Methodology and procedures are the important factors in conducting any scientific research. This enables the researcher to collect valid and reliable information related to the hypotheses, which can be analyzed in order to arrive at correct conclusion. The methods and procedures followed in this study have been described below.
Locale of the study The study was conducted in Nilphamari district. The sadar upazila of Nilphamari district was selected purposively as the number of women worked in Uttara EPZ is considerably higher in this Upazila compared to other Upazilas of the selected district. Two unions namely Sonaroy and Sangalshi of Nilphamari sadar upazila were selected randomly as the study area.
Locale of the study The study was conducted in Nilphamari district. The sadar upazila of Nilphamari district was selected purposively as the number of women worked in Uttara EPZ is considerably higher in this upazila compared to other upazilas of the selected district. Two unions namely Sonaroy and Sangalshi of Nilphamari sadar upazila were selected randomly as the study area.
Measurement of focus issue (empowerment of women) Empowerment of women through participation in Uttara EPZ is the focus issue of this study. Empowerment was not directly calculated. Several authors used the various dimensions of empowerment by which empowerment can be measured. In this study, women's empowerment was measured through determining their participation in the three dimensions namely family decision, social activities and mobility. Similar dimensions were also used by Sarker, 2005 in his study for measuring empowerment of women beneficiaries under CONCERN Bangladesh. Each of the dimensions was measured against 10 statements. Each of the statements was put against 4- point rating scale. For family decision– full influence, moderate influence, low influence, and no influence were used and score given as 3, 2, 1, and 0, respectively; for social activities – frequently, occasionally, seldom and not at all were used and score given as 3, 2, 1, and 0, respectively; for mobility frequently, occasionally, seldom and not at all were used and score given as 3, 2, 1, and 0, respectively. Considering each of the dimensions, participation in family decisions could vary from 0 to 30, where 0 indicating no participation in family decision and 30 indicating very high participation in the family decision; participation in social activities could vary from 0 to 30, where 0 indicating not at all participation in social activities and 30 indicating frequent participation in social activities; mobility could vary from 0 to 30, where 0 indicating not at all mobility and 30 indicating frequent mobility. A total of 30 statements for the three dimensions were used for measuring overall empowerment score. Thus, total scores for overall empowerment status could vary from 0 to 90, where 0 indicate no empowerment and 90 indicates very high empowerment status of women through participation in Uttara EPZ. Similar method of measurement of overall empowerment was used by Sarker, 2005.
Again, Family Decision Index (FDI) for each of the event was calculated by using the obtained family decision participation score and it was computed by using the following formula (Similar formula was used by Rahman, 2006):
Family Decision Index (FDI) = FDf×3 + FDm×2 + FDl×1 + FDn×0
Where, FDf= Total number of respondents expressed full influence for a statement FDm= Total number of respondents expressed moderate influence for a statement FDl= Total number of respondents expressed low influence for a statement FDn= Total number of respondents expressed no influence for a statement
Thus, FDI could ranged from 297 to 0 while 297 indicating full influence in family decision and 0 indicating no influence in family decision.
Measurement of selected characteristics The eight selected characteristics of the respondents were: age, education, family size, farm size, annual income, knowledge on family management, extension media contact and attitude towards EPZ. Appropriate statistical techniques and procedure was followed to measure these characteristics.
Data collection and statistical analysis A structured interview schedule was prepared and used for the collection of relevant information for research. Both closed and open form questions were included in the schedule as per the objectives of the study. The researcher first established rapport with the respondents and clearly explain the objectives of the study using local language as far as possible. As a result, the respondents furnished proper responses to the questions without any hesitation. At the end of data collection, the collected data was coded, compiled, and analyzed. The coded data were put into the computer for statistical analysis. The SPSS 22.0 (Statistical Packages for Social Science) computer program was used for analyzing the data. Various descriptive statistical measures such as frequency, number, percentage, mean and standard deviation were used for categorization and describing the variables. Pearson's Product Moment Correlation coefficient (r) was used for testing the relationships between the concerned variables.