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K-State Research and Extension
123 Umberger Hall
Manhattan, KS 66506-3401
785-532-5820
extadmin@ksu.edu

January 10, 2023

Direct vs. Indirect Contacts: What's the Difference?

Submitted by Laurie Chandler

Many of you recently completed your Quarterly Effort Report for the first quarter of the 22-23 reporting year. One of the questions that popped up last week was how to report indirect contacts.

The quarterly effort report is only for recording direct educational contacts. As a reminder, the definition of a direct education contact is when both the extension professional and the client/receiver are linked together at the same time and/or place for educational purposes. Examples include:

  • Individual consultations in the field or office
  • Face-to-face interactions in group meetings, workshops, virtual meetings, field days, classrooms, etc.
  • Individual correspondence by letter, email, or telephone

Reporting indirect contacts is not required, but encouraged. Indirect contacts are reported under the PEARS module "Indirect Activities." Newsletters, radio, TV and most social media are typically considered an indirect contact because you don’t know who is actually viewing or reading your information. For example, you can send newsletters to 1,000 people, but you can’t be sure it is being read by everyone.

Be sure to check out the following resources that were developed to help make the reporting process a little easier.  

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