Agriculturalists are agricultural scientists who use basic agri cultural research techniques derived from physical and biological sciences as they seek new knowledge to improve the food and fiber system. This empirically based knowledge is the major source of information that the Cooperative Extension service communi cates to people in agriculturally related occupations. To facilitate such communication, programs are developed as vehicles for communicating and applying agricultural research findings to Rockwell improve agricultural practices. Cooperative Extension System program evaluators strive to ascertain how effective and useful these programs are by using empirical evaluation processes grounded in the social sciences. Consequently, while agriculturalists and extension program evaluators are both committed to empiricism, their research orientations are as different as are the social and the biological/ physical sciences. This article reports how—notwithstanding this difference—14 agriculturalists were benefitted as they performed an evaluator's role on a team that examined eight water quality demonstration projects. This study suggests that collaborative efforts between evaluators and agriculturalists strengthen study recommendations, are beneficial to the organization, and are personally rewarding to the participating specialists.
