METHODS OF CONDUCTING COST STUDIES. 43 



farm business, which is often of great importance from a farm organi- 

 zation standpoint. From a strictly accounting standpoint, the lack 

 of complete farm data increases the difficulty of accurately appor- 

 tioning the overhead expense to the enterprise. There is also danger 

 of drawing erroneous conclusions as to the relative importance of the 

 enterprise, but this disadvantage has generally been minimized by 

 the selection of enterprises that bring by far the greater part of the 

 cash return of the farm business. 



Experience has shown that it is usually best to include the farm 

 business analysis data with the enterprise studies, when this can be 

 done without putting too great a burden on the farmer. Extremely 

 long schedules are tiring, and there is a consequent lagging of interest, 

 often resulting in inaccurate estimates of important details. 



SURVEYS BY QUESTIONNAIRE. 



Certain kinds of cost data and farm organization material can be 

 obtained quite satisfactorily by the questionnaire method. The en- 

 terprise to be considered by this method must be one in which simple, 

 easily estimated direct costs are to be obtained and one in which con- 

 siderable data are available by other methods of investigation in 

 order to provide figures on the miscellaneous items of cost that can 

 rarely be accurately obtained through the questionnaire. Where it 

 is essential to study widespread trends of simple farm practices the 

 questionnaire affords a means of obtaining a large number of esti- 

 mates at a comparatively low expense. 



One of the characteristics of the results obtained by using the 

 questionnaire method is that they are usually expressed in averages. 

 This is because the information is usually more general in character 

 than the results obtained by specific studies and a very large number 

 of individual cases are examined to make up the average. For some 

 purposes the average is not applicable, while for others it serves an 

 important function, particularly in indicating trends in various 

 practices. 



A decided advantage of this method is that a small investigational 

 force can make an extended study and at a very small cost, the 

 principal expense being for the clerical force necessary to tabulate 

 the large number of returns obtained. A further advantage lies in 

 using this method to obtain a relatively quick estimate of the changes 

 in the price levels of certain cost factors which may be used with the 

 basic elements of cost obtained by other methods in bringing cost 

 data up to date. For example, where the basic factors of producing 

 cotton have been worked out, it becomes relatively a simple matter 

 to estimate the average cost for any given year if the current rates 

 for labor, fertilizer, ginning, seed, etc., are known. This information 

 may often be obtained very satisfactorily by the use of the question- 



