Perceived Effectiveness

The indicator measures people’s perceptions of how effective the promoted agronomic practices are. Such data is very important, as people are not likely to adopt practices that – in their opinion – do not work. The data can help you design the focus of your promotion activities and evaluate their effectiveness.

Determine the indicator's value by using the following methodology:

1) Define the promoted agronomic practices. Ensure that you are specific – for example, if you are promoting ‘intercropping’, specify for which crops and how this method should be used. For example: ‘combined sowing of the maize and haricot beans in rows with approx. 40cm spacing. At the same, avoid using unnecessarily narrow definitions of the promoted practices, as each practice needs to be adapted to the local context.

2) For each practice, define which specific problem is it addressing (e.g. soil erosion) or what it is supposed to achieve (e.g. increase yields of a specific crop).

3) For each practice, design an interview question to use to assess whether the respondents think that the practice is effective in addressing the given problem (e.g. soil erosion) or achieving the desired outcome (e.g. increase yields). Ensure that all questions are specific enough without leading the respondent to a particular answer. For example: “In your opinion, to what extent can intercropping maize with beans help with increasing maize yields?, “Do you think that such a practice does or doesn’t help with increasing yields?”

4) If you assess respondents’ perceptions of several agronomic practices, decide on how many practices they need to perceive as ‘effective’ in order to be considered ‘thinking that the promoted practices are effective’ (e.g. at least 60% of the measures they are aware of).

5) Conduct interviews with a representative sample of your target group members, asking them:

     - first whether they are aware of the promoted agronomic practices (follow this guidance)

     - if they are aware of one of more of the promoted practices, ask them for their opinion about the effectiveness of this practice / these practices (using the questions defined in point 3)

6) Using the criteria set in point 4, calculate how many respondents can be considered ‘thinking that the promoted practices are effective’. 

7) To calculate the indicator’s value, divide the number of respondents who think that the promoted practices are effective by the total number of interviewed respondents who were aware of at least one of the promoted practices. Multiply the result by 100 to convert it to a percentage.

Disaggregate the data by gender, age group, location, and other criteria relevant to the context and focus of your intervention.

1) While people’s perceptions are often seen as something subjective, something that does not provide ‘reliable evidence’, they have a major impact on people’s willingness to adopt the promoted practices. In order for people to adopt a given practice, they must believe that the practice is effective in preventing (or reducing) the given problem (e.g. soil erosion); otherwise they will not perceive it as worth the effort. That is why the data collected by this indicator is so important. 

2) The effects of some practices are visible only after a longer period of time. It is recommended that your endline data collection focuses only on practices whose effects the respondents were able to experience; otherwise, you might get unreliable data.

3) It is important that only people who are aware of one or more of the promoted practices are asked about their perceived effectiveness, otherwise you will gain unreliable data.

4) If a respondent is aware of the promoted practice but s/he thinks that it is not effective, it is highly recommended that the survey asks why s/he thinks that the practice is not effective.

5) In addition to reporting on the overall indicator value, also report on the perceived effectiveness of the individual practices (e.g., how many respondents think that mulching is effective, how many think that intercropping is effective, etc.).

6) When reporting on the indicator’s value, report not only on the percentage of respondents who perceived the practices as effective but also on the percentage of respondents who were not sure whether they are effective or not.