconsistent. The present study subjects this body of research to a ‘meta-analysis' — or, ‘quantitative synthesis' — to establish both the overall effect of ADHD on crime and delinquency and the degree to which this relationship is conditioned by methodological factors across empirical studies. The analyses reveal a fairly strong association between measures of ADHD and criminal/delinquent behaviour. Nevertheless, these effects are not invariant across certain salient methodological characteristics. The implications for criminological theory and correctional policy are discussed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 245-265 ◽  
Author(s):  
David I. Pickup ◽  
Robert M. Bernard ◽  
Eugene Borokhovski ◽  
Anne C. Wade ◽  
Rana M. Tamim

Introduction. This paper provides an overview of the information retrieval strategy employed for two meta-analyses, conducted by a systematic review team at Concordia University (Montreal, QC, Canada). Both papers draw on standards first articulated by H.M. Cooper and further developed by the Campbell Collaboration, which promote a comprehensive approach to systematically searching an extensive array of resources (bibliographic databases, print resources, citation indices, etc.) in order to locate both published and unpublished research. The goal is to verify if searching comprehensively through multiple resources retrieves studies that are unique, and hence, improve the overall representativeness of a diverse body of literature. We also analyze the sensitivity and specificity of the results by data source. Methods. In order to determine the source sensitivity, we consider percentage of results from each source retrieved for full-text review. In order to determine the source specificity, we derive a percentage from the total number of studies included in the final meta-analysis compared against the overall number of initial results found. Results. Results demonstrate the need to search beyond the subject-specific databases of a particular discipline as unique results can be found in many places. Databases for related disciplines provided 129 unique includes to each meta-analysis, and multidisciplinary databases provided 44 and 99 unique includes for the two meta-analyses in question respectively. Manual search techniques were much more sensitive and specific than electronic searches of databases and yield a higher percentage of final includes. Discussion. The results demonstrate the utility of a comprehensive information retrieval methodology like that proposed by the Campbell Collaboration, which goes beyond the main subject databases to locate the full range of information sources, including grey literature.


2019 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 791-817 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yinghui Shi ◽  
Huiyun Yang ◽  
Jason MacLeod ◽  
Jingman Zhang ◽  
Harrison Hao Yang

Technology-enabled active learning environments (TE-ALEs) have attracted considerable research interest, particularly in higher education. However, research shows inconsistent results describing the influence of TE-ALEs toward students’ cognitive learning outcomes. This study was designed to identify high-quality empirical research examining college students’ cognitive learning outcomes and to utilize meta-analysis to determine the overall effectiveness of TE-ALEs. A systematic literature search identified 31 high-quality peer-reviewed journal articles that met the inclusion criteria. Meta-analysis showed that the calculated effect size of TE-ALEs more positively influenced students’ cognitive learning than traditional lecture-based environments. Moderator variable analysis suggested that social context, study design, and sample size were significant factors that influence the effectiveness of TE-ALE. TE-ALEs were found more effective when instructors employed individualized learning contexts as well as when bias was reduced in randomized controlled trials. TE-ALEs were also found to be more effective in small courses rather than in large courses.


2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 195-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adel Alferaih

While a number of studies have reviewed empirical research on individuals’ entrepreneurial intentions (EIs), very little is known about the cumulative performance of frequently used constructs and their direct and indirect relationships with EI. This research has exposed 123 usable empirical studies of EI to weight- and meta-analyses to determine the cumulative performance of various frequently explored relationships. A generic research model of the antecedents of EI is proposed on that basis. The outcomes of this research and its limitations have practical and theoretical implications for future entrepreneurship research.


Libri ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Espen Stranger-Johannessen

AbstractCommunity libraries in Africa are growing in number, and are increasingly subject to academic research. The literature on community libraries spans 30 years, and this review shows how there has been a shift from conceptual to empirical publications. The early, conceptual literature stressed that community libraries should be by and for the community, support development, actively reach out, and provide relevant materials. These publications can to some extent be seen as reactions to the colonial legacy that national library services carried on after independence. The empirical research was analyzed using Kuhlthau’s (1999) framework for school libraries as a starting point. The major function of this framework is to provide a meta-analysis of the research, and further to relate this meta-analysis to the larger context in which this research is situated. The empirical literature reported mainly on student use. Much of the literature addressed lower-level issues, skills and outcomes, such as materials offered or borrowed, increased reading, and change in attitudes. However, limited attention was given to utilisation as an outcome. Attempts to find a causal relationship between library use and improved grades have been inconclusive. A major limitation of this framework is that it does not address the community aspect of these libraries that the empirical literature emphasized. This dual aspect of community libraries merits further exploration, and there is a need to develop theoretical frameworks that fit better with the realities of African communities and their libraries. There is also need for more research comparing community libraries across countries as well as within countries. The scholarly significance of this study is that is provides a comprehensive, critical review of the literature on community libraries in Africa and identifies caveats in the research literature. This will support future research on community libraries in Africa, an under-researched area.


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