Finding Potential Sites for Small-Scale Hydro Power in Uganda: a ...

6 Discussion6.1 InterviewsThe answers from our interviews show a most concordant result, in that almosteverybody is in great need of electricity, and consider themselves to have some means topay for the associated costs. According to Halvorsen (1992) all units in the population,which in our case is the rural population of the Study area, should have equal chance tobe selected when using an unbound random sample method. By limiting our samplepopulation to only randomly choose interviewees along the way when performing theevaluation, the sample is not statistically correctly selected. Halvorsen (1992) also arguesthat th e larger the size of the sample population is the higher the probability is that thesample population resembles the population and that the size of the needed samplepopulation is dependent on how similar the population is. With the size of 65interviewees, our sample can be considered fairly small, but we consider it to berepresentative.A Minor Field Study is performed under limited time and resources,which is why the interviews could not be performed in a, according to Halvorsen (1992),statistically correct manner.Devereux and Hoddinott (1993) argue that the use of an interpreter can bring advantageswhen performing an interview, such as information about the area, the culture andpractical things. In our case, our interpreter helped us: to announce our presence andintentions, to arrange meetings, with guidance in the area and to understand the localcustoms, which made him indispensable for the study. The interpretation can naturallybe a source of error, because of the interpreter’s subjectivity and misunderstandings. Oneexample of this from our interview is the question regarding what energy sources theinterviewees were using at home and at work. By analysing the answers from thisquestion, you can make the assumption that the interpreter sometimes more likely askedwhat sources of light they were using instead of what sources of energy.Something we expected from the answers on the question regarding what theinterviewees would use electricity for was that they would use electricity to begin smallenterprises and use it in their farming. Surprisingly only 20% of the interviewed intendedto either start an enterprise and/or expand their working days beyond dusk. A possiblereason for this could be that the awareness of what the electricity could be used for isvery low.We have chosen not to take the economic aspects of small-scale hydropower projectsinto consideration, since we consider this to be outside the framework of our study. The57