Jamie Liston, Stillwater Public Schools
Robert Terry Jr., University of Missouri
Dwayne Cartmell II, Oklahoma State University
Scope and Method of Study: The purpose of this study was to determine the opinion leaders among agricultural education teachers in the Shawnee Professional Improvement group of Oklahoma pertaining to various aspects of agricultural education programs. A list of teachers for the P.I. group was obtained through the 2002 Agricultural Education Teacher and Staff Directory. The 21 teachers identified were contacted to schedule a time, and a personal visit was made to each teacher to administer the survey. A quantitative descriptive design was employed to describe and compare the identified opinion leaders with non-opinion leaders. Each completed a multiple-part survey to determine his or her personal, social, and leadership characteristics. Findings and Conclusions: Agriculture teachers in the Shawnee P.I. were male, 40 years old, had taught for 14 years, and had received a bachelor’s degree plus hours toward a master’s degree. A high correlation was found between the sociometric and key-informant methods for identifying opinion leaders. Using the sociometric method, three teachers were identified as opinion leaders for the group. Opinion leaders were found to be older, had taught longer, earned a higher degree, and were more innovative and localite compared to non-opinion leaders.