The importance of specific socio-economic factors in the adoption of selected new food products

Includes bibliographical references.Statement of the Problem: The purpose of the investigation was to determine the socio-economic profile of families purchasing new food products and to determine if specific socio-economic factors appear to have a hearing on the adoption of new food products. Methodology To obtain the data, 400 questionnaires were mailed to families residing in Mount Prospect, Illinois with 212 of the respondents providing usable questionnaires for analyses. In the mail questionnaires families were asked to indicate which o f the selected new food products had been used, were being used and/or would likely be used in the near future. Each of the families was also asked to provide a limited amount of information on selected socio-economic factors. In addition to the mail questionnaires, in-home interviews were conducted with twenty-five families selected from the usable returned questionnaires. Families selected had adopted twenty or more of the thirty-five new food products. Personal interviews were used to gain further knowledge of the families by investigating the rationale behind product choices and noting the subjective expectations of chosen new food products.M.S. (Master of Science