CHAPTER - III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

In this chapter, elucidate the research methods and procedures

followed in this study. The methodology was grouped and presented

under the following sub-heads.

3.1. Research design of the study

3.2. Selection and description of the crops

3.3. Selection of the study area

3.4. Description of the study area

3.5. Selection of respondents

3.6. Selection of variables and their measurement

3.7. Method of data collection

3.8. Statistical tools applied

3.1. Research design of the study

“Research design is the arrangement of conditions for collection

and analysis of data in a manner that aims to combine relevance to the

research purpose with economy procedure”.

For the study ex-post-factor research design was followed. To put it

in Kerlinger (1978) words, ex-post-factor research is a systematic

empirical enquiry in which the scientists do not have direct control of

34

influencing ‘independent’ variables because their manifestations have

already occurred or because they are inherently not manipulable.

Influence about relationship among variables are made without direct

invention but from concomitant variation of independent (Influencing)

and dependent (consequent) variables.

3.2. Selection and description of the crops

Tamil Nadu is known for collection and cultivation of a wide range

of medicinal plants under different natural eco-systems. However, a few

species arc under commercial cultivation. For instance, senna,

periwinkle, glory lily, coleus, gall nut, annatto, aloe, keezhanelli, safed

musli and aswagandha are cultivated in isolated places throughout Tamil

Nadu. The cultivated species are having very good market domestically

and internationally.

This study is restricted to analysis of various aspects of

commercialisation of two medicinal plants, viz., senna and glory lily. They

were selected for the study because they were grown under different

natural and management conditions. Further, they have very bright

export potential in the context of increasing significance of medicinal

plants.

Glory lily is widely seen in wild. It is commonly known as Sukra

Pushpika / Garbhagatini / Langalika /Agni-sikha / Kalihari (Sanskrit),

35

and Karihari / Kariari / Kalihari / Languli (Hindi) (The Indian Materia

Medica). It is called with different names like Senkanthal mazhar or

Kanvali kizhangu or Kalappai kizhangu in Tamil Nadu. This flower is also

the state flower of Tamil Nadu.

The alkaloids such as colchicine, gloriosine and superbine are

important for various applications. The colchicine content is used as

polyploidising agent in cytological studies. The discovery of colchicine in

glory lily led to domestication of this crop at large scale. Besides, the

various products of glory lily are used in treating gout, snakebite,

scorpion sting, abortion, leprosy, skin diseases, piles, and arthritis

(Kennedy et al, 2000).

The colchicine and colchicoside extracted from Colchicum

autumnale L. could also be extracted from Gloriosa superba. These

alkaloids were strong in demand (Gupta et al, 1971). Gloriosa superba L.

became a potential source of colchicines and colchicoside in

pharmaceutical industries for they are present in appreciable quantity in

its seeds (Bellet and Gaiganult, 1985).

In this context, glory lily was first commercially cultivated in Tamil

Nadu in 1985. The Italian company Indena India Pvt. Ltd. based in Milan

sponsored large cultivation of the plants in Tamil Nadu. An initial

36

buyback agreement was made, but only with the traders based in

Virudhunagar district. Once the Milan experiment became known, buyers

from other countries came to Madurai and Virdhunagar (www.

nandhiniherbs. com).

Glory lily is a native of tropical Asia and Africa. It is found in India,

Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and on the adjacent islands. It is found

throughout tropical India, from northwest Himalayas to Assam and

Deccan peninsula, extending upto an elevation of 2,120 m

(www.nandhiniherbs.com).

Glory lily is commercially cultivated in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and

Andhra Pradesh. However, Tamil Nadu state leads in production and

export of Gloriosa seeds in India. In Tamil Nadu, it is grown in Erode,

Dindigul, Athur, Salem and Madurai covering an area of about 1000 ha.

The annual production of seed is about 400 tonnes, and about Rs.80

million worth of seeds are exported to other countries especially Italy and

USA (Rajamani and Selvaraj, 2003-04).

The product is exported in the form of seed and colchicines

content. The major importing countries are Italy, Netherlands, German,

Mexico, Japan, Egypt, Taiwan, France, South Korea, Malaysia,

Switzerland, United Kingdom and USA. The export price of seed

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registered sharp decline during 2001-2002. whereas colchicines remained

more or less same (www.nandhiniherbs.com).

Senna (Cassia angustifolia) is popularly known as Trinelveli senna

or Avuri. It is known as Markandi in Sanskrit and Sonamuki in Hindi. It

is considered as the best natural laxative in the whole plant kingdom. The

alkaloid, namely sennoside is responsible for laxative properties of senna.

