Participation in Adult Education Agencies and Personal Influence

OVER THE PAST two decades the study of personal influence has underscored the importance of the primary group in the flow of information from the mass media and in forming opinions and making decisions.' Research on opinion leadership and personal influence has focused on a wide variety of phenomena, such as political opinions, voting behavior, consumer behavior, and the adoption of innovations such as agricultural practices and drugs.2 In addition, there have been several studies of interaction affecting decisions to join formal voluntary associations. Such research suggests that face-to-face contact is important in decisions to join a wide range of activities including educational adult programs. Babchuk and Gordon, for example, found in their study of slum voluntary association that social interaction was influential in up to 84 percent of the decisions by new members to participate. Sills reports in The Volunteers that 90 percent of members decided to participate as a result of face-to-face interaction; and Booth in a study of decisions to join voluntary associations in Nebraska found that face-to-face contact was associated with