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Article
Identifying a knowledge gap of blueberry health benefits: The role of education, income, generation and gender
Journal of Southern Agricultural Education Research
  • Shuyang Qu, Iowa State University
  • Tori Bradley, University of Florida
  • Joy N. Rumble, University of Florida
Document Type
Article
Publication Version
Published Version
Publication Date
1-1-2018
Abstract

Lower socioeconomic groups may not learn as quickly or retain as much knowledge as higher socioeconomic groups because higher socioeconomic groups often have easier access to the relevant resources. With many health benefits associated with blueberry consumption, this study examined consumers’ knowledge level of blueberry benefits, and investigated whether a knowledge gap existed among high and low socioeconomic groups and among different demographic groups. An online survey using non-probability sampling was distributed to grocery shoppers from 31 states in the United States. Post-stratification weighting of data was used to adjust the bias resulted from non-probability sampling. The respondents answered on average more than half of the questions correctly about blueberry benefits. A knowledge gap exists between those with some college education or a college degree and those with a high school degree or lower education. While respondents demonstrated acceptable knowledge of blueberry benefits, an opportunity exists to increase the awareness of the health benefits of blueberries, especially among those with lower levels of education. Future research should determine the relationship between knowledge gap and a broader range of factors such as motivation and social contacts.

Comments

This article is published as Qu, S., Bradley, T., & Rumble, J. N. (2018). Identifying a knowledge gap of blueberry health benefits: The role of education, income, generation and gender. Journal of Southern Agricultural Education Research, 68. Posted with permission.

Copyright Owner
American Association for Agricultural Education
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Citation Information
Shuyang Qu, Tori Bradley and Joy N. Rumble. "Identifying a knowledge gap of blueberry health benefits: The role of education, income, generation and gender" Journal of Southern Agricultural Education Research Vol. 68 (2018)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/shuyang-qu/7/