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Chapter 3

METHODOLOGY

This chapter discusses the research design, the subject and the

respondents of the study, the data gathering instrument, its validity and

reliability of the instrument, the data gathering procedure and the

statistical treatment data.

Research Design

Descriptive research design is applied in this study. According to

Dr. David Cabarro Bueno (2016) it is used to show design through the

analysis of numeric data. It describes data that have been collected. It

can be used for major purpose of both qualitative and quantitative

research studies. With descriptive design, the researcher plans to gain

more information about an occurrence with a particular field of study.

Descriptive research design is a study designed to depict the participants

in an accurate way. It is all about describing people who take part in the

study and it can be done using observational, case study or survey

(Kowalczyk, 2015).

Likewise, descriptive research design engages in fact-finding

procedures particularly in conditions and relationships that exist,

practices that prevail, beliefs that are held, processes that are going on,

effects that are being felt or trends that are developing. Considering that

this study aims to determine the level of well-being of employees, the

researcher considers the descriptive research design as the most

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appropriate tool to use.

Descriptive research design is appropriate for this study as it

helped the researcher in obtaining information concerning the current

status of the phenomenon and to described “what exists” with respect to

variables or other conditions or situation. It also helped in the

elaboration of the data gathered and in making professional judgments.

Respondents of the Study

A sample of 30 respondents of the study for local farmers and 73

for employees of agricultural tourism as implementers of the program in

the three (3) local government units in the province of Negros Occidental.

These respondents were identified using the convenient sampling in

determining the degree of challenges in the implementation as assess by

local farmers, while a Total Enumeration method was utilized as assess

by the implementers of the (3) accredited agricultural tourism sites in the

province of Negros Occidental.

Table 1

Distribution of the Respondents

Local Farmers Implementers

Farm
Population Percentage Population Percentage
Tourism
(N) (%) (N) (%)
Sites
A 10 33.33 24 32.9
B 10 33.33 23 31.5
C 10 33.33 26 35.6
Total 30 100 73 100
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Locale of the Study

This study was conducted in the three (3) LGUs with accredited

farm tourism sites in the Province of Negros Occidental, namely:

Guerrero Farm and Natural Park in Talisay City, Peñalosa Farm in

Victorias City and Rapha Valley in Don Salvador Benedicto.

Guerrero Farm in Talisay City, Negros Occidental that offers a

quiet and peaceful return to nature experience. The Guerrero Farm, and

Nature Park can offers the public of the most convenient out of town

getaway that could ever think of after a 40-minute trip from Bacolod

City. It located on a high and slope area, which allows to see a view from

the top and at the same time, enjoy the cold breeze air. Also has slides

and all other fun activities which they will be guided in planting of

vegetables and fruits. The flowers, the vibes, the serenity of the

environment, everything about it exudes peace and comfort. There’s a

little gazebo out in the middle of the pond where family members could

rent rods and sit while doing fishing. Talisay City received as one of the

31 tourism stakeholders were recognized by the provincial government of

Negros Occidental in the year 2018 for their contribution to the

development of the province’s tourism industry, the awardees were

considered to strengthen tourism as one of the major economic growth

drivers of Negros Occidental (Philippine Inquirer.Net, 2018).

Peñalosa Farms is located right at the center of Victorias City,

Negros Occidental behind a shopping mall. The farm produces certified

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organic fruits, vegetables and herbs. Peñalosa Farms is an integrated

farm thus livestock is part and parcel of the business model. Even with

their hogs and chickens, there is no foul odor coming from their farm.

Land owner uses probiotic feeds to attain optimum growth for his pigs.

The pork, chicken and eggs that he produce are hormone and antibiotic-

free. There’s more to farming than just growing crops. Farming is a

business and every farmer should think like an entrepreneur if they want

to succeed. This is what Ramon “Mon” Peñalosa, Jr. is advocating to

farmers and would-be farmers who visit Peñalosa Farms, a sprawling

4,000 sq.m. integrated farm in Victorias City, Negros Occidental. Aside

from the farm products, Peñalosa Farms is a destination for farm

tourism and training. Victorias Agri-Ecotourism Enhancement Program

won for Best Practices on Community-based Responsible Tourism in

2015.

