3.5 Sampling Technique and Data Collection
Since the nature of the study was based on exploring and understanding the dimension of issues related to perceived impacts of protected area conservation and ecotourism management, the selection of respondents’ sample size did not concentrate on the number. It rather stressed on the quality of respondents or discussants and their potential know‐how to answer the questions and provide relevant information for analysis. There are a number of methods to collect information for the assessment of perceived impacts. Snowball, purposive, focus group discussions and stratified sampling techniques were employed in consideration of their merits and demerits as explained in 3.4). The above methods were selected to assess the effectiveness of ecotourism’s contribution to local area development and biodiversity conservation in the Kakum Conservation Area. These methods are complimentary and therefore were used in a combination fashion to access all relevant socio‐economic data. This ensured that the overall data or information was reflective of the actual situation in the village communities.
The selection of village communities and households was done through stratified sampling techniques. The communities were selected based on their location and accessibility, characteristics, and socio‐demographic backgrounds. The snowball and purposive sampling techniques afforded the opportunity to establish a good rapport with the local communities, chiefs and elders which subsequently facilitated semi‐structured interviews with household heads and representatives in the community surveys.
Likert‐type scale (5‐point scale statements) recommended by Maddox (1985) for tourism impact studies, open‐ended and closed questions that measure ecotourism impacts (both, positive and negative) in five categories (social impacts, cultural impacts, economic impacts, environmental impacts, and overall impacts) were developed into questionnaires and administered to randomly selected household respondents in each community.
51 | P a g e 3.5.1 Primary Data Collection
3.5.1.1 Open Interviews
Open interviews were conducted with 26 respondents (consisting of chiefs, elders and opinion leaders) in the eight selected research communities. Policy makers were also interviewed. These included the Park Manager, the Law Enforcement Officer, and the Manager of Collaborative Resource Management of the Kakum Conservation Area. In addition, the Executive Director of the Ghana Heritage Conservation Trust as well as the Manager of the Commercial Development Unit together with the Community Relations Officer of the Ghana Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission were interviewed.
Snowball sampling techniques was used to contact key respondents or people (chiefs, elders and opinion leaders) who were thought to have in‐depth knowledge about the sampled communities in relation to communal/livelihood activities before the protected area was established, what possible changes might have occurred as a result, influence of ecotourism in the communities and their involvement in nature conservation efforts.
3.5.1.2 Focus Group Discussion
Identified focus groups within each sampled community discussed their perceptions of ecotourism, involvement in conservation of the protected area and relevant changes in livelihood strategies as a result of the protected area management and ecotourism activities. In addition, the focus group discussions assisted in validating information gathered from both the stratified and the snowball sampling techniques. The group discussions aimed at increasing the chances of understanding the community‐natural resource‐ecotourism inter‐relationship. Again, it enhanced finding out the existing relationship between the local people and the managing authorities and how that influences the use of resources in the conservation area. Hypothetically, it is expected that if the protected area management strategies and ecotourism activities are beneficial to the local people, then they would show positive attitudes and contribute to conservation (Figure 3.1).
Ideally, any ecotourism programme is expected to promote conservation of the natural resources upon which the industry depends. Hence, from the evaluative framework, if ecotourism is properly functioning to achieve this objective then, it should induce sustainable resource use among the local communities apart from ensuring that tourists’ activities exert minimum impacts. Thus, it should lead to reduction in the degradation of the resources and even show some level of maintenance if not
52 | P a g e improvement in the ecology within the areas where ecotourism activities take place as well as around the accessible forest areas for the local people. Hence the group discussions sort to elicit the opinions of the community.
3.5.1.3 Semi‐structured Interviews
Semi‐structured household interview/survey was conducted with 141 households in the selected communities. This was designed to elicit information regarding local peoples’ involvement in ecotourism and their perceptions of the impact of ecotourism in their area. The survey also looked at their involvement in conservation management and to understand the perceptions about biodiversity conservation in the Kakum Conservation Area. It was also a means to elicit information on their future expectations of ecotourism and the desired changes or improvements in the management of the protected area. Finally the survey was used to gather relevant demographic information about the respondents and their households.
Similarly, a survey involving 423 tourists/visitors was conducted at the visitor centre. The survey collected demographic information about the tourists, reasons of visiting, itineraries, preferences for improvements in recreation activities, satisfaction as well as their impressions on the protection and management of the conservation.
3.5.1.4 Extraction
This is the collection of data from documents, records, or other archival sources. It generally includes using an abstraction process to cull the information desired from the sources (Harrell and Bradley, 2009). Extraction was used in collecting information on tourists or visitors. The information included the country of origin, activities they engage in at Kakum, and whether they are adults or school children. Likewise, this method was used to gather information on poaching and serious offenses in the protected area. Serious offenses were recorded on a standard patrol records form designed by the Wildlife Division. These offences include: snares recovered or confiscated, empty cartridges found in the protected area, gun‐shorts heard during patrols, poacher camps observed, poachers observed or arrested, fire arms confiscated and animals found dead due to poaching activities.
3.5.2 Secondary Data Collection
These are datasets that already exist. In this study, published and unpublished reports, maps, and brochures where used to collect information to supplement the primary data collected during the interviews. These secondary information sources helped in understanding the history and
53 | P a g e establishment of the conservation area, the management strategy used in protecting the area as well as the legal backing of the conservation area.