An Analysis of Access and Use of ICTs by Agricultural Researchers in Iran

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have affected all sectors including the agricultural sector. ICTs play an essential role in sharing knowledge and information and networking among different actors of the agricultural sector. Agricultural researchers, as the main actors of generating and developing knowledge and technology, need to use the unique capacities of ICTs. The current situation of access to ICTs and the extent and skill of agricultural researchers in using ICTs need to be evaluated to take advantage of this capacity. In this study, 141 researchers from six agricultural research institutes of Iran were selected by multi-stage random sampling method to survey their access, purpose, skill, and extent of using ICTs. The findings indicated that researchers had access to the main ICT tools such as computers and the Internet. Researchers mainly used ICTs for information acquisition, chatting and sending messages, and finding educational materials and resources. Most of the researchers use e-mails, search engines, and social networks every day. The primary skills of most researchers were good at working with computers. Job experience and skill in using ICTs explained 46.7% of the variance of using ICTs.