Document(s) 11 de 17

 Farm-survey Methods

With few exceptions, noted in the text, the farm-survey data reported in this book were drawn from a 1992 survey of households in the municipalities of Tela and Jutiapa, department of Atlántida. From a list of all hillside communities in these two municipalities, developed in consultation with the Secretaría de Recursos Naturales (secretariat of natural resources), 16 were selected at random, with the chance of selection being in proportion to the population of the community. A 1988 village-level health census provided the names of heads of households and data on family size for each of these villages; 130 households were then randomly selected for inclusion in the survey. An additional requirement for a household's being selected was that its members had to have planted maize during the 1992 winter cycle or the previous summer cycle. This requirement was in keeping with the survey's focus on maize-production practices but may also have been a source of bias against the selection of households engaged mainly in nonagricultural activities. With this exception, the sample, reduced later to 126 households with complete data, can be considered as providing a reasonable reflection of hillside households in northern Honduras. The 16 communities were Piedras Amarillas, La Danta, Los Olanchitos, Aguacate Línea, El Cantor, El Naranjo, Descombros, Las Delicias, El Paraíso, Pueblo Nuevo, and Santa Fe, in the municipality of Jutiapa; and San Francisco de Saco, Planes de Hicaque, Las Metalias, Los Laureles, and El Zapote, in the municipality of Tela. A 1990 survey of 133 farmers, also reported here, followed a similar sampling procedure. The 25 villages included in that survey were drawn randomly, with the chance of selection in proportion to the population of the village, from a list of hillside villages in all eight municipalities of the department of Atlántida.

The survey questionnaire was tested and revised; enumerators were trained during a 3-d workshop; and each questionnaire was reviewed by the coordinators of the survey at the end of each day. The survey was completed over 3 weeks, coded, and subsequently entered into a spreadsheet for analysis. Inconsistencies in the data were cross-checked until it was felt that the quality of the information was satisfactory. An initial report was produced from the data (Buckles et al. 1992).

Document(s) 11 de 17