Programming-Planning Research

Planning is generally accepted as an essential process for developing educational programs, activities, or events. It can be a simple process (i.e., planning a lecture) or rather complex (i.e., planning a long-range comprehensive plan for social and economic development for a depressed area). The process of planning has considerable influence on the success or failure of a program. The author briefly summarizes some aspects of a research effort directed toward analyzing the program-planning process as carried out by Extension. Most of the tentative conclusions apply equally to organizations and agencies which involve lay citizens in planning their programs.