Communication for Development in Home Science Questions and Answers

Answer: B

The key's answer is visual aids.

Puppetry is a traditional folk medium used in extension to carry messages on health, sanitation and family welfare. Its value as an aid lies in what the audience sees: the puppets act out the message, so it works only if the message is turned into a story with characters, conflict and action, that is, developed in dramatic terms.

Puppetry is an art, but the sentence is about its use as a teaching aid. It is not an audio aid, and 'media' is too broad: puppetry is one medium among many.

Answer: C

Puppets, drama, television and cinema are audio-visual aids.

Each of them is both heard and seen: the audience follows the action with the eyes and the dialogue, music or commentary with the ears. Engaging two senses at once makes such aids especially effective in extension teaching.

Audio aids, such as radio and recordings, are only heard. Visual aids, such as charts, posters and models, are only seen, and graphic aids are one kind of visual aid (graphs, diagrams and cartoons).

Answer: C

SITE stands for Satellite Instructional Television Experiment; of the options given, the one with 'Experiment' is correct.

SITE ran in 1975-76, using NASA's ATS-6 satellite to broadcast educational programmes on agriculture, health, family planning and education directly to about 2,400 villages in six states. The options print 'Information' for the second word, but the key turns on the last word.

It was an experiment, a one-year trial of satellite television for rural development, not an expansion, extension or entertainment service. Its lessons led to India's own INSAT satellites.

Answer: C

A story becomes news when it is on a topic of public interest.

News values include timeliness, proximity, prominence, impact and human interest, but the basic test is whether the event matters to or interests a large number of readers. ('Cohen' in the stem stands for when.)

A celebrity's involvement (prominence) can add to news value, but a story about a celebrity on a trivial matter may not be news. Balanced sources and quotes are qualities of good news writing, not what makes an event newsworthy.

Answer: D

A method of contacting people at a large scale at one time is a campaign.

Extension teaching methods are classed as individual, group and mass methods. A campaign is a mass method: an intensive drive on one theme, such as vaccination or a new crop practice, carried out over a short period through several channels together, reaching a whole area at once.

Farm and home visits and personal letters are individual contact methods, and demonstrations are group methods, so none of them contacts people on a large scale at a time.

Answer: A

The one that is not a projective technique (projected aid) is the model.

Projected aids are shown by throwing an enlarged image onto a screen. Slides and films are projected through a projector, and photographs can be projected with an opaque projector or epidiascope.

A model is a three-dimensional representation of a real object, such as a model of a smokeless chulha. It is shown and handled directly, so it is a non-projected visual aid.

Answer: C

The one that is not a principle of effective communication is one-way transfer of information.

Effective communication, especially in extension, is a two-way process: the audience takes part, gives feedback and is persuaded through dialogue, so the communicator can check understanding and adapt the message.

Persuasive dialogue and audience participation are principles of good communication, and the key also treats the informal grapevine, used deliberately, as a channel an effective communicator can make use of. One-way transmission with no feedback is the opposite of these principles.

Answer: B

Communication through new media is termed interactive communication.

New media such as the internet, email, social media and mobile phones let users respond, comment, search and create content, so communication flows in both directions and the receiver is also a sender. Interactivity is the feature that distinguishes them from traditional mass media.

Entertainment is one use of media, not a type of communication. Interpersonal communication is face-to-face between individuals, and group communication is within a small group; new media can serve both but are characterised by interactivity.

Answer: C

Video-conferencing is audio-visual two-way communication.

Participants in different places see and hear each other in real time through cameras, microphones and a network link, and can respond immediately, so the communication carries both sound and pictures in both directions.

Television broadcasting is audio-visual one-way, and visual-only forms such as posters, one-way or two-way, lack sound, so none of those describes video-conferencing.

Answer: C

A short series of lectures by several experts on parts of a topic is a symposium.

In a symposium a few experts (often three to seven) each speak briefly on a different aspect of the main subject, followed by questions from the audience. It presents several viewpoints in a short time.

A lecture is a talk by one person, a workshop is a working session where participants practise skills, and a conference is a larger meeting with many sessions and participants rather than a single short series.