The senna tea is very famous in European countries. The leaves of this

plant are used in the preparation of Ayurvedic, Unani and Allopathic

medicines. It is known to be used in treating the diseases like typhoid,

jaundice, cholera and fever (Kennedy et al, 2000).

Senna is a native of Yemen and Hadramanut province of Saudi

Arabia. Sporadic distribution was reported in parts of Sind (Pakistan),

Mundra and Kutch districts of western Gujarat. Senna was introduced

first in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu during the mid -eighties of the

19lh century and hence the Indian produce is called Tinnaiveli Senna

(Arumugam, 1996).

It is cultivated in southern parts of Tamil Nadu covering districts

like Tirunelveli, Tuticorin, Virudhunagar, Ramanathapuram and Madurai

for more than 100 years. It is also being cultivated in Anand and

Kachchh (Gujarat), Cuddapah (Andhra Pradesh), Bikaner and jodhpur

38

(Rajasthan) and Pune (Maharashtra).

There are two types of senna in the international market, namely

Alexandrian Senna' from Sudan, and 'Tinnaiveli Senna' from India.

Tinnaiveli Senna is further classified into three groups namely, Nadu,

Idainadu and Sathur senna depending upon the region from which it is

grown. Nadu type is cultivated in Tirunelveli and Tenkalani region. It is

considered the best quality and exported mainly to Japan. Idainadu is of

second in quality and cultivated in Tirunelveli -Kovilpatty belt. Sathur is

of third in quality and grown in the regions of Tuticorin -Madurai. The

leaves and pods are harvested from Sathur type, whereas only leaves

from Nadu and Idainadu type.

Tamil Nadu holds leading position in the production and export of

senna leaves and pods to the world market with an estimated production

of 5000 tonnes of senna leaves and pods earning Rs. 45 million every

year. The crop is cultivated in about 6000 hectares. Almost more than

three fourth of the senna produced is exported. The major export market

for senna is USA and UK and the major competitor of senna production

for India is Sudan and Africa.

3.3. Selection of the study area

The state of Tamil Nadu was selected for the present investigation.

39

The selected medicinal plants, senna and glory lily, are grown in this

state in large geographical area. Besides, Tamil Nadu is one of the leading

states taking up commercial cultivation of medicinal plants. The

introduction of new crops for cultivation is also underway in the recent

years.

Dindigul and Tuticorin districts were selected purposively for

conducting the survey with respect to glory lily and senna, respectively.

The glory lily is mainly cultivated in Dindigul, Erode and Salem districts

of Tamil Nadu. The Dindigul district has larger area under commercial

cultivation of glory lily and is expanding the area in the recent years.

Because of this process, the buyers from all over India have established

their purchasing counters in this area. In view of this, Dindigul district

was selected purposively for the analysis of production and marketing of

glory lily.

The purposive sampling technique was used to select one block in

the Dindigul district. It consists of 14 blocks namely, Dindigul, Nilakottai,

Vedasandur, Natham, Kodaikanal, Palani, Oddanchatram,

Reddiarchatram, Sanarpatti, Thoppampatty, Vatalakundu,

Guziliamparai, Vadamadurai and Athoor. Oddanchatram was selected

from among the blocks, as it has the largest area under glory lily

cultivation. Paraivalasu, Ambilikai, Kallimandayam, Rotupudur and

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Kappalpatty having large area under glory lily were the five selected

villages in Oddanchatram block.

The senna is cultivated in semi-arid area of Tirunelvelli, Tulicorin,

Ramanathapuram, Madurai, and Virdhunagar districts in the southern

region of Tamil Nadu. Among all, Tuticorin district has large area, well-

established marketing structure and port facilities for export of senna.

So, it was considered suitable for carrying out this study covering varying

aspects related to production to marketing of senna.

Purposive sampling technique was used to select one block in the

Tuticorin district. Tuticorin consists of 12 blocks namely, Pudur,

Ottapidaram, Vilattikulam, Kayattar, Kovilpatti, Tuticorin, Karungulam,

Srivaikuntam. Alwarthirunagari, Tiruchendur, Udangudi and

Sattankulam. Srivaikuntam was chosen to survey farmers cultivating

senna. Five villages namely, Kasilingapuram, Chinnathakurichi. Alanda,

Savlaperi and Deivaseyalpuram were selected randomly.

