Some factors associated with the value-orientation of farmers in a dairy pre-cooperative [in Nueva Ecija, Philippines]

A review of related literature established a largely unquantifiable force called "values and norms," was often cited as the cause in the development of such a situation particularly when economic factors were shown to act in no impedimentary way to the project. A survey of 100 farmers was undertaken to determine their socio-demographic characteristics and attitude toward various hypothetical social situations. The value-orientations under investigation related to: family control, political independence, impersonal enforcement of norms, efficacy, and aspirations. Null hypotheses were constructed around the premise that there was no tendency for the farmers' value-orientations to be "traditional" and also that there is no significant relationship between selected social and value-orientation characteristics. The results verified the hypotheses to be true with one exception. The respondents' number of years at school was found to be a significant factor in the development of values. When subjected to correlation analysis, the degree of predictability enabled from a knowledge of the respondents' length of school was 4.2%. Although education was significant by itself, it accounts for only a small percentage in the factors influencing value formation. The study concluded that labels such as "traditional" may be inappropriate when affixed to the value-orientation of farmers even in relatively poor rural areas. These rural dwellers do not resist all changes and appear to be selective towards innovation on the basis of much broader considerations than simply their values. Likewise, the complexity of demands made not only by economic but also by social relationship forces would appear to seriously complicate the issue of understanding farmer behavior in such environments.