Diffusion of Innovations

Diffusion of Innovations

"Once the eighty-eight lists of dates of adoption were collected they were used to create an innovation score for each state. The first step was to count the total number of years, which elapsed between the first and last recorded legislative enactment of a program. Each state then received a number for each list, which corresponded to the percentage of time, which elapsed between the first adoption and its own acceptance of the program. For example, if the total time elapsing between the first and last adoption of a program was twenty years, and Massachusetts enacted the program ten years after the first adoption, then Massachusetts received a score of .500 on that particular issue. The first state to adopt the program received a score of .000 and the last state received a 1.000. In cases in which all the states have not yet adopted a program, the states without the program were placed last and given a score of 1.000.12 The in- novation score for each state is simply 1.000 minus the average of the sum of the state's scores on all issues. The larger the innovation score, therefore, the faster the state has been, on the average, in responding to new ideas or policies. The issues may be divided into groups according to subject matter areas or time periods, and separate scores can be created for these smaller groupings of issues by following the same procedure. The results of this scoring procedure, using all eighty-eight issues, are presented in Table 1."

This paragraph is from The American Political Science Review Journal titled “The diffusion of Innovations among the American States” and was written by Jack L Walker. Walker explains the different elements that make up the innovation scores and also different ways to come up with the innovation score. It is a scientific evidence based way some indications of the wealth of these states the more industrial states are more likely to adopt new programs quicker. There’s a list and every state has an innovation score based on all the issues and topics states go through. From these issues derived programs on how to deal or how to solve the problem. There are eighty-eight programs that the innovation scores are based on. The date the program was enacted by the government was calculated. Then the states were looked at individually according to the first adaptation of that one program, and the time is took each individual state to accept the program. The state was given a numerical value according to the time it took the state to do this. The first state to adopt the program will be scored as .000 and the last a score of 1.000. For the programs that aren’t adopted by every state such as gay marriage, legalization of marijuana, etc. the states that haven’t yet accepted the program gets a score of 1.000. After bringing all the scores of each individual program then everything is put together and 1.000 is subtracted from the average of the whole total. Basically the higher the score the quicker the state has been to adopt new programs. Walker also explains that the programs can be divided into separate groups according to subject, or time to come with an innovation score but the format stays the same. According to Table 1 New York has the highest innovation score which was .656 and Mississippi has the lowest score which was .298. So basically New York had been the quickest to adopt new programs when compared to the rest of the states in the USA. 

This paragraph is important because it explains an important part of the innovation scores. I believe the hardest part of the innovation score. It also gives an example. The rest of the article focuses more about the goal of this study. It demonstrated the surrounding states see change, and the majority of them follow the change. Change sometimes occurs to draw attention or people so profit will be gained by that state I think. Despite the efficient scientific way of calculating the innovation score it isn’t 100% accurate because a few important information has to be obtained, the original records and the cooperation of the government has to be maximized for the accuracy of the innovation score. I had no idea what an innovation score was and I had never herd it before my Politics 166 class lecture. I had to break this paragraph down to understand it completely; this was a very difficult document to read. The innovation score is important because it could be applied to budgeting and other forms of decision-making. This is because it starts off by looking at the speed that different states adopt new programs. The government can use this in their research when trying to pass a new program. But this paragraph of the article explains how the score is obtained which is very important. At the end of the day the states don’t have to accept the program, meaning they aren’t forced but there is a pattern on how states adopt these new programs. The innovation score is a part of a portrait, but the picture is much larger.