To measure perceived level of opinion leadership Childers’ (1986) opinion leadership
instrument was utilized. Respondents were asked to respond to six unique questions for each of
the top three issues facing the agriculture industry in their state (water, immigration, and
agricultural regulation). Childers’ (1986) instrument has been shown to be reliable with a
reported Cronbach’s α of .83 or higher. The instrument was adapted to the context of the
question (either water, immigration, or agricultural regulation); however, the structure of the
instrument was identical to Childers (1986). The instrument used a five-place bipolar response
format. Pairs of dissimilar statements were presented, one at each end of a rating scale. A 1
(one) indicated the negative statement a 5 (five) indicated the positive statement. Items 2, 3, and
4 did not have any descriptions associated; they represented bi-directional judgment placeholders
within the scale. Participant responses to the six opinion leadership questions, focused on a
specific issue, were averaged to create an overall opinion leadership score for each of the three
issue areas.