Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

Broder, Josef M.

Ziemer, Rod F.

English

Research Papers in Economics

SOUTHERN  JOURNAL  OF  AGRICULTURAL  ECONOMICS  DECEMBER,  1980
RESEARCH  PRODUCTIVITY  AND  SELECTED  CHARACTERISTICS
OF AGRICULTURAL  ECONOMICS  RESEARCH  AND  TEACHING
FACULTY  IN THE  SOUTHERN  REGION
Josef M. Broder and Rod F. Ziemer
Among agricultural economics faculty in the  The  objectives  of  our  article  are  (1) to  de-
Southern region  of the United  States,  aware-  scribe  research  productivity  of  agricultural
ness  of research  productivity,  teaching loads,  economics  faculty  in  the  Southern  region  in
and faculty rewards  is growing. Studies on re-  terms of selected categorical research contribu-
search  productivity  have  included  classifica-  tions,  (2)  to  describe  selected  appointment,
tions  of  contributors  to  this  journal  (Ours-  salary,  and  instructional  characteristics  of
bourn,  Hardin,  and  Lacewell),  the Journal of  faculty  in the Southern region,  and (3)  to con-
Farm Economics (Holland and  Redman),  and  trast the Southern region with other regions by
major  economic  journals  (Opaluch  and Just).  testing for differences in research productivity
The  findings  generally  indicate  that  agricul-  and  faculty  characteristics.  Similar  descrip-
tural  economics  faculty  of universities  in the  tions  and  comparisons  are  made  for  faculty
Southern region have not ranked very  high as  trained  in  the  Southern  region.  Results  are
contributors  to major economic journals (Hol-  based  on data  compiled  from a recently  com-
land  and  Redman).  Opaluch  and  Just  found  pleted  general  survey  of  agricultural
only  two  universities  in  the  Southern  region  economics teaching and research faculty.
among  the  top  20  universities  contributing
papers to the American Journal  ofAgricultural  SURVEY  DATA
Economics.  Among  universities  contributing
to major national economic journals,  only one  Data for the study were gathered as part of a of the top twelve was in the Southern region.  general  survey of  500 randomly  selected  aca- An obvious question raised by these findings is  demic  agricultural  economists  at  major  land to  what  extent  do  agricultural  economics  grant  universities.'  Questionnaires  mailed  in faculty  in the Southern  region differ in terms  February  1980  had  been  pretested  and  de- of  research  productivity  and  rewards  from  signed  to secure  individual  information  with- their  colleagues  in  other  regions.  A  related  out  threatening  respondent  anonymity.
question is how faculty trained in the Southern  Faculty  members  were  extremely  responsive
region have fared professionally in comparison  to  the  mailed  questionnaire:  313  question- with  faculty  trained  outside  the  South.  In  naires were returned,  of which 275 were deter- other  words,  do  the  research  productivity  of  mined  to  be appropriate  for  consideration  in faculty and the institutional characteristics  of  the general  sample.2 Of the persons who  sent one's  school of graduate training influence  re-  usable responses,  197 held a Ph.D. degree and search productivity after graduation?  had a  research  appointment  of  10  percent  or Conspicuously  absent  from  our  under-  more.  These  individuals  formed  the  sample standing  of  faculty  activities  and  rewards  is  upon which our results are based.
information on average faculty performance in  For the descriptive and  comparative  analy- selected  categories.  Knowledge  of  mean  per-  sis, individuals at institutions  in the Southern formance  offers  faculty  and administrators  a  region  were  separated  from  the  rest  of  the norm with which  the performance  of  individ-  sample.  Regional  definitions  were  based  on uals  can  be  compared.  Young  faculty  would  Peck and Babb's study of employment and mo- find  such information  useful  in  setting inter-  bility patterns of agricultural economists.  The mediate  goals  and  determining  a  pace  for  Southern region  is defined  to include  the  fol- achieving  such  goals.  Administrators  and  lowing  universities:  Auburn,  Arkansas,
college-wide promotion committees should find  Florida,  Georgia,  Kentucky,  Louisiana  State, such information useful in comparing the per-  Mississippi State, North Carolina State, Clem- formance  of individual  faculty  for  salary and  son, Tennessee, Virginia Polytechnic Institute,
promotion decisions.  and West Virginia.
Josef M. Broder is Assistant Professor and Rod F. Ziemer is Graduate Research Assistant,  Department of Agricultural Economics,  University of Georgia.
'Individuals for the sample were listed  in Professional Workers in State Agricultural Experiment Stations and Other Cooperating  State Institutions/197879. (A copy of the questionnaire  used in the survey is available upon request.)
1This 
response rate was achieved by a single mailing without followup contacts. Despite mailing precautions, some questionnaires were returned because recipients were retired, had died, had moved, or did not consider themselves  agricultural economists.
157RESEARCH  PERFORMANCE  do contributions  to a single journal.  A profile
of the typical researcher in the Southern region
In  our  study,  research  performance  is  may  suggest  a  greater  emphasis  on  regional
