3. Methods
3.3. Quantitative research methods
4.2.1. Dependent variables: Success Measures
4.2.1. Dependent variables: Success Measures
Following Pollnac et al. (2001), four success measures and one composite success measure will be analyzed in relation to a number of independent variables categorized as social, political and economic contextual factors and (post)-project intervention factors. Significant correlations between these variables will be described. The implications of these results will be discussed afterwards.
To define success, a multi-component approach has been adopted. As this research focuses on perceptions of people, community members’ perception of the sanctuary’s impact on the freshwater resources is a very important indicator for success. These perceptions might influence their behavior regarding the fish sanctuary (Pollnac et al., 2001).
This success measure is based on the percentages of respondents who perceive an increase in fish stocks and/or an average larger size of certain fish species as a result of the fish sanctuary. This score will be referred to as resource perception (range = 0,52 – 1, mean = 0,73, s.d. = 0,15)
Another measure of success is defined as a set of features inherent to a functioning fish sanctuary (Pollnac et al., 2001). This second measure is based on (1) the presence of the original ordinance at the barangay, (2) a proper enforcement of the rules and regulations according to the ordinance, (3) billboards at the two boundaries and (4) an arranged monitoring schedule. Each of these features were assigned a score of “one” if the feature was present and “zero” if it was absent, except for the feature of billboards which in one single case got assigned a “zero point five” for the presence of one billboard. The mean of these four scores was calculated. It is important to note that, although a score of “zero” or “one” is chosen, nuances apply to the feature of enforcement: as mentioned in the qualitative analysis barangay officials are regularly not able to penalize violators because they do not catch violators on the spot or they purposefully decide to ‘humanize the law’ in exceptional cases. If besides these legitimate reasons the barangay captain enforces the rules and regulations in accordance to the ordinance, the barangay is assigned a score of “one” on this feature. As a comparison over time fell outside the scope of this research, only the administration of the most recent barangay captain had been taken into account to assign a score to the feature of law enforcement. This second success measure will from here on be referred to as management success (range = 0,25 – 0,75, mean = 0,41, s.d. = 0,19).
A third measure of success is the compliance to the rules associated with the fish sanctuaries by residents of the barangay (Pollnac et al., 2001). This is not easy to measure as compliance to the rules greatly depends on the degree of strict enforcement. Moreover barangays in big stream are struggling with outsider fishermen who are continually violating the rules and regulations of the sanctuaries whereas barangays in small-stream do not face these threats. For this reason, the degree of compliance to the rules by outsiders has not been included in this measure; yet it will be included in the analysis as an independent variable. The barangays were ranked on a scale ranging from “zero” to “five” concerning the degree of compliance to the rules and were then divided by five. Based on the interviews, observations and - if applicable - the focus group meetings, Marissa and me discussed the issue until a consensus was reached. Compliance will be used hereafter (range = 0,40 – 0,80, mean = 0,60, s.d. = 0,19).
A final measure of success for community-conserved fish sanctuaries is the degree to which community members participate in the management to conserve their own resources (Pollnac et al., 2001). A score between “zero” and “five” has been assigned in a similar way as the measure compliance: based on observations, interviews and group discussions in the field with both barangay officials and community residents. This measure will be referred to as participation hereafter (range = 0,00 – 0,60, mean = 0,24, s.d. = 0,21).
Figure 7: Scores per barangay on the success measure “participation”
A successful community-conserved freshwater area is expected to manifest relatively high levels on all of the four aforementioned success measures. Therefore, a combined score of these four measures is wishful. In order to verify whether the four individual measures in fact do measure the same general construct and therefore can be combined in one score, the internal consistency has been measured using a reliability analysis. It is generally accepted (George & Mallery, 2003) that a Cronbach’s Alpha score
0.6 ≤α < 0.7 is acceptable, while a score of 0.7 ≤ α < 0.9 is good. The Cronbach’s Alpha based on the four success measures is significantly high enough (α = .79) to work with a Composite Success
measure, which has been constructed as the mean of all four individual scores (range = 0,29 – 0,67, mean = 0,4967, s.d. = 0,14).
Figure 8: Scores per barangay on the Composite Success measure
Comparing all of the figures depicted above, in which a score of 1 indicated that the fish sanctuary attained a maximum score on the respective success measure, 0 meaning that the minimum score was ascribed to the success measure, the following can be concluded: barangay Del Pilar and Ibujan have exceptionally high scores on resource perception23, Ibujan and San José score high on management success; Buyasan, Del Pilar, Libertad and Macayu-cayu have a high score for compliance, and barangay San José scores exceptionally high on participation. Overall, San José has a composite success score of .64 and has above average scores on all of its four success measures. Barangay Ibujan does even better with a composite success score of .67. Ibujan has overall high above average scores for the first three success measures but a slightly below average score for participation. Those two barangays clearly have the most successful fish sanctuaries of all
23
It should be considered however that the high score for barangay Del Pilar only reflects the opinions of the barangay captain and his father, the former captain, as no other respondents had ever heard about the fish sanctuary. The results of Del Pilar in that sense might be biased and should be interpreted carefully.
barangay included in this study, although it is clear by now that their success can be attributed differently. In the next chapter, the different underlying causes for success in different barangays and the consequent implications will be further discussed.
Finally, the following table depicts descriptive results of all success measures including the composite success measure. On average, slightly less than half (.49) of all the fish sanctuaries included in this study are believed to be successful based on the composite success measure. Upon focusing on the separate success measures, resource perception is high; above average in all barangays with a mean score of .73. This indicates that almost three in four of the respondents believe that fish stocks are increasing again as a result of the fish sanctuary. Success management of the fish sanctuary scores below average, with a mean of .41. This is largely due to a missing ordinance in most barangays and the destruction of nearly all billboards that were once placed at both ends of all fish sanctuaries. Compliance has an average of .60, with a rather small range between the minimum (.40) and maximum (.80). This means that most of the community members do adhere to the rules of the fish sanctuary and believe that the majority in the barangay does as well. Community participation on the other hand is low, with an average of .24. While resource perception largely increases the overall composite success measure, participation clearly brings the overall success measure down. The fact that fishing is not a main livelihood strategy for the large majority of all fishers interviewed and that there are only small percentages of fishers among community residents in the barangays lies at the base here. The main exception, as can be seen in figure 7, is barangay San Jose, where participation is highest of all: 0.60. This is due to a very concerned barangay captain who strictly enforces the penalties according to the ordinance and in the meantime really encourages his people in the assembly meetings to preserve the fish stocks in the fish sanctuary by working together and reporting the violators.
Table 4: Descriptive analysis of the four components of success and the composite success measure.
Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation
Composite Success .29 .67 .4967 .14420 Resource perception .52 1.00 .7343 .15004 Features .25 .75 .4125 .18680 Community Compliance .40 .80 .6000 .18856 Community Empowerment .00 .60 .2400 .20656