1.3. Derecho Humano a un medio ambiente sano
1.3.3. Vinculación del derecho humano a un ambiente sano con otros derechos
The questionnaire covered three main sections. These include household characteristics, building construction and the consolidation of low-income rental housing. Questionnaires were administered in all three settlements.
5.8.1 Issues addressed by questionnaires
Respondents were asked to describe the present condition of their houses. This included giving a full account of materials used for house construction, such as walls, floors, roof and so on, property sizes, number of rooms and services available in the houses. Allowing respondents to describe physical housing conditions is necessary if we are to assess the influence of land tenure on the quality of low-income housing, to explain variations within settlements and to answer the research question, namely what forms of landlordism exist in these settlements , by relating tenure to the development of landlordism.
5.5.7.7 Household characteristics
This includes a description of sources of income, occupation, type of employment, regularity of income, family size, dependants, age, marital status and family size. The availability of income affects the purchasing of plots, as well as the ownership and even investment in multiple plots. The income available in households also determines the ability of householders to meet other household expenses once construction is completed, such as the satisfaction of consumer needs, food, clothing and so on. Household income becomes relevant in investigating the forms of landlordism operating in low-income settlements, the ability of low-income landlords to move from one form of landlordism to another, petty capitalist landlordism, requirements for an extra plot, and engagement in the production of low-income rental housing. All of these are to a large extent determined by income.
5.5.7.2 Building and investment in rental housing
Due to lack of secondary and primary data related to these settlements it was felt necessary to ask respondents to give an account of how they had accessed land on arrival. The information was going to be used and cross-checked with the existing land-tenure systems and to identify changes that had since taken place in their houses and whether these might have been related to tenure. Because the settlements were very old, and residents had arrived at different times, some could not provide detailed information about the settlement. The information gained is useful since it covers different times at which residents had moved into the settlements.
Understanding the present condition of houses does not explain how the initial houses looked, and how the respondents had invested in their houses. Therefore, respondents were asked to describe the condition of the houses when they arrived in the settlement, the number of rooms, how building materials had been purchased, construction problems, size of the household, the members of household who had been employed in construction, occupation, service charges during construction and the financial position of the households. This information is necessary to understand whether variations in low-cost rental housing can be explained by land tenure, and ownership or non ownership of land. This is necessary, as rents are also affected by the tenure and quality of housing. All of these are important in determining the contribution of rents to household income and the forms of landlordism.
It is important to understand the relevance of the size of household, financial circumstances, number of rooms and expense of construction towards shaping decisions for householders to become landlords. This information is also linked with forms of land tenure and the length of landlordism, to determine exactly the internal and external factors underlying transition to landlordism.
How big the household was during construction is crucial if we are to link this information with the present household size, and by so doing be able to investigate the extent to which changes in household sizes influence the forms of landlordism. How finance was organised, how many members of household were working, services that the landlords were paying for during the construction and occupation of landlords is useful to understand the financial circumstances of landlords. Reference was made to the old houses. Low-income landlords, therefore, had to recall how the house and settlement looked, and how long it had taken to build houses. The three settlements are very old. The youngest arose in the 1930s, and some houses are occupied by second, third or sometimes fourth generations. Due to memory loss on the part of residents, it was difficult to solicit this information. The questions were open-ended and allowed landlords to cover all aspects related to house construction, without subjecting them to closed questions or forcing them to respond to pre-coded
questions. This information was cross-checked with Section one to see how far the settlement had improved.
In order to establish links between tenure, landlordism and the significance of the quality of low-income rented housing to rents, landlords were asked about the type of rental accommodation they provided, the services provided, their involvement and how rents were charged. Rents not only are incentives to landlordism, but also make a substantial contribution to the landlords' income. Rents are also a potential resource for home improvements and rental-housing expansion. It was important to find out to what extent forms of landlordism were influenced by land tenure and rents, as well as changes in family sizes and financial circumstances. To what extent had land tenure and rents been deterrents to low-income rental housing investments, and mobility between forms of landlordism?
Administration of questionnaires in field surveys has been subjected to several criticism (Moser & Kalton, 1971; Burgess, 1991; Bailey, 1987). The main criticism is that there is an emphasis on counting, as Barley (1983:55) noted: “so 1 went off every day, armed with my tobacco and notebooks and paced out the fields, calculated the yields, counted the goats in a flurry or irrelevant activity”. Deveraux and Hoddinott (1992) attack the use of questionnaires for failing to go beyond what the numbers suggest.
... collecting only quantitative data is that a number calcifies at each stage - from questionnaire to coding sheet to analysis - until it is one of several hundred numbers contributing to the production of a percentage, in which uncertainty over the accuracy of each individual number is buried forever. Devereux & Hoddinott (1992:29).
To overcome the problems associated with quantitative surveys, case histories of those who had participated in the survey were used to supplement information obtained from the questionnaires. Case histories were collected at the end of the questionnaire. It was necessary to “tell the story that the numbers suggests”.
5.9 Conclusion
Chapter five began by discussing the methodology applied during the study of low- income landlords in South Africa. The three settlements are very old, hence they are inhabited by a second, a third or sometimes a fourth generation. The age of the settlement has been shown to have an impact on the accuracy of information. In the absence of secondary data the research relied heavily on the memory of respondents. This, however, created problems. Part of the questionnaire required respondents to recall how their houses had been built, the costs of construction and the organisation of labour. It has been noted that where houses were no longer inhabited by the original owners it was impossible to solicit information. Other problems were related to the fact that respondents could simply not recall what had happened. One major constraint related to the construction of dwellings was that the building of houses often involves more than a single member of the family, who may or may not be related to the landlord. It has been shown that landlords are not always the relevant people from whom to solicit information on house construction and that bringing people who were directly involved during the construction solves the problem.
The aims and objectives of the study were also highlighted. Efforts were made to relate aims, objectives and research questions and hypotheses to methods of investigation. It was shown that, where limited secondary data exists, qualitative interviews could be a valuable tool during pilot study.
Group interviews as part of the qualitative research method were a useful method of accessing information from a number of people within a short period. Respondents are more relaxed when approached as a group in an informal setting than when approached on an individual basis. Group interviews are useful for soliciting information that cannot be covered by the questionnaire and also serve as a reliable source for checking the information collected, later during the survey. It has been shown that the method has also been useful in identifying key informants, landlords and non-landlords, as a source of information and building rapport between the interviewee and the interviewer. It is a useful tool in preparing a survey.
The use of group interviews has revealed that successful and meaningful group participation is determined largely by group size, gender, location and size of acreage, employment and whether landlords are resident or absentee landlords.
Caution should be exercised when arranging groups. The mixing of incompatible groups such as young and old, or landlords and tenants should be avoided. It should be noted that using group interviews during a pilot study is costly, and cannot be successfully implemented without assistants. The method works well in less conflict laden societies. It cannot be a useful tool in highly segregated societies. The knowledge of local languages, limited mobility within the settlements and the close ties between those residing in the settlements and those outside the settlement all contributed first to the success of the research, and second to the tracing and the identification of absentee landlords.