Bryce Ryan earned a Ph. D in sociology at Harvard University. During his doctoral studies, Ryan was required to take
interdisciplinary courses in economics, anthropology, and social psychology. This intellectual background helped him conduct the diffusion studies. In 1938, Ryan became a professor at Iowa State University which is known for its agricultural focus. At that time, Iowa State administrators were worried
about the slow rate at which the hybrid seed corn was being adopted. Despite the fact that the use of this new innovation could lead to an increase in quality and production, an advantageous
adoption by Iowa Farmers was slow. Ryan proposed the study of the diffusion of the hybrid seed corn and received funding from Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station, Iowa State University’s
research and development organization. Contrary to previous research, which employed anthropological style approaches using qualitative methods, Ryan employed a quantitative survey method in
his study. According to Rogers (1996), Ryan was encouraged to use this quantitative method by professors in the Department of Statistics, such as Paul G. Homemeyer, Ray J. Jessen,
and Snedecor
(p. 415).
When Ryan arrived at Iowa State University, Neal C. Gross was a graduate student who was soon assigned as Ryan’s research assistant. Ryan asked him to conduct interviews with Iowa farmers
through survey research. Gross gathered the data from the Iowa communities of Jefferson and Grand Junction. Rogers (1996) mentioned that by coincidence, these communities were
located within 30 miles of where he grew up on a farm
(p. 415). It is also interesting to note that Rogers earned a Ph. D. in sociology and statistics at Iowa State University in 1957.
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