Using Master Gardener Phone Line Data to Determine Chapter Training Needs
Horticulture & Turfgrass
Linda Chalker-Scott
Extension Specialist and Professor
Washington State University
Puyallup
Abstract
Basic Master Gardener training focuses on basic gardening topics. But is basic training meeting the community’s needs? It can be difficult to determine which topics would most benefit the local home gardener community. Analyzing EMG phone data (Answer Line or Hot Line) to determine the most common public call-in topics can help identify potential MG program knowledge gaps and CEU opportunities. We evaluated 3.5 years of data, which totaled 1,515 Hotline queries. These queries were categorized into 8 main topics, Trees, Ornamentals, Turf, Irrigation, Veggies, Turf, General Information, and Miscellaneous. General Information included calls about soils and soil testing, pesticides, and pruning. There were not enough calls about these topics to justify splitting them into separate categories. Miscellaneous calls were about the Master Gardener Program itself or issues that neither Master Gardeners nor Extension deal with (such as well testing). Surprisingly, 25% of the calls were about Trees. Irrigation and General Information were both at 16%, with Ornamentals close at 14%. The remaining categories were <10%.
While Master Gardener training often emphasizes home vegetable gardening, in our county 392 of the over 1500 calls were about trees; only 113 calls were about vegetable gardens. The data revealed the average Master Gardener training and CEU recommendations were not meeting homeowners’ needs, at least based on phone calls. This information will help guide chapter EMG CEU opportunities and future EMG training. This technique is not region or event specific and can be used to evaluate data from any outreach event, such as workshops or Farmer’s Market surveys, to determine what gardening expertise the local community needs. When an EMG chapter focuses on identified areas of community interest for their outreach, homeowners and gardeners will have greater and more meaningful interactions with the local EMG chapter. This in turn helps generate more impact data to guide the local Cooperative Extension Office with funding requests and community visibility.
Authors: Sylvia Hacker, Linda Chalker-Scott
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Sylvia Hacker Doña Ana County Extension Master Gardener, New Mexico State University, New Mexico, 88005
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Linda Chalker-Scott Extension Specialist and Professor, Washington State University, Washington, 98371