Suchergebnisse

Designing stimulating and scholarly course projects for graduate students in an applied sociology course is a challenge. We discuss the development and continued refinement a type of course project that involves all students in the course in a collaborative research project and helps them understand the process of conducting and reporting applied research. Objectives of the project for the students are: (1) professionalization and socialization into the discipline; (2) experience in defining, developing, executing, and delivering a real-world research project; (3) experience in working on a research team and working with other disciplines; (4) development of critical thinking and the sociological imagination in conceptualizing the project; and (5) output of a scholarly product for the students' vita. The students define the research problem, identify subjects, develop research instruments, collect data, analyze the data, and write a paper potentially resulting in a professional meeting presentation and publication in an academic journal.

This study examines the innovativeness of Iowa community economic development director change agents. Change agents such as economic development directors are employed by communities because of their expertise and assumed enthusiasm for innovation and change. Telecommunications innovations are being widely promoted in helping America's rural communities overcome some factors that historically have handicapped small and remote communities maintain economic viability. But achieving the utility of these technologies in local development is dependent upon leadership from the economic development directors to help communities acquire, implement, and fully exploit them. We hypothesize that change agents will be more innovative in using telecommunications technologies with greater exposure to information about the technologies. Findings reveal significant variation in the innovativeness of these change agents and that recent information and experience with the technologies are particularly important in their use by the economic development directors.

Abstract  This study used a longitudinal, panel design to examine the effects of negative information acquisition, compliance with opinion leader endorsements, and social demographic characteristics on consumers' symbolic adoption of food irradiation. Data collection coincided with the first market test of irradiated food conducted by a commercial firm, which took place in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 2000. Approximately half the subjects (N = 116) received a packet containing information from proponents and opponents of food irradiation. The remaining subjects (N = 107) were provided with no information about the technology. The results indicated that, initially, negative information acquisition, even when accompanied by positive endorsements from opinion leaders, decreased symbolic adoption. Over time, however, this negative effect was mitigated by compliance with endorsements from opinion leaders. The results suggest that confidence in social institutions might be a determinant as well as an outcome of adoption decisions. Implications are suggested for risk communication strategies regarding controversial agricultural technologies.

Abstract Recent telecommunications innovations have the potential to improve the economic vitality of rural communities, but many rural telephone companies have not adopted them to provide needed advanced services. To explain the differences in adoption by rural telephone companies we distinguish between service innovations, adopted primarily to improve direct services to clients, and operations innovations, adopted primarily to improve the operation of the business. Using community interaction field theory we develop and test a conceptual framework for the adoption of innovative service telecommunications technologies by Iowa rural telephone companies. As field theory predicts, involvement in local economic development activities has a strong, direct effect on innovativeness. Results suggest that the service and operations innovations distinction has theoretical utility in explaining organizational innovativeness.