Integrating Social Network Analysis and correlation agricultural extension: Case of climate change adaptation communication

Abstract

Communication plays a critical role in climate change adaptation; farmers faced with this challenge are continually sharing information and adopting appropriate agricultural technologies. This study used Social Network Analysis (SNA) to study how farmers adapting to climate chanqe communicate. SNA was used to assess the effects of social network structures on climate change adaptation communication among fanners in Sakai sub-location in Makueni County in Kenya and correlation analysis to determine factors that determine access to information. The study focused on how information flows through a social system. SNA is a relatively new methodology that has gained currency due to its ability to combine graph theory, statistics and computer programmes to produce visual sociograms and indices that assign values to relationships in a network. Correlation was used to show the association between study variables. The integration of correlation in SNA is shown to increase the understanding of heterophily and homophily in group communications.