measured by total number of selected categori-  and  experiment  station  publications  than  is
cal  contributions  by  individual  faculty  mem-  shown by his counterpart in other regions. The
bers.  Individual  faculty members  are used as  absence  of  significant  differences  across  a
the unit  of  observation  to avoid  faculty  size  broad range  of research  productivity  indicators
and  distribution  problems  associated  with  suggests that observed differences in research
comparisons by departments.  In Table 1 aver-  productivity  reported  previously  may  have
been limited to narrowly  defined productivity
TABLE 1.  RESEARCH  PRODUCTIVITY  categories  and  perhaps  due  more  to  faculty
OF  AGRICULTURAL  ECO-  population  differences  than  to  individual
NOMICS RESEARCH FACULTY  faculty differences.
BY  REGION  OF  EMPLOY-  Research  productivity  of  faculty  trained  in
MENTa  the  Southern  region  was  also  measured  and
compared with that of faculty trained in other
Region  regions. Results in Table  2 fail to indicate  sig-
Southern  All  Others
Average  Number  of  Papers  in:  TABLE 2.  RESEARCH  PRODUCTIVITY
American  Journal  of  OF  AGRICULTURAL  ECO-
Agricultural  Economics  1.70*  4.68  NOMICS RESEARCH  FACULTY
Other  National  Journals  4.35  9.50  BY  REGION OF  EDUCATIONa
Foreign  Journals  1.97  3.98
Regional  Journals  4.42  3.38  Received  Ph.D.  From
Southern  All  Other  Regions
Books  .96  1.61
Experiment  Station  Publications  37.66  30.61  Average  Number  of  Papers  in:
Contributed and  Invited  Papers  16.00  15.49  American  Journal  of
Agricultural  Economics  2.49  4.20
Research  Awardsb  .20  1.07  Other  National  Journals  5.65  8.68
Foreign  Journals  2.85  3.61
aBased  on  100  percent  research  appointment  (only  Regional  Journals  5.17  5.15
individuals with research appointments considered).
bIncludes departmental,  college, university, and profes-  Books  1.18  1.50
sional associations. sionai  associations.  Experiment  Station  Publications  55.21*  29.09
*Different at the a = .05 level of significance.
Contributed  and Invited  Papers  25.88  14.19
Research  Awards  .57  .91
age career  research  productivity  of individual
agricultural economics  research  faculty in the
Southern region is contrasted  with that in all  aBased on 100 percent research appointment  (only indi-
Sother  .r  Resn  is  c  pro dut.  witya  in  al  viduals with research appointments considered).
ther  regions.  Research  productivity  in  ncludes departmental,  college, university, and profes-
selected publication categories is measured by  sional associations.
the  career  number  of  articles  in  those  cate-  *Different at the a = .05 level of significance.
gories.  To  control  for differences  in research
appointments,  all  figures relating to research  nificant differences in average research produc-
productivity  are adjusted to reflect a  100 per-  tivity  between  Southern-trained  agricultural
cent  research  appointment.'  Single  and  joint  economists and those trained in other regions,
authorship  is  recognized  and  assigned  equal  except  for  experiment  station  publications.
value in Table  1; hence the reader is cautioned  These results  suggest that faculty  trained at
against  interpreting  quantities  as the  results  Southern  universities  are  comparable  in  pro-
of individual  efforts. With the exception of con-  ductivity  to faculty  trained  in  other regions.
tributions to the American Journal  of Agricul-  Factors possibly contributing  to research pro-
tural  Economics, no significant differences  are  ductivity similarities can be seen by examining
found in career research  productivity between  selected faculty characteristics.
Southern  and  other  regional  faculty  by  a
standard pairwise t-test.
Results  in  Table 1 give  a more comprehen-  Average  characteristics  of  faculty  in  the
sive  indication  of  research  productivity  than  Southern region during 1979 are described and
*Other  productivity measures  have been used in previous studies, including pages per faculty  member. We believed that data on career pages in selected research
publications would be difficult to obtain and the inclusion of such questions might significantly  lower the response rate.  Furthermore,  given the diversity in type,
style, and format of the publications listed in Tables 1 and 2,  page comparisons  may not be valid across all categories of publications.
'Although not specifically tested in our research,  a proportional and cumulative  effect was assumed with respect to research appointment  and research productiv-
ity. For example,  a faculty  member with a two-thirds research appointment was assumed to produce twice the number of publications as the faculty member with a
one-third research appointment.
158contrasted to those of faculty in other regions  research  productivity  shown  in  Table  1  be-
in  Table  3.  Comparisons  of mean  differences  tween Southern faculty and their counterparts
in other regions.
TABLE3.  AVERAGE  CHARACTERIS-  Average  characteristics  of  agricultural
TICS  OF  AGRICULTURAL  economics  faculty who  received  their  degrees
ECONOMICS  FACULTY  BY  from Southern universities  are shown in Table
REGION  OF  EMPLOYMENT,  4.  Pairwise  t-test  results indicate  significant
1979
