The development of a single strategy for the integration ofquantitative and qualitative data types for the production ofagricultural decision support systems

摘要

This paper discusses the importance of quantitative and qualitative data types and how these can be integrated to produce an agricultural decision support system (DSS). Researchers cannot solely depend on numerical data and relationships when designing, modelling and producing tools. The relevance of the social sciences and peoples' interpretations of these tools is equally important. The DSS described here focuses on the management of rainwater harvesting (RWH) in Tanzania. Numerical data related to natural resources (water and nutrients) and yields of rice and maize have been collected for the production of the DSS. With regard to the social sciences, the DSS tackles the concept of common pool resources (CPR) of natural resources. Criteria related to social status are linked with the by laws that govern the allocation of resources in Tanzania to help derive a numerical method for including CPR within the DSS. The production of the DSS is a novel way of combining this research into a tool that aims to benefit all socio-economic community groups.