Sample Definition; Questionnaire Design and Application at National Level and Data Analysis to Assess Portuguese Social Representations and Consumptions of/on the Rural
Starting date: February 2013
Duration: 11 months
Description:
This task aims to assess the Portuguese imaginary on the rural, as well as to unveil the main motivations and contents underlying and justifying the demand and consumption’s processes of and on rural areas. In order to achieve those aims, a questionnaire will be designed and applied to a representative sample of the Portuguese population aged over 15.
This task will start with the definition of the representative sample, using the stratified sampling procedures. It is expected that about 2000 people will be inquired.
The questionnaire outline will be designed based on the contributions from tasks 1, 2, and 3, to assess different social representations on rurality as well as the diverse motivations shaping the demands and consumptions of/on rural areas. Hence the questionnaire will be divided in the following sections:
- The individuals’ characterization, which includes, among others, socioeconomic data, place of birth and residence, life and work trajectories.
- Representations about the rural and rurality, which integrates questions to assess the main influences and sources of images, narratives and perceptions, the actual images, perceptions and narratives, as well as the evaluation of rural contexts, products and public development policies and strategies.
- Demands and consumptions concerning rural areas, including questions about visiting rural areas, motivations and contents of various types of consumptions (e.g. tourism and leisure activities, agro-alimentary products, other rural productions, activities and relations regarding economic activity and employment, environmental and natural elements, etc.). In addition a number of questions about constraints and opportunities placed on consumption processes regarding different rural activities and products will be included.
- Representations on the future development of rural areas and correspondingly valued aspects.
The data obtained from the questionnaire will be analysed using univariate and multivariate statistical techniques, such as factorial, cluster and multivariate regression analysis.
From this task a working document will be produced to sum up the results achieved that are fundamental to the designing of the semi-structured interviews and to the selection of the respondents to be interviewed in the 5th task, as well as for third phase of the project.
Together with the working documents produced in the context of tasks 2 and 3, the working documents produced in the ambit of the 4th task will permit the global integration of the project’s results through the comparison of the empirical evidence which will be performed in the sixth task. Some data from selected variables, together with some findings from the previous two tasks and with the results from the following one, will be subjected to a cartographical representation of the Portuguese imaginary about the rural.