TABLE 4.  AVERAGE  CHARACTERIS-
Reg  i  on  TICS  OF  AGRICULTURAL
Southern  All  Others  ECONOMICS  FACULTY  BY
Age  43.00  42.82  REGION  OF EDUCATION,  1979
Percent  Appointment
Research  47.34  45.29  Received  Ph.D.  From
Teaching  23.22  29.13
Extension  19.20  20.34  Southern  All  Other  Regions
Years  Experience  as  42.69  43.98
Assistant  3.45  3.56  Percent  Appointment
Associate  4.05  3.47 
Full  396  469  Research  45.62  45.79 ull  3.6  4.Teaching  21.14  28.69
Salary  a  Extension  28.10  18.98
Assistant  $23,841.00  $24,619.00  Years  Experience  as
Associate  $29,360.00  $28,252.00
Full  $34,667.00  $36,472.00  Assistant  3.93  3.49
Associate  4.10  3.53
Annual  Consulting  Income  $  1,320.00  $  3,087.00  Full  2.69  4.77
Percent  Obtaining  Grants  50.91  61.83  Salary a
Assistant  $25,450.00  $23,941.00 Number  of  Career  Employment  Associate  $28,498.00  $28,579  00
Changes  .74  .90  Full  $34,286.00  $36,343.00
Hours/Week  Served  on Committees  4.58*  3.39  Annual  Consulting  Income  $  1,883.00  $  2,793.00
Number  of  Student  Advisees  Percent  Obtaining  Grants  55.17  59.91
Undergraduate  11.64  14.79  Hours/Week  Served  on Committees  3.34  3.71
Masters  2.40  2.41  Number  of  Career  Employment  Changes  .45*  .92 ~~  ^•Ph.D.  1.22  1.56  Number  of  Student  Advisees
Average  Number  of  Courses  Taughtb  Undergraduate  7.55  13.90
Undergraduate  6.38  5.67  Masters  1.97  2.12
Graduate  2.56  3.32  Ph.D.  .79  1.33
Average  Number  of  Courses  Taughtb
aBased on 12 month contract.  Undergraduate  6.96  5.66
bBased on 100 percent teaching appointment (only indi-  Graduate  2.39  2.95
viduals with teaching appointments considered).  aBased on 12 month contract.
*Different at the a = .05 level of significance.  bBased on 100 percent teaching appointment (only indi-
viduals with teaching appointments considered).
*Different at the a = .05 level of significance. between Southern faculty and other faculty are
based  on  standard  pairwise  t-tests.  With the
exception  of  time  spent  on  committees,  re-  differences  in  only  one  of  the  selected  cate-
search  faculty  in  the  Southern  region  were  gories,  number  of  employment  changes  since
similar to their counterparts  in other regions,  receiving highest degree.  Similarities between
that  is,  Southern  faculty  were  of comparable  Southern-trained faculty and faculty trained in
age  and  academic  appointment,  experienced  other regions probably explain the similarities
similar promotion  schedules,  and received  es-  in research performance shown in Table 2.
sentially the same nominal salaries. More than
half of  the  faculty  surveyed  in the  Southern  CONCLUSIONS
region obtained grants and the typical faculty  We  describe  the  research  performance  of
member  received  $1320  in  consulting  income  agricultural economics faculty employed in the
during  1979.  The  typical  Southern  faculty  Southern region and the research performance
member had approximately  12 undergraduate  of  agricultural  economics  faculty  trained  at
advisees,  2.4 Master's students, and 1.2 Ph.D.  Southern  universities.  The  research  perform-
students. When the actual  number of courses  ance  of these  faculty  groups  is contrasted to
taught by faculty  is adjusted to reflect  a 100  that of their faculty counterparts  employed or
percent  teaching  appointment,  these  faculty  trained at universities in other regions. Results
taught  an  average  of  6.4  and  2.6  under-  indicate that, with few exceptions,  average re-
graduate  and  graduate  courses,  respectively,  search  productivity  in  eight categories  of  re-
during 1979.  Adjusted-average  teaching loads  search  outlets  for  faculty  in the Southern  re-
are  included  for  comparison  to  indicate  the  gion  is similar to that found in other regions.
teaching  requirements associated  with teach-  Faculty  trained at  Southern  institutions  are
ing appointments in the region.  The absence of  also found to have generated research publica-
significant  differences  in  faculty  characteris-  tion  output  similar  to  that of  their counter-
tics probably explains much of the similarity in  parts trained at universities  in other regions.
159These similarities  in research performance  are  may  be more  indicative  of  departmental  size
likely to be explained by similarities in faculty  than  individual  faculty  productivity.  Our
experience,  rewards,  and teaching responsibili-  study of research productivity  among agricul-
ties  between  Southern  and  other  regional  tural  economics  faculty  generally  indicates
faculty.  that individual  agricultural economics  faculty
In summary,  the superior rankings  afforded  in  the  Southern  region  are  as  productive  as
to  selected  universities  in  previous  studies  their counterparts in other regions.
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Classification of Contributions to the Southern

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RESEARCH PRODUCTIVITY AND SELECTED CHARACTERISTICS OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS RESEARCH AND TEACHING FACULTY IN THE SOUTHERN REGION

RESEARCH PRODUCTIVITY AND SELECTED CHARACTERISTICS OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS RESEARCH AND TEACHING FACULTY IN THE SOUTHERN REGION

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