Reflections on the Human Condition - Api-fellowships.org

that joined the conflict; and (ii) the different basic socioeconomic
conditions led by water use between adjacent
villages is investigated. The diversity among the lowland
villages is captured in the following chapter by comparing
the two groups using statistical methods.
METHODOLOGY
Research Design
The data was mainly collected in October 2004 using
a quantitative method with a subsidiary qualitative
method. The quantitative research was carried out with
a questionnaire selecting either the head or an appropriate
alternative of each household as the interviewee. The
questionnaire entries are elaborated to clarify the basic
structure of livelihood as well as the irrigation water use.
For qualitative research, interviews without a questionnaire
and participatory observation were used complementarily
for the purpose of validating the quantified data in the
local unique institution. 7 Qualitative interviews and
participatory observations had been conducted several
times since the first brief survey in November 2003.
Thus, upon obtaining the quantitative data discussed
above, the validity and the credibility of the data were
confirmed by the qualitative interviews.
Target
The target was limited within the villages located in Doi
Kaew Sub District, Chom Thong District. Doi Kaew Sub
District consists of nine villages, of which four villages are
in the highland area while five villages are in the lowland
where the target villages are located.
The judgment of whether a village was an “Active group”
or a “Passive group” was based on interviews with sub
district heads, village heads, and NGOs. It should be
noted that small farmers were exempt since the direct
interviews about such a sensitive issue could spoil the
data’s reliability.
Target: Active Group
Table 2: Basic Data of Active Group.
Village Population Households Adminisrative Paddy field Orchard(Ha) Ethnicity
area(Ha) (Ha)
Mae Klang 363 173 151 67 74 Northern Thai
Doi Kaew 1340 356 298 131 147 Northern Thai
Mai Mae Ti 256 72 62 25 21 Northern Thai
Mae Tia Ta 271 67 56 21 34 Northern Thai
Source: Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives
(2003).
HERITAGE, IDENTITY, CHANGE AND CONFLICT
The active group consisted of four villages: Mae Klang
Papu village, Doi Kaew village, Mai Mae Tia village,
and Mae Tia Tai village. Due to the recent decline of
paddy prices and the promotion of cash crops by government,
the farmers in this group had shifted cultivation in dry
season from a secondary rice crop to cash crops such as
corn, onions, red pepper, and so forth. Moreover, the
area of longan orchard has rapidly increased due to the
purchase of dried longan by the government at stable
price.
Target: Passive Group
Table 3: Basic Data of Passive Group.
Village Population Households Adminisrative Paddy field Orchard(Ha) Ethnicity
area(Ha) (Ha)
Mae Tia 393 100 54 27 19 Karen
Source: Ministry of Agriculture Cooperation (2003).
The passive group is composed of only Mae Tia village.
Most villagers in the group are ethnic “Karen”. Although
the Karen usually live in upland areas far away from
Northern Thai villages in the lowland areas, the passive
group in this study lived at the same elevation as the
neighboring Northern Thai villages. In fact, people in the
group lived close to the Northern Thais and exchanges of
goods, money and people were rather frequent between
them. 8 Furthermore, in a general sense, the livelihood
structure similarly consisted of on-farm and off-farm
income compared to the active group.
Sampling
The questionnaire interviews were not conducted for all
villagers but for a random sampling of villagers in each
group. In the sampling, it was noted that the number
of samples in each village was sufficient for statistical
analysis. A sample that satisfied the conditions below
was omitted in order to retain the reliability of data:
(i) those who were never engaged in agriculture, e.g. a
fulltime construction worker; (ii) those who were not
familiar with the local situation of agriculture and
irrigation water use, e.g. new comers from other village;
and (iii) those who were not familiar with the recent
situation even though familiar with the situation in the
past, e.g. elderly people. A summary of the samples of
this study is shown in Table 4.
Ref lections on the Human Condition: Change, Conflict and Modernity
The Work of the 2004/2005 API Fellows
61