"An index is a composite measure in which separate indicators of the phenomenon

are combined to create a single measure...scores on each individual indicator are

summed to give an overall score on the composite phenomenon" (Sullivan, 2001, p.159-

160). I developed an unweighted unidimensional index to measure the behavior.

Behavior is the manifest, observable response in a given situation (Ajzen, ND). The

index consisted of multiple behaviors identified by an expert panel familiar with various

agricultural practices. The term traditional is not clearly defined among different

American Indian cultures. I operationalized the behavior, TAP, with the help of an expert

panel, as those practices that are not conventional agricultural practices developed post

WWII. These post WWII practices are well defined. Members of the expert panel listed

conventional agricultural practices that could be used in both home gardens and farms in

order not to exclude cases based on size of land holdings. For example, I did not measure

behaviors such as tractor use or combine use because home gardeners with small acreage

of cultivated land would likely not engage in these behaviors.

 I measured multiple behaviors to operationalize TAP in order to increase the

reliability and consistency of my results. This reduced the weakness associated with the

use of a single measure of a general behavior, which often results in inconsistent and

unreliable results (Ajzen, 1988, p 54). I included thirteen items in the behavior index.

The index used a scalar response format with five categories, almost never, rarely,

sometimes, often and almost always. I calculated the summative scores for each

participant. Low scores indicated high use of TAP while high scores indicated low use of

traditional practices. The index originally had 13 items, but while collecting data it

became evident that two items were not inclusive of small plot cultivators, crop insurance

and pest scouting. They were deleted from the index. I deleted additional items, seeds or