34 the study period, residents that wished to share their personal experience of the
tsunami with the researchers were encouraged to do so.
3.3 Sampling Technique
Sample households were selected using systematic sampling in each of five villages 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 Henry 1990: 26. Based on interview time length, number of
interviewers, and days allotted for surveying, the target sample size for each village was fifty households Table 3.
Table 3. Sample Size per Village
5
Village Number of
HH Sample
Number Percent of
Households in Village
1 45 43 93.75
2 273 46 16.85
3 185 61 33.51
4 218 50 22.94
7 119 51 42.86
N 840 251 Source: Suk-Sumran District Office 2005.
Village 1 had fewer than 50 households; therefore, the interviewers attempted to survey every household. Based on household statistics from both the Sub-District
Office of Suk-Sumran and the PRA conducted by the USAID project prior to the beginning of this study, the number of households was approximated and divided
by 50. Using a map of all streets and houses, every N
th
house was selected for the sample Henry 1990:28. In addition, all households that relocated to another
5
Note: Tambon District Statistics used to determine sample because while at the field sites, researchers determined these to be the most accurate numbers based on personal observation.
35 location within the Tambon of Suk-Sumran as a result of the tsunami were
surveyed. This departure from the sampling method described above was necessary to capture the portion of the population that moved as a result of the tsunami
because much of the population moved out of the Tambon and, therefore, could not be surveyed. Actual sample size ranged from 62 Village 3 to 43 Village 1 and
percent of village surveyed ranges from 93.75 Village 1 to 16.85 Village 2. The reason for the relatively larger sample size in Village 3 and smaller in Village
2 was lack of information regarding the border between Villages 2 and 3 in the Sub-District and Tambon office records.
3.4 Research Instrument
The research instrument included a series of questions written survey to be read by interviewers for both the male and female heads of a household. Questions
included livelihood activities, environmental and future perceptions, tsunami impacts, recovery activities, and background e.g., demographic information see
Appendix A for the complete survey. Questions were designed to assess attitudes toward fishing, future perspective, perception of recovery activities, experience
with the tsunami, and willingness to participate in proposed activities. Survey content and design were based on Berkes et al 2001 and Pollnac, Pomeroy and
Harkes 2001. The survey included both open and closed-ended questions. The subjects were asked open-ended questions to investigate their views about future
outlook, attitudes toward fishing and experience during the tsunami. Interviewers were instructed to ask follow up questions for open ended questions. Closed-ended
36 questions were either simple yesno questions or used a Likert-type scale to assess
future outlook, environmental perceptions and attitudes, and perceptions of ongoing and proposed recovery projects. Statements with which respondents were asked to
agree or disagree, were phrased both positively and negatively in order to decrease the likelihood that respondents agree with every statement instead of accurately
responding. Other types of questions included relative ranking of livelihood activities and number of people associated with the subject that were injured or
killed during the tsunami. Interviewers were instructed to be aware of the sensitivity of the subject and
respect individual’s wishes to answer certain questions. The number and name of the individuals surveyed were maintained by the interviewers until after data were
translated to allow for follow up questions in cases where responses were unclear. The survey was translated into the local Southern Thai Dialect and then back-
translated by a different translator to English to ensure that the questions were properly translated. The survey was approved for use by the Rhode Island
International Review Board. The household survey was administered by young women who lived in the
study area. Each survey took approximately 45 minutes to complete and involved two parts. The first part contained questions for the household as a whole and the
second contained individual questions, administered to both the male and female heads of the household the questions for both sexes were identical.
3.5 The Survey
