The objective of this study was to develop hypotheses concerning the determinants of the relative importance of various objectives to grade A milk producers' bargaining cooperatives.

A list of possible objectives of the cooperatives was developed from discussions with cooperative managers and people who have worked with these managers. Managers of nine cooperatives then ranked these objectives. Each ranked the objectives in order of importance to his own cooperative. Variations in the ranks assigned the objectives were analyzed in a search for statistically significant relations between characteristics of cooperatives and their markets and rankings of objectives. Regression analysis and discriminant analysis were used. After statistically significant results were obtained, their logical plausibility was examined.

Usually in econometric research we have prior hypotheses available at the beginning of a study. A statistically significant result confirms or rejects a prior hypothesis. At the beginning of this study there were no prior hypotheses available on determinants of relative importance of various objectives. The data were analyzed in a search for statistically significant results. A summary of these significant results follows. These results are hypotheses that can be tested in future research; they are not statistical confirmation of prior hypotheses.