Qualitative data on socio-economic characteristics from ten villages in Gurue, Mozambique
Lupera, F., Carvalho, M., Baumert, S., Vollmer, F. (2017). Qualitative data on socio-economic characteristics from ten villages in Gurue, Mozambique. NERC Environmental Information Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/f82f7ad8-0e98-41cb-951e-be64ffd36078
This dataset contains the transcripts of interviews and discussion groups from ten villages in the Gurue district, Zambezia province, Mozambique. The ten villages were selected from a land scarcity gradient running from villages with abundant land to those with intense land constraints, mainly driven by expanding agricultural activities and population density. The villages had similar infrastructure, soils, rainfall, and vegetation types. The dataset contains information on participatory mapping of the village characteristics, seasonality, how agricultural activity has changed over time (trend analysis), wealth ranking within the villages and differences between wealth statuses, and profiles/characteristics of each village. Interviews were conducted with groups in each village or the leader of the village, between July and December 2015. Data were collected as part of a project funded under the Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA) programme.
For the interviews with the different actor groups, guidelines with questions in Portuguese were prepared. Most interviews were conducted by the lead researcher together with one assistant/translator. Prior to each interview the assistant was trained on the objective of the interview and the way they should ask the questions. At a later stage, the trained assistant conducted some interviews. If needed, all questions were translated from Portuguese to Elomwe and vice versa. By discussing various topics repeatedly with different groups/persons, information could be validated and highlighted from different perspectives. Furthermore, context information gained through interviews, conversations and focus group discussions helped to gradually better focus the interviews. After each interview, all information was discussed either with the assistant or a colleague. This helped to improve the understanding of what was said. In case of lack of understanding, clarification was sought via communications with locals. Back in the office, all notes were written down in English. Notes taken by the assistant were recorded in Portuguese and translated to English.