research methodology final project

8/6/2019 Research Methodology Final Project

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1. Statement of the ProblemAn exponential increase in the touristic activities can be seen in Anton. Huge

buildings are constructed near towns and more people choose to move to this district. To

make of this place a touristic destination, it is important to work on effective services to

offer to tourist as well as excellent attention and accommodations. Most importantly, the

place must be clean and organized. Sadly, Anton is facing serious sanitary problems such as

garbage accumulation, unclean lots, and shedding of sewage; garbage piles up in big

quantities, the owners of properties do not care about cleaning their lots, the sewage

filtration systems has collapsed because of being unable to manage such big amounts of

rubbish. These three phenomena are undoubtedly the most common and noticeable.

These district sanitation problems happen for two main reasons. First, the lack of

organization and a well-thought-out plan by Anton officials has brought about

accumulation of garbage and the existence of unclean lots that host all kinds of pest. The

inefficient and almost null application of laws has not decreased the problematic. This is

why; a coherent action by authorities is required. Second, there is a lack of involvement and

consciousness by the community of Anton. Easy tasks such as not throwing garbage in

public places and taking responsibility over their propertys cleanliness reflect the

population belief in putting the blame on everybody else rather than themselves and their

own actions. An educational program is urgently needed to make Anton people aware that

real changes start from the inside-out.

Undoubtedly, the interest on Antons sanitation has been awakened by the divisive

decision of authorities to place a landfill site in El Jobo. But, is garbage the main problem?


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2. Objectives of the Researchy To find out the main sanitary problem in Anton.y To determine the main factors that take part in Antons sanitation problems.y To recognize the most important consequences of this phenomena in peoples lives.y To confirm whether sanitary inspections and projects are executed or not.y To verify whether El Jobo community has sanitary problems.y To establish possible solutions and ways to action against Antons sanitary

problems.

3. Statement of the Research Questionsy Which is the main sanitary problem in Anton?y Which are the factors that take part in the happening of Antons sanitation

problems?

y What are the consequences of this phenomenon in peoples lives?y How often are sanitary inspections executed?y Does El Jobo have sanitary problems?y What are some solutions to these sanitary problems?

4. Statement of the HypothesisAntons main sanitary problem is garbage due to the lack of a convenient system for

the treatment of waste disposals. This phenomena affects the life of population bringing

about illnesses, pest and decreasing economy.


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5. Research Background/ContextAntn District is a district of Cocl Province in Panama. The population according

to the 2000 census was 44,039. The district covers a total area of 749 km. The capital lies

at the city of Antn. The district is divided administratively into the following

corregimientos: Antn (capital), Cabuya, El Chir, El Retiro, El Valle, Juan Daz, Ro

Hato, San Juan de Dios, Santa Rita and Caballero.


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B. PLAN OF RESEARCH


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1. Study/Experimental DesignThis research study is descriptive because it describes some of the factors that have

an impact in the occurrence of Antons sanitation problems, some consequences of this

phenomenon, and the communities most affected. According to Hernndez Sampiere

(2003), descriptive studies specify the properties, characteristics and important features of

people, groups, communities and any other phenomenon which can be subject of an

analysis. The research plan includes the steps to collect data from people and the sampling

approach; as well as the instruments used to gather information.

2. Selection of cases/participants (sampling)The participants include all the inhabitants of Antons district. The sampling method

is random as this type of technique offers a sample which fulfill the characteristics needed

for the study. The sample takes account of people from different ages, social status and sex.

It is representative since it stands for no less than 10%. The main characteristic of the

sample is that of living in Anton.


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3. SettingAnton District is selected for undergoing this research because of the controversial

placement of a landfill site in one of this districts communities. This fact arouses the

attention of investigators on this place sanitation.

4. Data collection procedures and instrumentsThe instrument of a study is the mechanism used by the researcher to collect and

record in data. This study has been developed upon a primary instrument: the interview.

The interview is composed of twelve questions; five of which are qualitative questions and

seven are quantitative questions. The steps to be followed for the data analysis and

presentation are (1) interview session, (2) data totaling, (3) graphics design, (4)

interpretation of data, and (5) presentation of the results.


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5. Data Analysis1

stChart: Happening of sanitation problems in Anton according to populations

opinion.

Happening of sanitation problems in Anton

N

Yes 25

No

Total 25

Analysis: According to the interview results, 100% of the interviewed people agree

that, indeed, Anton has sanitation problems. This is an indicator that this place can

present healthy and environmental problems in the future.

