Management factors that influence farm profits in southwest Illinois : a study based on records from more than a hundred farms in the wheat and dairy area neighboring St. Louis

Cover title.Includes bibliographical references

A partial correlation analysis of farm organization and management data from Warren County, Iowa

When the net effect of each of fourteen factors upon the profits for the year 1921 on 231 Warren County farms is measured by coefficients of net correlation, it is found that the most important factors, in order of importance, are the production per animal unit, efficiency in the use of man labor, value of the real estate per acre because it influences the deduction made for the use of land, crop yields, and the amount of pasture used to carry one animal unit. All other coefficients are too small to carry definite significance. The results, \u27while not as conclusive as were expected, confirm in general the value of hypotheses tentatively held in organizing the analysis and demonstrate that care must be exercised in analyzing farm management data in order to determine whether apparent results are in fact due to the causes to which they are imputed. With data collected when farming conditions are more stable than were conditions in 1921, much better results can be expected. When economic conditions are in such a turbulent state, there are many additional and unusual factors introduced which cause wide variations in profits. In the absence of these unusual influences under more normal conditions, it is much easier to select a group of variables which will account for most of the significant influences on profits on individual farms. Much careful study is needed preliminary to launching upon the correlation problem to make sure that the variables included are the most important factors affecting the results studied and that they are in their simplest form. Each variable should afford an answer to a specific and definite question. It is very necessary to avoid including any phase of the same factor in more than one variable. The fact that relationships within economic data are seldom of a linear nature must be borne in mind in making a strict interpretation of results obtained by assuming straight-line relationships. If the precautions are taken necessary to secure satisfactory results, the method of partial or net correlation offers a much needed statistical tool for singling out the effect of anyone of many concomitant variables

Distribution of scientific experts as recognized by peer consensus

Peer review plays an important role in maintaining the quality of science. Selection of peers is at the heart of the process by which science advances. Editors and others responsible for selecting a group of peers often rely on their position in a network by which experts in a field are linked to one another by bonds of common interest and recognized expertise. In this paper, we report one aspect of a study aimed at characterizing the structure of this network: the asymmetry of the fraction of experts receiving varying numbers of nominations as experts by peers. The distribution of such nominations is very skew, and we have found that a law of cumulative advantage provides the best theoretical approximation for the distribution of nominations, expecially when the overall pool of data is broken down into well-defined specialties.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/43671/1/11192_2005_Article_BF02098005.pd

Farm organization for beef cattle production in southwestern Minnesota

This archival publication may not reflect current scientific knowledge or recommendations

Qualitative interpretation and sampling validity of peer recognition study

In an examination of limitations to a previous study, it was found that there was no significant difference between respondents and non-respondents with regard to country or eminence of institution. Observations from non-respondents illustrate possible constraints on the interpretation of responses.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/23847/1/0000086.pd

Simulating a nomination procedure

A snowball sampling procedure is simulated by computer. In snowball sampling, a small first-round sample of respondents, in this case editors of journals in several specialities, are asked to name second-round respondents to be contacted for a similar request for a third round, etc. In our survey, respondents were asked to nominate peer scientists for their contributions and expertise in their specialty. We used the simulation to estimate the effect of the number of rounds on the fraction of experts likely to be named, and to investigate the effect of other parameters. We found that it would take many rounds before every expert in a specialty is nominated. The simulation considered the effect of specialty subdivisions and showed how the distribution changes as the sample increases.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/24938/1/0000365.pd

Geographic patterns of choice among peers

Editors of key journals in six specialties were asked to name experts in their specialty from whom they would like to receive manuscripts and whom they would like to use as referees. The people so named were asked for their choice of experts, and similarly for the persons they nominated. The analysis of geographical factors revealed a similarity between nominations and citations. Most of the nominees were from the U.S., followed by the UK and other industrialized and traditionally scientific nations. The U.S. scientists have a higher probability of being nominated than their proportion in the world scientific population might suggest. Nominators in most of the countries had a distinctive preference for nominating their own countrymen, with the exception of the Soviet Union.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/24241/1/0000504.pd

The Emerging Information Professional

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