groups included Jean Carlo Vargas Mena accompanied by Mary Thornbush and
Sharon González Benavides with Maickel Benavidas Jiménez. Alex Fonseca accompanied the group during these visits to monitor and further oversee the safety of the
survey groups.
Consent to participate was acquired on the spot by the surveyors (without signing
in some cases) because of a known preference by corridor participants to give oral
consent. This approach was necessary because of a known lack of trust by farmers in
the study area for signing to give consent. However, in practice, some of the
participants did end up signing the consent form because they knew our driver and
field guide (Alex Fonseca) – who ultimately functioned as ‘our gatekeeper’ to access
the communities (cf. Spencer et al. 2014). Incentives were not systematically
deployed in this study, and we relied on the goodwill of campesinos to participate.
However, wherever possible, we offered to purchase something of interest from
participants as a type of incentive, including plants, and more. Participants were very
kind and, in some cases, offered for us to sample some of their produce, such as
organic oranges, and some offered us refreshments. Because this is a well-researched
area, there was an added question at the end of the survey (in the follow-up questions
part) asking participants how many times prior they had been asked to participate in
such research.
4.4 Data Collection
The study incorporated both quantitative and qualitative research methods in a
mixed methods approach (after Gray and Morant 2003). This was executed using
survey-interviews comprising both closed-ended questions (in the Footprint Calculator survey portion) and open-ended questions in a follow-up short interview with
participants. The latter was designed to accommodate up to 5 minutes of interaction
with participants in order to minimise the overall time of the survey-interviews. The
research process involved five stages (Box 4.1) executed by a surveying team of
three campesinos from the study area accompanied by the author as lead researcher,
in two teams of two surveyors, and took no more than a half-hour (and, ideally, as
close as possible to 20 minutes) at each household. All five stages are elaborated in
the next subsections.
Box 4.1 Stages in the Research Process
Stage 1: Informed Consent (2–5 min) – conveying information about the
research topic and main study objectives; oral consent (signed form by
researcher on behalf of the participants) – if agreed, proceed to Stage 2.
(continued)
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4 Case Study – Methods
Sharon González Benavides with Maickel Benavidas Jiménez. Alex Fonseca accompanied the group during these visits to monitor and further oversee the safety of the
survey groups.
Consent to participate was acquired on the spot by the surveyors (without signing
in some cases) because of a known preference by corridor participants to give oral
consent. This approach was necessary because of a known lack of trust by farmers in
the study area for signing to give consent. However, in practice, some of the
participants did end up signing the consent form because they knew our driver and
field guide (Alex Fonseca) – who ultimately functioned as ‘our gatekeeper’ to access
the communities (cf. Spencer et al. 2014). Incentives were not systematically
deployed in this study, and we relied on the goodwill of campesinos to participate.
However, wherever possible, we offered to purchase something of interest from
participants as a type of incentive, including plants, and more. Participants were very
kind and, in some cases, offered for us to sample some of their produce, such as
organic oranges, and some offered us refreshments. Because this is a well-researched
area, there was an added question at the end of the survey (in the follow-up questions
part) asking participants how many times prior they had been asked to participate in
such research.
4.4 Data Collection
The study incorporated both quantitative and qualitative research methods in a
mixed methods approach (after Gray and Morant 2003). This was executed using
survey-interviews comprising both closed-ended questions (in the Footprint Calculator survey portion) and open-ended questions in a follow-up short interview with
participants. The latter was designed to accommodate up to 5 minutes of interaction
with participants in order to minimise the overall time of the survey-interviews. The
research process involved five stages (Box 4.1) executed by a surveying team of
three campesinos from the study area accompanied by the author as lead researcher,
in two teams of two surveyors, and took no more than a half-hour (and, ideally, as
close as possible to 20 minutes) at each household. All five stages are elaborated in
the next subsections.
Box 4.1 Stages in the Research Process
Stage 1: Informed Consent (2–5 min) – conveying information about the
research topic and main study objectives; oral consent (signed form by
researcher on behalf of the participants) – if agreed, proceed to Stage 2.
(continued)
58
4 Case Study – Methods