100%

0%

Happening of Sanitation Problems in Anton

Yes

No


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2nd Chart: Main sanitation problems in Anton according to populations opinion.

Main Sanitation Problem in Anton

N

Garbage Accumulation 15

Sewage 14Abandoned Lots Dirtiness 18

Others 3

Total 50

Analysis: According to the interview results, 6% of the interviewed people think

that problems such as clogged gutters, construction waste and the public market

sanitation are main problems; whereas, 28% of the interviewed people consider that

sewage is a major crisis. Moreover, 30% of the interviewed people feel that trash

accumulation is being the core difficulty; while 36% of the interviewed people

strongly believe that the dirtiness of abandoned lots is the most important problem.

30%

28%

36%

6%

Main Sanitation Problem in Anton

Garbage Accumulation

Sewage

Unclean Lots

Others


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3rd

Chart: Responsible of sanitation problems according to populations opinion.

Responsible of Sanitation Problem

NAuthorities 22

Population 17

Private Corporations 5

Total 44

Analysis: According to the interview results, 50% of the interviewed people think

that authorities have the main responsibility in the happening of Anton sanitation

problems. The 39% considers that the population is the responsible, while 11% of

the interviewed people believe that private corporations are indeed responsible. It is

important to highlight that most of the interviewed people agree that not only

authorities, but also population are the core responsible.

50%

39%

11%

Responsible of Sanitation Problems

Authorities

Population

Private Corporations


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4th Chart: Most affected communities by sanitation problems according to

populations opinion.

Most Affected Communities

NLas Guabas 9

El Ciruelito 6

Rio Hato 2

The center of Anton 14

Barriada El Mirador, Pozo Rico,Cinega Vieja, El Bajo and Anton (The

whole of it)

1

El Jobo 3

Total 59

Analysis: According to the interview results, 36% of the interviewed people thinkthat the center of Anton is the most affected community; whereas 23% consider that

Las Guabas community is being hardly affected. 15% of the participants believe

that El Ciruelito is highly impacted, over 8% who considers that El Jobo is being

more affected. 5% of the interviewed people think that Rio Hato community is

being importantly impacted while 2% and 3% of the pool participants believe that

Barriada El Mirador, Pozo Rico, Cinega Vieja, El Bajo and Anton (The whole of

it) are the most affected.

36%

23%

15%

8%

5%

2%2% 3%

3% 3%

Most Affected Communities

The centerofAnton

LasGuabas

El Ciruelito

El Jobo

Rio Hato

BarriadaEl Mirador

PozoRico

Cinega Vieja

El Bajo

Anton (Thewholeofit)


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5th

Chart: Consequences of sanitation problems according to populations opinion.

Consequences of Sanitation Problems

PestN

IllnessesN

BadOdors

N

PollutionN

AppearanceN

RobberyN

Garbage

Accumulation

10 9 6 3 --- ---

Sewage --- 7 4 --- --- ---

Abandoned

LotsD

irtiness

15 1 1 --- 2 1

Total 25 17 11 3 2 1

Analysis: According the interview results, and in relation to garbage accumulation,

17% of the interviewed participants think that pest is a major consequence, 15%

believes that illnesses are an important effect while 10% believes that bad odors are

negative outcomes over 5% who thinks that pollution would be a serious

consequence. Additionally, 12% of the people states that illnesses are troubled

effects of the shedding of sewage whereas 7% say that bad odors would be an

unwanted outcome. Besides, 25% of the interviewed participants consider that pest

is a big effect of unclean lots. Illnesses, bad odors and robbery are given 1% each

and a bad appearance is given 3% on the rank. Finally, people mention other

consequences such as appearance and robbery, each of them ranking 1%.


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Garbage

Accumulation

Sewage Unclean Lots Others

10

15

9

7

1

6

4

1

32

11 1

Consequences of Sanitation Problems

Pest Illnesses BadOdors Pollution Appearance Robbery


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6th

Chart: Impact in Anton economic growth according to populations opinion.

Impact in Anton Economic Growth

N

Yes 17

No

Total 25

Analysis: According to interview results, 68% of the interviewed people think that

economy in Anton can be affected by sanitation problems. This 68% strongly

believes that trash accumulation, sewage and abandoned lots would definitely affect

tourism, economic incomes, and investment. On the other hand, 32% of the

interviewed participants consider that economy would not be affected at all.

