Re: Bruce Ryan/Neal Gross 1942 study
GROSS, RYAN
Posted By: Keith (email) In Response To: Re: Bruce Ryan/Neal Gross 1942 study (Karen Hudson)
Date: 2/12/2014 at 17:35:38
Sorry it's taken me so long to respond!
Yes, if your great-grandfather farmed in Scranton in 1941, I think it's highly likely that he was one of the people they surveyed.
If you haven't seen it already, you can download the original research paper written by Ryan/Gross by just googling "Acceptance and Diffusion of Hybrid Corn Seed in Two Iowa Communities." I've found several websites that have it in .pdf form you can print or download for free.
There's lots of footnotes in the paper - it's footnote #13 that lists the two towns by name. None of the farmers are listed by name, but you can at least learn a little more about what their life was like in general from the paper.
I never knew until recently just how influential this study was. It's cited all over the internet. A guy named Everett Rogers (who went to ISU) developed & popularized it as the Diffusion of Innovations Theory. That model is used in marketing, high tech, research, etc to explain & predict the spread of new ideas/behaviors.
That's pretty neat to know that your grandfather and his neighbors were part of that study! I highly doubt if there's any of the original survey forms still stored away - and if there are, I don't see why they would have included the individual farmers' names. But if there's a chance of that existing somewhere, it would most likely be with the Iowa State Sociology Dept or their agricultural extension office. Who knows... maybe you can find a survey card filled out by your great grandfather.
That's all I know. If my great-uncle Bryce hadn't passed away a few years ago, I'd ask him more about it. Best of luck!
(views: 1717)Greene Queries maintained by Lynn Diemer-Mathews.
WebBBS 4.33 Genealogy Modification Package by WebJourneymen