Stages in the Adoption Process

Abstract

The article presents remarks of the author on a publication by the Subcommittee of the North Central Regional Rural Sociology Committee on the diffusion of new ideas and farm practices. This publication presents a model for describing the adoption process discusses the stages: awareness, interest, evaluation, trial and adoption. It is viewed that according to the publication, the farmer must be regarded as a passive agent in the process and he is bombarded by information in order to make him aware of new farm practices, but the function of the awareness is not clear in terms of the dynamics of the process. The article raises a question that whether or not the manner in which the adoption process is conceptualized make a difference in presenting technical agriculture research to farmers. Some other research are also mentioned in the article as "Validity of the Concept of Stages in the Adoption Process," by George M. Beal, Everett M. Rogers and Joe M. Bohlen and "Acceptance and Diffusion of Hybrid Corn Seed in Two Iowa Communities," by Bryce Ryan and Neal Gross.