68%

32%

Impact in Anton Economic Growth

Yes

No


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7th

Chart: Occurrence of sanitation projects in Anton according to populations

opinion.

Occurrence of Sanitation Projects in Anton

N

Yes 13

No

Total 25

Analysis: According to the interview results, 52% of the interviewed people say that

sanitation projects are executed in Anton. These range from fumigation, trash and

educational programs. In contrast, 48% of the participants say that any sanitation

project is developed. This percentage of the participants might not know of the

programs being developed or the programs do not seem to solve their necessities.

52%

48%

Occurrence of Sanitation Projects in Anton

Yes

No


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8th Chart: Occurrence of sanitation problems in El Jobo according to populations

opinion.

Occurrence of Sanitation Problems in El Jobo

NYes 4

No

Dont know 10

Total 25


there are sanitation problems in El Jobo, while 44% says that there are no sanitation

problems in this place. On the other hand, 40% of the participants assure to not

know about El Jobos current sanitation yet they affirm this place is not the best

option for the landfill site. It is important to draw attention to the fact that most of

the participants have never visited El Jobo at the moment of the interview.

16%

44%

40%

Occurrence of Sanitation Problems in El Jobo

Yes

No

Don't know


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9th Chart: Frequency of sanitation-related inspections in Anton according to

populations opinion.

Frequency of Sanitation-Related Inspections in Anton

NOnce a year 9

Twice a year 8

Never

Others 5

Total 25


inspections occur once a year. 32% of the participants assure that inspections come

about twice a year while 12% declares that inspections never happen. On the

contrary, 20% of the interviewed people say that inspections occur whenever asked,

each month, six times a year, each two months and each month. It can be inferred

that this service might not be as effective as expected given that the frequency to

which it happens is lower to the majority of the population.

36%

32%

12%

20%

Frequency of Sanitation-

Related

Inspections

in Anton

Onceayear

Twiceayear

Never

Others


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10th Chart: Recommendations to solve sanitation-related problems in Anton

according to populations opinion.

Recommendations to Solve Sanitation-Related Problems in Anton

NInspections 3

Laws 6

More Efficient Services 8

Population Involvement 8

Projects 7

Dont know 2

Total 34

Analysis: 46% of the interviewed participants believe that the best solution for the

sanitation problems is the involvement of the population and more efficient services

by Antons officials. 21% thinks that the execution of educational and social

programs is the best solution while the exercising of laws is considered to be the

best solution against this phenomenon, ranking 18%. Moreover, 9% of the

interviewed people consider that more frequent inspections is a good alternative and

the left 6% says they do not know of a way to improve the situation.

9%

18%

23%23%

21%

6%

Recomendations to Solve Sanitation-Related

Problems in Anton

Inspections

Laws

MoreEfficientServices

PopulationInvolvement

Projects

Don't Know


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C. INTERPRETATION AND DISCUSSION OF THE DATAAccording to the data collected, the majority of Anton inhabitants agree that this

place, indeed, has sanitary problems. But, in spite of conventional beliefs, Antons main

sanitary problem is not garbage but unclean lots. The accumulation of garbage ranks second

in the top list followed by the shedding of sewage. The research team openly agrees with

these results given that the observations conducted in the area of study match the

conclusion. Investigators have not found any evidence of garbage accumulation or shedding

of sewages to support the results.

Most of the interviewed people think that local authorities are the responsible of

these phenomena. Yet they also argue that a lack of social responsibility by the inhabitants

is having a big impact. This fact can be confirmed by the research team since most of the

interviewed participants did not know about El Jobos current situation; but they

powerfully stated that this community was not the best place for the rubbish dump (Even

though, they had ever been to this place). It is important to note that people acknowledge

the authorities attempts to decrease the problematic, but they believe that these efforts must

be accompanied of a well-organized teaching campaign for the population. Anton

inhabitants also suggest officials to establish a wider range of the zones to be inspected as

they think the extent to which sanitation is supervised seems to be inadequate. Furthermore,

citizens strongly believe that these phenomena originate healthy-related consequences,

social incidents such as robbery and an economic cost for investment.


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II. CONCLUSIONAfter analyzing all the data collected in the research and taking into account the

results obtained from such investigation we can conclude that Anton does have

sanitation problems being the unclean lots the main one. This statement refutes

our hypothesis which stated the garbage accumulation as the main and most

noticeable problem of Anton district.

