Objectives of Socioeconomic Research

Objectives of socioeconomic research
• To reflect an accurate picture of how society should be represented as a group
• To capture values reflecting the diversity of views within a group
• To provide a better understanding of the dynamic relations within a group
• To identify resource dependencies within a group

stakeholder participation in economic assessments
• Any attempt to examine either costs or benefits must recognise the importance of the valuation processes.
• Since the concept of value by definition in economics is based on preferences, it is absolutely essential to include as many different preference groups as possible when assessing the impacts of any development project.
• Failure to do this means that some dimensions of value are lost, and information and policy failure will result.
• Different stakeholder groups have different types of knowledge about environmental resources. While approaches used in developed countries are highly science-based, indigenous people and others in developing countries may be able to contribute important information which is knowledge-based

Combining physical and socio-economic data
• Attempts to link physical and socio-economic data often come up against the problem of choice of numeraire (measuring unit)
• Different types of data are often stored at different resolutions
• Different data is appropriate for different scales
• The challenge is how to use data from different sources and at different scales


Planning social research – taking account of specific differences

• Recognise social and cultural diversity
• Recognise spatial and temporal variability
• Recognise the impact of economic power and patronage


Guidelines for socio-economic research

• Locate field sites according to pre-defined criteria determined by research objectives
• Identify potential field assistants well in advance – agree clear terms of reference for their involvement, and remuneration to be paid
• Consider ethical and confidentiality issues
• Use accepted sampling procedures to identify respondents to be included
• Identify appropriate sub-groups for the study
• Consider time required for subject’s involvement
• Consider respondent participation costs
• Get permission from local authorities
• Identify key informants within communities
• Build good relationships with the community


How to select a sample and ensure it is representative of the population as a whole.
Random Sampling
• In any survey you can’t cover the whole population, so you have to take a sample of the population.
• Suppose you have 2500 households in an area. You want to sample 250 of them. One way to do this is:
• Put the names of the heads of households on a piece of paper and put the folded pieces of paper in a box. Put you hand in the box (without looking!) 250 separate times each time taking out a piece of paper.
• The 250 names you have is a sample.
• If you know some of the basic characteristics of the population as a whole, you can check whether the sample is representative of those characteristics.


Stratified Sampling
An example from water research
• To get a stratified sample, you must ensure that your sample contains the same proportions as the population strata i.e. those with water in the house, those with piped water outside and those with neither.
• You might do this before or after doing the interviewing depending on whether you know which household has access to which water supply before you visit the house. If you don’t know this then you have to do a random sample and then stratify exactly afterwards.
Caution: Careful sampling of the population will be an important determinant of the final quality of the data. Data quality itself determines the final reliability of the research.

v Comparisons between locations can only be valid if the data and variables used are the same.
v For such comparisons, it is wise to establish a standard definition and measurement of a specific set of variables, in order to build a dataset which would be reliable over space and time.

Operationalising participation:
An example using Multi-Criteria Analysis
• This technique is based on combining scores and ‘weights’
• One advantage of multi-criteria analysis is that it can incorporate both qualitative and quantitative data.
• Through the examination of different scores and weights applied by different groups to various issues, it can facilitate an examination of different ethical or political perspectives, thus revealing areas of potential conflict.

Avoiding researcher and subject bias and expectations
• Appreciate that the values you hold are unlikely to be the same as those you are studying
• Minimise prejudices against you by ensuring your behaviour and appearance are appropriate
• Do not overestimate people’s ability to understand and respond to questions which to you may seem simple
• Do not overestimate people’s willingness to participate
• Ensure that enough time is allowed for adequate participation
• Ensure appropriate protocol is followed
• Provide as much feedback as possible to the study group
• Be aware of local non-verbal signals
• Be patient and smile a lot!

Social surveys: Words of caution
• The greater the number of questions, the longer it takes and the smaller the number of people you can cover – keep the questionnaire relatively short
• Try to ask questions which are easy to answer - don’t require too much memory recall
• try to ask questions which don’t influence the answer: e.g. asking a question on water quality –you could ask: is the quality of your water good? or you could ask
what is the quality of the water -good, fair, poor?
• Remember that the more questions you ask, the more data you will have to enter into spreadsheets or databases, and then analyse. Don’t collect more than you have time for

Conclusions: Why collect socioeconomic data
• To enable better assessments to be made of the needs of society
• To assess the degree of impact society may have on resources
• To contribute data and concepts to integrated modelling
• To measure changes in society over time
• To provide the social context within which policies have to operate
• To make policies more effective

source: www.eci.ox.ac.uk