Rapha Valley is just an organic farm and a tourist destination in

located in the mountains of Don Salvador Benedicto in Negros

Occidental, Philippines. While this is also true, the place is first and

foremost a health and wellness destination. The place was created to

help the locals to plant vegetables that give them opportunity to have

extra income as well as helping people go back into a healthy lifestyle.

Guests will be entertained and offers a relaxing atmosphere a great place

for personal retreat and being away from the busy city life. The temperate

climate at Salvador Benedicto is also perfect to make a guest relax and

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fully rest from a stressful urban lifestyle. Best People’s Organization in

Product Selling. Several Awards and recognitions taken by the Local

Government Unit in Don Salvador Benedicto such as Award from Negros

Organic Rice Industry Association in 2013, Environment and Natural

Resources Management Champion, and Full Support in the

Implementation of Environment and Natural Resources Law Award from

Provincial Environment Management Office, Negros Occidental in 2012

and many others.

Data Gathering Instrument

A researcher-made survey questionnaire was used in gathering the

data to determine the degree of challenges in the implementation

agricultural tourism program in the new normal for the first quarter year

of 2021.

The questionnaire was divided into two (2) sets of questionnaire for

the local farmers and implementers. Each questionnaire is divided into

two (2) parts wherein part I deals with the profile of respondents in terms

of age, sex, average family monthly income, and size of the family. Part II

of the questionnaire is a 30-item statement for the areas: ten (10) for the

social; ten (10) for the economic; and ten (10) for the environmental

which measures the degree of challenges in the implementation of local

farmers and implementers’ using 5-point Likert scale rating with 5 as

always, 4 as oftentimes, 3 as sometimes, 2 as rarely and 1 as almost

never.
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Validity

The validity of the instrument will be established through content

validation. Validity is the extent to which the scores from a measure

represent the variable they are intended to, (Prince, 2018).

The research instrument was subjected to face validation where

three experts were asked their opinion about whether an instrument

measures the concept intended. The jurors are professionals and known

to be competent and expert in this field. The researcher was ensured that

the items reflect the desired construct hence suggestions and

recommendations of the jurors were noted and thoroughly incorporated.

As to the appropriateness of the items in the questionnaire, each juror

was requested to rate the instrument using the criteria created presented

by Carter V. Good and Douglas E. Scates. The interpretations are as

follows: Excellent (4.04 – 5.00); Very Good (3.28 - 4.03); Good (2.52 –

3.27); Poor (2.51 – 1.76); Very Poor (1.00 – 1.75).

The first validator is a Doctor of Public Administration, Executive

Assistant of the Provincial Government in Negros Occidental, Professor of

STI West Negros University School of Graduate Studies, University of St.

La Salle College of Arts and Sciences, and an expert in pollical science,

and public administration. The second validator is a Master in Public

Administration, Community Organizer and Mobilization of the

Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), and expert

in the field of community driven ecotourism. The third validator is a

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tourism graduate with a Master in Business Management, head of

tourism department in the local government unit of Don Salvador

Benedicto, Negros Occidental, highly competitive in the field of tourism

and hospitality management.

The validity index was ___ which is interpreted as “excellent”

making the instrument valid.

Reliability

Reliability refers to the consistency of the scores or answers from

one administration of an instrument to another, and from one set of

items to another (Bueno, 2016).

To test the reliability of the questionnaire, the researcher used

Chronbach’s Alpha. Chronbach’s Alpha provides an indication of the

average correlation among all of the items that make up the scale. (Abad,

et. al., 2015). Cronbach’s alpha is a measure of internal consistency, that

is, how closely related a set of items are as a group. It is considered to be

a measure of scale reliability (Glen, 2014). A "high" value for alpha does

not imply that the measure is unidimensional. Reliability coefficient of

0.70 to 1.0 is considered “acceptable” in most research situations.

The trial respondents were the 15 local farmers and 15 agricultural

tourism employees in the Municipality of Murcia, Negros Occidental.

These respondents were not included in the actual respondents of the

study.
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The Chronbach’s alpha derived was 0.76, which was interpreted as

“good” making the instrument reliable.

