Frederick C. Fliegel

Farm Practice Attributes and Adoption Rates

This study provides a systematic analysis of relationships between attributes of innovations in one segment of agriculture and the rate at which those innovations have been accepted by farm operators. In several respects the data support other studies and discussions of the role of attributes of innovations in adoption: those new farm practices which are least complex and most nearly compatible with existing procedures tended to be adopted rapidly. Several other practice attributes were not related to speed of adoption in the expected manner: high cost practices were adopted at least as quickly as low cost practices; the possibility of trying an innovation on a small scale did not seem to encourage rapid adoption; and mechanical qualities, as such, were not factors in rapid adoption. Innovations which permit a saving of working time tended to be adopted rapidly, and there is some evidence for inferring that this attribute is given an unduly high priority in adoption decisions.

Diffusion Research in Rural Sociology: The Record and Prospects for the Future.

Foreword Preface Historical Overview: From the 1940s to the 1970s The First Wave of Diffusion Research Institutionalization of Diffusion Research Diffusion Research in the Third World Recent Trends Social Structure, Equity and the Diffusion Model Recent Diffusion Research: Some New Directions Prospects for the Future References