Analysis of Effects of Implementing the Rural Guide Plan Using the Structural Equation Model (Case study: Zanjan County)

The main objective of this descriptive- correlative research was to analysis of effects of implementing the Rural Guide Plan (RGP) in the villages of Zanjan County. The population of the study contained all heads of rural households in the villages having more than 100 households in Zanjan County in which RGP has been implemented by the end of 2011 (N=8748). According to the Krejcie and Morgan table، a sample size of 370 was selected using a stratified random sampling method (n=370). A questionnaire was used to collect the data. The content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts. A pilot study was conducted to establish reliability of the instrument. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for the main scales of questionnaire were higher than 0. 75. The data were analyzed by SPSSwin20 and LISREL8. 5 softwares. The Explanatory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (Structural Equations Model) were used in order to categorize and identify the factors related to effects of implementing the RGP in the villages of Zanjan County and investigate the fitting indices surpasses model، respectively. The results showed that five factors namely، physical، economic، social- cultural، hygiene and environmental explained 67. 71 percent of total variances of effects of implementing the RGP in the villages of Zanjan County.