FIRST USE AND ADOPTION IN DIFFUSION.

The article presents the authors view regarding the adoption of items in studies of diffusion processes. According to the author, analysis was done in 1959, based upon data collected in a panel study of farmers in a northeastern Mississippi county. "First use" was obtained in 1954, retrospectively....

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:American Sociological Review Vol. 28; no. 5; pp. 812 - 815
Autores principales: Silverman, Leslie J., Bailey, Wilfrid C.
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Sage Publications Inc. Oct63
Materias:
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
Descripción
Sumario:The article presents the authors view regarding the adoption of items in studies of diffusion processes. According to the author, analysis was done in 1959, based upon data collected in a panel study of farmers in a northeastern Mississippi county. "First use" was obtained in 1954, retrospectively. The panel design provided farmers' reports of their practices in 1955, 1956, and 1957. "Adoption" was considered to be "using" the practice in any two or three of the crop years covered by the panel. The article presents some graphs that shows the relation between "first use" and "adoption" in farm practices. Seven curves are drawn with respect to the main diagonal to avoid confusion, four additional curves are drawn with respect to the dashed diagonal. The x-axis represents relative time of "first use." The cumulative frequencies are smoothed by using three-year moving averages. The 'Y' axis is the cumulative frequency for "adoption" also smoothed. All of the curves would have revealed a negative shift had the diffusion process become completed.