Homemakers' participation in an extension program

Essential for the operation of a democratic society is the voluntary participation of its citizens in the activities and organizations of the society. Participation serves as the vehicle by which the society continues to meet its objectives. In an attempt to understand and predict participation, social science research workers have devoted considerable attention to the study of participation in voluntary organizations. Most studies have dealt with the analysis of factors relating to participation and non-participation or with factors relating to the differential partioipation of members. Recently research workers have studied participation in the less formally organized activities such as political meetings, voting, and social activities. This thesis is more nearly related to the latter frame of reference in that it analyzed participation in the less formalized activities of a public agency. Hypotheses tested should increase the knowledge about factors related to participation in less formalized educational activities. Specifically, it is a study of the relationship of personal, social, and economic factors to participation of a group of homemakers in the Iowa Cooperative Extension Service.