Effective research methods support to large surveys; a scene for the Climate change, agriculture and food security on a field typology survey

Abstract

ABSTRACT The main objective of this work was to find strategies to support science projects with limited research methods support. Many research projects face major challenges in the full implementation on the ground. This forms the basis of the research methods program, which intends to bridge the gap between science design and implementation. This study characterized the nature and magnitude of variability in field management through a survey that captured diversity at the farm level. Heterogeneity in land management is determined by settlement patterns and land access, management imposed on the land as this can create large differences in soil fertility over short distances within the same farms that influence crop production and fertility management interventions. This study supported the research project by advising on the best way to design the survey, then how to process and manage the data generated from the survey. This was accomplished through advising on efficient use of a data management tool (CSPro software) especially for data entry and quality control and the final backing up of the data on external devices; final archiving of the data on a database. Besides these, there was one to one consultancy with the scientists and this encompass joint decision making on what variables to use for final analysis and the manner in which the results have been presented. Data analysis involved use of spatial analysis and statistics to do exploratory data analysis and further inferential tests to check the relationships that exist between the collected variables. Finally, this study presents a review of previous work and recommendations given on the methods to be used for future research work.