There were several steps in the content analysis of these interview questionnaires.

The first step was the complete transcription of the seven interviews. The responses for

each question were then grouped together. From the groups of responses for each

question, four themes emerged. Responses were then grouped into these four theme

areas and from there, the duplicate responses were eliminated. From the remaining

responses in each area, the competencies were derived from the responses for the county

board member instrument.

 The quantitative portion of this study utilized survey research methods, with the

first part a questionnaire developed from the responses of the long interviews and

administered to county Farm Bureau board members. An additional leadership behavior

instrument was developed to examine leadership attitude/will/desire within members.

This instrument was administered to a sample of active Florida Farm Bureau members.

 Ary et al., (1996) describe a survey as a research technique in which data are

gathered by asking questions of a group of individuals called respondents. Survey

research asks questions about the nature, incidence, or distribution of variables and/or the

relationships among those variables. No manipulation is attempted on the variables, only

descriptions of variables and their relationships as they naturally occur.

 All three survey instruments used in this study were pilot tested to ensure validity.

Pilot tests are a form ofpre-testing in which subjects from the sample population are

given the instrument and provide feedback to determine if the instrument is measuring

what it is suppose to measure (Black, 1999). Members of the pilot test groups were taken

from the same as the groups who would be receiving the three individual instruments.