What factors support and promote home-based food-growing in four neighbourhoods in SW Sheffield?

Monday 4 May 2009

Appendices #2

#2 Research Diary Sample Entry
Wednesday 18th Sept- Wednesday Oct 1st 08
I've been primarily focused on the 1st pass questionnaire analysis so I'll detail the process I've been following.

For almost every question I first look at the numbers on the income breakdown looking for the categories with the biggest numbers. For instance Q15 - percentage of meals cooked from fresh, "46 of the 58 who responded to the income question fall in the 60% or higher category w/28 of those in the 75 to 90% category". I will then look for any indication that income is influencing the numbers, for example 6 people in the 71k+ category (all the people in that category) responded in the 90 to 100% range. I will look for other correllaries such as education, how much food they grow, are they careful about their health, etc.
As an example of the way it is broken down in this first pass here is the entry for the neighborhood where those rich folks live;
"In the (name of the neighborhood) Of those 10 who cook from fresh 90 to 100%, 6 earn 71k or higher, 9 have first degree or higher, 8 have full timer (employment) in house, 6 expressed level 5 or 6 (6 being the highest) concern for CC (climate change) the rest expressed 3 or 4, 6 expressed level 3 or 4 concern for PO (peak oil) the rest expressed 5 or 6, 7 expressed level 3 or 4 concern for energy prices the rest expressed 5 or 6, 6 expressed level 4 or 5 concern for food supply, 6 expressed level 3 or 4 concern for food prices, 6 purchase organic 30% or less, 6 plan (meals) 5to6X/week or less, 7 purchase local 30% or less, all practice 2 or more EE (energy eff) measures, 7 grow 2 or more food items w/5 growing all four, 8 compost and soil improve, 6 RWH, 5 organic garden, all watched gardening program, 8 visited City farm, 9 read a book (about gardening), 6 researched on the internet (about gardening), 5 have experience with allotments, none smoke, all are careful about nutrition, 7 exercise 3X/week or less, 6 drink 3/4 drinks/week or less, 5 grow because they want the freshest produce, 8 because they like gardening, 5 would grow more if they had more time, 6 if they had a bigger garden, none would give over yard."

My plan is to complete this process for each question and then compare each neighborhood and look for consistencies or differences that stand out about which I can make conclusions, such as perhaps "the majority of people expressing level 5 or 6 degree of concern for climate change have at least a first degree, they also comprise the largest group of people who grow 2 or more food items" I hope I can get to that point. I should be able to have all the questions dissected into this first pass by the next update as I'm more than halfway now.

This seems laborious but I haven't thought of a better way to do it. Input appreciated.

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