Data Gathering Procedure

After establishing the validity and reliability of the instrument, the

researcher wrote a letter to the Local Tourism and Agriculture Officers to

ask permission to conduct the study. The researcher sought the help of

municipal tourism officers of three (3) accredited agri-tourism sites

namely: Talisay City, Victorias City, and Don Salvador Benedicto, Negros

Occidental to identify the respondents. Upon the approval, the

researcher was personally administer the questionnaire to the

respondents to guide them carefully in answering and giving the needed

data, and retrieve the questionnaires. The respondents were assured of

the confidentiality of the data gathered. The SPSS was used in the

processing of the encoded data.

Analytical Schemes

In accordance with the objective of the study and the statement of

the problem, the data that the researcher gathered was subjected to

tabulation, statistical analysis, and interpretation. The data obtained

were analyzed using descriptive and comparative analytical schemes.

Objective No. 1, which aimed to determine the profile of the local

farmers in terms of age, sex, average family monthly income, and size of

the family, the descriptive analytical scheme was used.

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Objective No. 2, which sought to determine the profile of the

implementers in terms of age, civil status, and length of service, the

descriptive analytical scheme was used.

Objective No. 3, which sought to determine the degree of

challenges in the implementation of agricultural tourism program as

assessed by the respondents in the following aspects of social, economic,

and environmental, the descriptive analytical scheme was used.

Objective No. 4, which aimed to determine the degree of challenges

in the implementation of agricultural tourism program as assessed by

the respondents when grouped according to the aforementioned

variables, the descriptive analytical scheme was used.

Objective No. 5, which sought to determine if there is significant

difference in the degree of challenges of implementation of agricultural

tourism program as assessed by the respondents when they are grouped

and compared according to the aforementioned variables, the

comparative analytical scheme was used.

Statistical Tools

Various statistical tools were employed in the analysis of data to

answer the objectives of this study. This study was use the Frequency

and Percentage Count, Mean, and Mann-Whitney U test as statistical

tools in analyzing and interpreting the gathered data.

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Objective No. 1, which sought to determine the profile of the local

farmers in terms of age, sex, average family monthly income, and size of

the family, the frequency and percentage count was used.

The frequency of a particular observation is the number of times

the observation occurs in the data. The distribution of a variable is the

pattern of frequencies of the observation. Frequency distributions are

portrayed as frequency tables, histograms, or polygons. Frequency

distributions can show either the actual number of observations falling

in each range or the percentage of observations. Percent distribution is a

measure of how a metric (such as total revenue) is distributed among the

parts that make up the total (Manikandan, 2014).

Objective No. 2, which sought to determine the profile of the

implementers according to age, civil status, and length of service, the

frequency and percentage count was used.

Objective No. 3, which sought to determine the degree of

challenges in the implementation of agricultural tourism program as

assessed by the respondents in the following aspects; social, economic,

and environmental, the mean was used.

According to Bruce & Bruce (2017), the most basic estimate of

location is mean, or average value. The mean is the sum of all the values

divided by a number of values. Mean, also known as arithmetic average,

is defined as the value of which we get by dividing the total of the values

of various given items in a series by the total number of items. Its main
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use consists of summarizing the essential features of a series and

enabling data to be compared.

The mean range and interpretation shall be as follows:

Mean Score Range Veral Interpretation

4.50 – 5.00 Very High Degree

3.50 – 4.49 High Degree

2.50 – 3.49 Moderate Degree

1.50 – 2.49 Low Degree

1.00 – 1.49 Very low Degree

Objective No. 4, which aimed to determine the degree of challenges

in the implementation of agricultural tourism program as assessed by

the respondents when grouped according to the aforementioned

variables, mean was utilized.

Objective No. 5, which sought to determine if there is significant

difference in the degree of challenges of implementation of agricultural

tourism program as assessed by the respondents when they are grouped

and compared according to the aforementioned variables, the Mann-

Whitney U test was used.

Mann-Whitney U test is used to determine whether two

independent samples have been drawn from the same population

(Panneerselvam, 2015). Mann-Whitney U test is a non-parametric

alternative to the t-test for the difference between the two independent

means (Johnson and Cubby, 2014). It is the test that is use to compare
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two population means that are not equal or equal. It is also used for

equal sample size, and to test the median of two population. If the p-

value is less than or equal to 0.05 level of significance, then reject the

null hypothesis. Accept the null hypothesis, if the p-value is greater than

0.05 level of significance.