2.1 Study area The present study was carried out on the fishermen community in some selected locations of Dumki Upazila under Patuakhali districts of Bangladesh during the period between February and July 2015.
2.2. Target groups Fish farmers in the study area, a large number of farmers earned their livelihood in fish farming and its associated activities. It was reported that a few farmers were from solvent families, and almost all small and marginal farmers were poor. Most of these poor farmers live in the rural areas in Upazila and culture fish in order to supplement their family income.
2.3 Sample number and sampling procedure It was not possible to include all the ponds under the study area because of limitation of time and resources. For the selection of samples for present study two things need to be taken into considerations. The first one is the sample size which should be as large as to allow for adequate degrees of freedom in the statistical analysis. The second one is the administration of field research; processing and analyzing of data which should be manageable within the limits imposed by physical, human and financial resources. Considering all these aspects forty farmers were selected from Dumki Upazila randomly to address fish pond with different types of culture system, management practices and different types of family status of fish farmer.
2.4 Design and Pre-test of questionnaire For data collection, a set of interview schedule was designed for this study. Both close and open questions were used in the questionnaire. The draft questionnaire was tested with 15 fish farmers in the study area. In the pilot survey, much attention was given to any new information, which was not designed to be asked, but was important and informative towards the objectives. The questionnaire was changed modified and rearranged according to the experience gathered in pre-setting of questionnaire. The final interview schedule was developed in logical sequence so that fish farmers could answer systematically.
2.5 Data collection method Fish farmers’ data were collected using questionnaire interviews, participatory rural appraisal (PRA) tools such as focus group discussion (FGD) and cross check interview with key informants.
2.6 Questionnaire interview The questionnaire interviews were conducted at the pond sites in the selected area. Before going to make an actual interview, a brief introduction about the objective of the study was given to each of the farmers and assured them that all information would be kept confidential. Each question was explained clearly and asked systematically for their clear understanding. At the time of interview the physical conditions of the ponds and the fish cultivation methods like pond repairing, application of food and fertilizers, harvesting etc. were observed as a result there was a scope to well understanding the fish production technology in the study area. Time required for each interview was about 45 minutes to an hour.
2.7 Focus Group Discussion The PRA is a group of methods to collect information from target group in a participatory way. For this research PRA tool such as Focus Group Discussion (FGD) was conducted with fish farmers. FGD is a group meeting where farmers from the target communities discuss selected topics. In this research, FGD was used to get an overview of particular issues such as existing fish production systems, constraints of fish farming, farmer's socioeconomic condition and their livelihood etc.
2.8 Cross-check interviews After collecting the data through questionnaire interviews and FGD, it was necessary to check the information for justification of collected data. If there were such items, which had been contradictory, then information's were collected from key information’s. Cross-check interviews were conducted with key information’s such as Senior Upazila Fisheries Officer (SUFO), Association for Socio-economic Development (ASED), relevant NGO workers, Chairman and Members of the union councils, fry traders etc. Key informants were interviewed at their officers and/or houses.
2.9 Data processing and analysis After data collection, these were verified to eliminate errors and inconsistencies. Any kind of inconsistencies in collected data were searched and discarded from the data. Data were processed and finally analyzed using tabular method. The data of local units were converted into international unit before analysis.