Diffusion methodology: time to innovate?

Abstract

Over the past 60 years, thousands of diffusion studies have been conducted in numerous disciplines of study including sociology, education, communication, marketing, and pubic health. With few exceptions, these studies have been driven by a methodological approach that has become institutionalized in diffusion research. This approach is characterized by the collection of quantitative data about one innovation gathered from adopters at a single point in time after widespread diffusion has occurred. This dominant approach is examined here in terms of both its strengths and weaknesses and with regard to its contribution to the collective base of understanding the diffusion of innovations. Alternative methodological approaches are proposed and reviewed with consideration for the means by which they may expand the knowledge base.