Article of Ife PsychologIA, 28 (1), 2020, 142 - 158
This research paper discusses the validation process of the cognitive flexibility scale (CFS) as a
measurement instrument for farmers’ cognitive flexibility (CF). The role of CF in influencing
behaviour has been established for centuries among psychologists. Thus, individual differences
might be among the correlates of adoption of cassava processing technology among farmers.
However, lack of an effective instrument to measure farmers’ CF has been limiting the predictive
and descriptive potential of farmers’ CF. The instrument was validated in a two stages study with
some specific objectives guiding the study namely; assess the instrument’s component structure
validity and reliability of CFS, examine whether CFS could categorise farmers’ performance in
cognitive flexibility by farmers’ demographics; and whether or not could cognitive flexibility
have an influence on farmers’ adoption of cassava farming technologies. In the first stage the
instrument was pilot tested in a survey conducted in Serengeti district in Mara region of
Tanzania among 200 participants. Principle component Analysis (CPA) indicated that CFS was a
three factor scale with good internal consistency (α = 0.85). The three factors found were
technology acceptance (α = 0.92), open mindedness (α = 0.86), and adapting to new situations (α
= 0.37). In the second stage, a total of 360 participants, of whom 181 were males and 178 were
females responded to the CFS. It was found that the improved CFS was a three factor scale
reaching an internal consistency of α = 0.85. The three subscales in the CFS were adapting to
new farming technologies (α = 0.88), acceptance of new farming technologies (α = 0.86), and
open mindedness to other people’s ideas (α = 0.80). The findings further indicate low
correlations among the subscales, implying discriminant validity of the scale. In addition to
theoretical implications, the paper discusses the measure’s effectiveness and its potential
applicability in the field of rural development and with specific focus to adoption of farming
technologies. The findings provide support for validity and reliability of the CFS and its
multidimensional nature. It is recommended that one needs to consider contextual factors such as
the level of cassava processing technology before generalizing the validity and reliability of CFS,
and thus, a need for further validation studies of the instrument.