Factors associated with the success of participants in the 1981 National FFA Livestock Judging Contest

Abstract

The primary purpose of the study was to determine the factors that were associated with the success of those teams that participated in the 1981 National FFA Livestock Judging Contest. A secondary purpose of the study was to determine the attitudes of both the contestants and their advisors regarding the contest.

The population consisted of 135 FFA members who competed in the contest in Kansas City, Missouri and their 45 advisors. The study was conducted using the entire population. A questionnaire was developed to obtain data regarding factors that could relate to success of participants in the contest. The instruments were distributed to students and advisors during a meeting the day before the contest. Forty-four advisors and 109 contestants completed the questionnaire.

Twenty-seven research questions were answered based on data analysis using the Pearson Product Moment Correlation and differences in group means. The study concluded that the factors associated with success of participants in the 1981 FFA National Livestock Judging Contest were as follows.

1. Those teams who spent more time preparing for the contest tended to score higher.

2. Teams with advisors who had fewer years of vocational agriculture teaching experience tended to score higher.

3. Teams from states with high populations of cattle, hogs, and sheep tended to score higher.

4. Those teams who entered more livestock judging contests tended to score higher.

5. Teams from the Central and Western Regions tended to score higher.

6. Those teams with advisors who rated "undergraduate courses," "collegiate livestock judging team," and "FFA or 4-H livestock judging team" as being "extremely important" sources of their experience tended to score higher.

7. Teams from single teacher vocational agriculture departments tended to score higher.

8. Those teams selected by their advisors tended to score higher.

Both students and advisors tended to have a positive overall attitude toward the contest.