The unclean lots problem happens due to the populations lack of involvement

in the situation of the district. Also, because the owners of most of those lands

do not care about the consequences that uncleanliness can produce to the

community and even to themselves. On the other hand, we can say that the

authorities are not really involved with the possible solutions to these problems

even though they say they are implementing new strategies to make people

clean their lots. We state this since we could observe many unclean lots during

our research and all of this places were in the main streets of Anton and near the

schools which should be the cleanest places because they are the most

frequently visited.

As a secondary topic, we have the project of the landfill in El Jobo town.

Despite it is a controversial theme, much of the population do not know about

this topic but they assure that it is not a good idea to implement such project in

that community. Meanwhile, the authorities make certain that they have taken

into account different studies to guarantee the viability of the project in order

that nobody gets injured. In fact, they allege that the implementation of the


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project will bring an economical impact in the population since they will need

manpower and use recycling processes that will lead the population to have

other ways to earn money.

So, our final hypothesis would be that the facing sanitation problems being the

unclean lots the primary. This problem is happening due to a lack of

populations participation in the cleanliness of the town and an impartial

judgment from the authorities with the owners of such lots.

As we can see the sanitation problems in Anton are not being solved currently

and it is a peoples responsibility to apply the ways that will give a better look to

the community and mainly, a healthier and nicer lifestyle; and an authorities

obligation to firmly punish the .omission of laws and cleanliness lack of the

inhabitants.


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III. Attached Informationy Interview Sample

Interview to Lic. Esteban Ruiz. Antons Major Assistant.

1. Mr. Ruiz, do you think there are sanitation problems in Anton?A: Yes, unfortunately there are many problems in Anton.

2. Which problem do you consider is the most common?A: Well, I think the most common problem is the quantity of unclean lots due to the

fact many people is interested in buying real states in our district; nevertheless, once

they have acquired the land they forget about it and that is why we have a lot of

unclean and abandoned places.

3. Who do you think is the responsible of this problem?A: I think the population is the responsible because those are private properties and

they should take care of that.

4. In your opinion, which are the most affected communities?A: I would say that the most affected communities are: Rio Hato, Anton and Juan

Hombron even though they have big touristic attractions.

5. Which are the main consequences of these sanitary problems?A: The most noticeable consequences of the unclean lots are the proliferation of

mosquitoes and other plagues, junk accumulation and scraps.


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6. Do you consider that the economical development of the district is being affectedbecause of this sanitation problem and how is it affected?

A: Yes, and it is especially affected in the tourism. In Rio Hato we have the problem

that the rubbish dump is close to the big Hotels in which the tourism activity is

being done and that give a bad appearance of the place.

7. Does Anton district has sanitary projects? Could you mention some of thoseprojects?

A: Yes it does. Actually, we have several projects such as the Hormiguitas and

the garbage recollection. Also, we have a project in which the Municipality sends

people to clean lots and try to find the owner of those lots. In addition, we apply

fines to the people that do not take care of their lots or do not throw the garbage

properly. As a major project we have the landfill project in El Jobo.

8. In El Jobo community, do they face any sanitary problem currently? Wouldnt bethe implementation of the landfill in that community a trigger for the start of

epidemies or sicknesses in that community?

A: The landfill project in El Jobo has been taken through many viability studies in

order to make the community know that it is a safe project and that it wont damage

anybody in the community. The inhabitants of this town agree with the project,

however other people outside the community are those who oppose. The landfill

project have had a very careful environmental impact study and it will be based on

building up a giant garbage pool, the implementation of recycling methods and the


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use of trenches all around the pools. As a matter of fact, we may highlight that the

suggested location for the construction of this landfill is a municipal property which

once was otorged to Salomon Ponce Aguilera High School, but as they did not

made use of such land it came back to the municipality as it is stated in the laws.

9. What would you recommend to solve the sanitation problems in Anton?A: In fact, the Antons municipality is working in different ways along with the

Health Ministry giving trainings to the mayors and implying fines to the people who

do not clean their properties. Other strategy is to place on sale signposts in the

abandoned lots to make the owner appear and fine him or her.


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y Interview to Lic. Esteban Ruiz (Mayors Assistant)


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y On-area Observation


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IV. Reference Work

y http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant%C3%B3n_District y Interview made to Antons Mayor Assistant: Esteban Ruiz.y Interviews made to Antons inhabitants.

research methodology final project

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