Scoping Out A Socio-Economic Research Agenda For The Co-Operative Research Centre For Sustainable Rice Production
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In May, 2000 the Co-operative Research Centre for Sustainable Rice Production (henceforth called the Rice CRC) commissioned Professor John Spriggs and Mr Tony Dunn from Charles Sturt University to write a paper called Scoping out a Socio-economic Research Agenda. In June 2000, ...
See moreIn May, 2000 the Co-operative Research Centre for Sustainable Rice Production (henceforth called the Rice CRC) commissioned Professor John Spriggs and Mr Tony Dunn from Charles Sturt University to write a paper called Scoping out a Socio-economic Research Agenda. In June 2000, Associate Professor Barbara Chambers, Director of the Institute for Regional Community Development at the University of Canberra was selected as a Research Associate for the project. The project was based on at least two assumptions. The first was that existing programs do not embrace a systems view of the rice industry, a significant omission given that the CRC is concerned with economic and social sustainability of rice farming in the irrigation areas. The second was that existing programs do not adequately involve producers in the change process required to respond to socio-economic challenges, especially technical research projects (Committee on Socio-economic Issues in the Rice Industry, CSU, December 14, 1999). In a philosophical sense, the dominance of scientific research has meant that the human dimension has often been ignored. A myth is perpetuated that facts and logical thinking will lead to changes in behaviour. But it is people that make decisions about how they will act, how they will respond to change and it is often attitudes and values that affect practice, not information per se. Socio-economic research attempts to address these dimensions, where there is a recognition that the affective (feelings and emotions) is at least as important as the cognitive (thinking) domain when people make important life decisions, such as in producer responses to market forces, salination, water reform and land use. In this context, 'socio-economic' research refers to the study of social and economic effects of policy decisions on people and communities. Changes in policy affect people's way of life, their cultural traditions, their community and their standard and quality of life. With this in mind, the aim of the current project is to focus on policy as it relates to irrigated agriculture in rice-growing areas of eastern Australia and hence to define a socio-economic research agenda for the Rice CRC. Our methodology is to develop a research framework and then use this framework as a basis for constructing the research agenda. We approached the task of building a research framework in four stages. First of all, we built an initial tentative framework from an initial meeting of the Socio-economic Committee of the Rice CRC. Second, we conducted an extensive literature search, including existing research reports and web-based data. Third, we undertook a number of semi-structured interviews with key informants. Finally, we revisited the initial tentative framework and modified it as dictated by the results of the literature search and interviews. The modified framework was then to be used to determine a proposed research agenda for the Rice CRC.
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See moreIn May, 2000 the Co-operative Research Centre for Sustainable Rice Production (henceforth called the Rice CRC) commissioned Professor John Spriggs and Mr Tony Dunn from Charles Sturt University to write a paper called Scoping out a Socio-economic Research Agenda. In June 2000, Associate Professor Barbara Chambers, Director of the Institute for Regional Community Development at the University of Canberra was selected as a Research Associate for the project. The project was based on at least two assumptions. The first was that existing programs do not embrace a systems view of the rice industry, a significant omission given that the CRC is concerned with economic and social sustainability of rice farming in the irrigation areas. The second was that existing programs do not adequately involve producers in the change process required to respond to socio-economic challenges, especially technical research projects (Committee on Socio-economic Issues in the Rice Industry, CSU, December 14, 1999). In a philosophical sense, the dominance of scientific research has meant that the human dimension has often been ignored. A myth is perpetuated that facts and logical thinking will lead to changes in behaviour. But it is people that make decisions about how they will act, how they will respond to change and it is often attitudes and values that affect practice, not information per se. Socio-economic research attempts to address these dimensions, where there is a recognition that the affective (feelings and emotions) is at least as important as the cognitive (thinking) domain when people make important life decisions, such as in producer responses to market forces, salination, water reform and land use. In this context, 'socio-economic' research refers to the study of social and economic effects of policy decisions on people and communities. Changes in policy affect people's way of life, their cultural traditions, their community and their standard and quality of life. With this in mind, the aim of the current project is to focus on policy as it relates to irrigated agriculture in rice-growing areas of eastern Australia and hence to define a socio-economic research agenda for the Rice CRC. Our methodology is to develop a research framework and then use this framework as a basis for constructing the research agenda. We approached the task of building a research framework in four stages. First of all, we built an initial tentative framework from an initial meeting of the Socio-economic Committee of the Rice CRC. Second, we conducted an extensive literature search, including existing research reports and web-based data. Third, we undertook a number of semi-structured interviews with key informants. Finally, we revisited the initial tentative framework and modified it as dictated by the results of the literature search and interviews. The modified framework was then to be used to determine a proposed research agenda for the Rice CRC.
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Date
2005-10-31Share