“One cannot seek knowledge about an innovation until he or she knows it exists.”

Everett Rogers, 1963

The framework entitled “Diffusion of Innovations” (DOI) was developed by Everett Rogers as the result of a study that took place by Ryan and Gross (Rogers, 2003). Rogers wrote about these finding in his book in 1963 and updated the book every decade (1971, 1983, 1995 and 2003). Rogers passed away in 2005 at the age of 73. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everett_Rogers)

Diffusion is the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time by members of a social system.

An innovation is an idea, practice, or object perceived as new by an individual or other unit of adoption (Rogers, 2003).

Rogers studied how innovations diffuse and become adopted including: hybrid seed corn (1950), water purification in Egypt (1989), adoption of family planning in Korea (1964), and various educational innovations such as new math (1965) and kindergarten (2000). Rogers refined the DOI theory through ongoing research and identified various concepts and measurements that are utilized in a multitude of disciplines including sociology, anthropology, public health and education.

Overall, diffusion theory and the resulting studies indicate that all innovations result in a S-shaped curve. See Figure 1.

Figure 1. S shaped curve indicates adoption of an innovation over time. Also illustrates “critical mass” or the “tipping point” for an innovation.

Roger’s framework has been utilized for a variety of studies in education, especially in the area of educational technology and use of the web. Most studies focus on one aspect of the overall diffusion framework. These components include: A) adopter categories; B) innovation-decision process; C) communication channels; D) role of a change agent; and E) attributes of an innovation.

Adopter categories include innovators, early adopters, early majority, late adopters, late majority and laggards as Figure 2 indicates. The five categories are exhaustive (except for nonadopters).

Note that the figure is not symmetrical because there are three categories to the left of the mean and two to the right of the mean (Rogers, 2003).

Figure 2. Adopter Categories.re

Similarly, as individuals or groups adopt an innovation, all go through similar stages called the innovation-decision making process. These stages include knowledge, persuasion, decision, implementation and confirmation. It is at the decision stage that individuals or groups chose to adopt or reject an innovation (Rogers, 2003).

1. What are the variables?

2. What is the theory?

3. What is the hypothesis?

We have learned about the dependent variables (those that stay the same) and the independent variables (those that you are testing or can control).

And, then, there are observable variables – those that can be seen (e.g. how many times a student responds), and then there are the latent variables – something not observable (e.g. parent support or intelligence).

We are in the midst of developing questionnaires and learning how to manage the data.  Important stuff for important research studies!

Throughout the day, we got to know each other better and had experiences that only those of us who were there would know about.  This team building day has already served use well.  On our second day, we had more orientation about the doctorate, introduction of faculty and general information.  This second day was highlighted with a dinner at the “university house” – the house of the university president – where we were lauded by superintendents and professors for our decision to pursue a doctorate in the central valley of California.    A great way to start a doctorate.  Now, on to the course work.