Examining Educational Needs of Rural Women in Ghomum Village of Songhor Township Using Borich Model and Quadrant Analysis

Needs assessment is “gaps between current conditions and desired conditions”. Most educational programs in extension education pay little attention to clients’ needs. This devalues the assessment as a policy making tool. However, this study will approach both rural women and extension agents’ perception, supposing rural women’s needs are considered to find areas of match or mismatch among stakeholders. Therefore, the survey aimed at inspecting educational needs of rural women in Ghomum Village using Borich needs assessment model and quadrant analysis. Through survey methodology, Borich (1980) obtained some data that could be ranked in order of priority. He believed that through needs assessment model rural women should judge about their own needs. Other researchers have also defined approaches to assessing educational needs. Through quadrant analysis, Witkin (1984) used importance as a qualifying factor in deriving priorities without fallacy of basing priority decisions on simple discrepancies. The population consisted of rural women and community extension agents in Gomum village. 100 women were selected and 35 of them were brought in to the study. Through Borich needs assessment model the questionnaires revealed that home economics, child care and methods of cooking were their top three needs. And quadrant analysis showed that educational needs were also ranked high. As a result both techniques should be used. Specifically, issues such as home economics, child care, and method of cooking should be more emphasized when planning extension classes for women residing in Gomum village.