Master_thesis

3.8 Constraints and Limitations
Usually, to adequately measure beliefs in a policy arena over a fairly long period of time, the
coding frame will probably be quite extensive, as it will presumably contain a number of
quite abstract beliefs as well as items dealing with the specific policy disputes that arose
during the decade or more under investigation (Jenkins-Smith, et. al, 1993). But since the
study was constrained by time, only a specific policy that arose during the period of 1975-
1992, specifically the NIPAS Act was selected and underwent interpretations (see the forest
related legislation timeline in Fig.1). The scope of policy change that the study intends to
deliver should encompass both the quality of change in conservation strategies and in the
level of people’s participation. In this case, the NIPAS Act (among other laws and
legislations) was chosen as the appropriate policy for the conduct of policy change analysis.
While the application of ACF requires a time perspective of a decade or more, there were
some difficulties in retrieving old documents. Many documents were not readily available
for public use, particularly at the national level. This may be due to substandard archival
practices, reasonably attributed to the Martial Law Period (1972-1981), or to issues
revolving around the archival responsibilities of disbanded, legacy public agencies and their
newer replacements. This may also merely reflect the logistics of maintaining archival
materials in the tropics. Note also that during the period of data collection, the selection of a
case study area was influenced by the presence of terrorist threats to civil order in the
Philippines.
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