3.4. Description of the study area

(i) Dindigul:

Dindigul district is bound by Erode, Coimbatore, Karur and Trichy

districts on the North, by Sivaganga and Tiruchi District on the East, by

Madurai district on the South and by Theni and Coimbatore Districts and

41

42

Kerala State on the West. It comprises of 3 Revenue Divisions, 7 Taluks

and 14 Panchayat Unions. For a long time, . This district is privileged to

have one of the 'Six Celebrated Kill Abodes of “Lord Muruga” at Palani

Hills. Kodaikkanal, a popular summer resort, located at an altitude of

2133 meters in the Western Ghats is the ‘Princess of Hill Stations’.

Dindigul is placed prominently in the agricultural map of Tamil

Nadu. The major crops are paddy, sorghum, sugarcane, cotton,

groundnut, fruits and vegetables. The district is known for a wide range

of vegetables like onion, tomato, brinjal, cauliflower, and drumstick.

Dindigul city is an important wholesale market for onion, and

groundnut. Oddanchatram is a noted market centre for vegetables. It is

also famous for the export of butter, which is manufactured in the

nearby villages using cream separators.

(ii) Tuticorin

Tuticorin district is situated in the extreme south-eastern corner of

Tamil Nadu state. It is bounded on the north by the districts of

Tirunelveli, Virudhunagar and Ramanathapuram, on the east and south-

east by Gulf of Mannar and on the west and south-west by the district of

Tirunelveli. It is known for trade and commerce since ancient times. The

economic development of the district sustained by Tuticorin port and

dependent industries around it. Tuticorin port, one of the major ports in

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India, handles a variety of commodities and contributes to coastal trade

and economy of the hinterland.

Table - 1. Geographical profile of the study area

S. No Characteristics Dindigul Tuticorin

1. Geographical position 10°18' - 10°24' N

77°15'-78°01' E

10°05'- 10°09’ N

77°30' - 78°20’ E

2. Climate Semi-arid Tropical and Semi-arid

3. Temperature 31-38°C 33-39°C

4. Rainfall

North east monsoon 30.6 cm 31.8 cm

South west monsoon 19.8 cm 22.8 cm

5. Land utilization pattern (1000's ha)

Geographical area (hectares) 626.7(100%) 459.1 (100%)

Forest 138.9(22.16%) 11.0(2.4%)

Barren uncultivable Land 36.2 (5.8%) 19.9(4.3%)

Non-agricultural Land 65.0(10.4%) 68.6(15.0%)

Cultivable waste Land 8.8(1.4%) 20.2 (4.4%)

Permanent pastures and other grazing Land

6.9(1.1%) 5.1 (1.1%)

Others 150.2(24.0%) 146.0(31.8%)

Net sown area 220.6(35.2%) 188.3(42.0%)

6. Irrigated area

Net irrigated area 81,882 ha 75,636 ha

Gross irrigated area 89,232 ha 83,532 ha

7. Average land holding 1.12 ha 2.1ha

8. Population 19,18,960 14,55,920

9. Population density 386 349

10. Literacy 71% 74%

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Small Industries Promotion Council of Tamil Nadu (SIPCOT)

Industrial Complex, an industrial hub, is located at about 10 km from

Tuticorin port. The industrial and commercial units in SIPCOT Complex

deal with marine based products, copper, chemicals, and warehousing.

Besides, a few companies exporting senna are also located within the

industrial complex. The agricultural economy of this district is largely

dependent on fishing and agricultural crops. Agriculture largely depends

upon the southeast monsoon.

3.5 Selection of respondents

Table - 2. Village Wise Selection of Respondents

S. No

Crop District Block Village

Total no. of

farmers in

villages

Selected farmers

from villages

1. Glory lily

Dindigul Oddanchatram (i) Paraivalasu 72 20

(ii) Ambilikai 65 20

(iii) Kallimandayam 100 20

(iv) Rotupudur 52 20

(v) Kappalpatty 64 20

2. Senna Tuticorin Srivaikuntam (i) Kasilingapuram 60 20

(ii) Chinnatha kurichi

72 20

(iii) Alanda 82 20

(iv) Savlaperi 62 20

(v) Deivaseyal puram

59 20

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(i). Selection of respondents

Random sampling technique was used to select the respondents

cultivating medicinal plants in the study area. Two hundred respondents

were selected randomly from the selected villages. Finally, the sample

constituted 100 respondents each for both the crops. The percentage

analysis used for simple composition.

(ii). Selection of extension personnel

The extension personnel in the Department of Horticulture were

considered as population for this study. Horticultural Officers (HOs) and

Assistant Extension Officers (AEOs) were selected for the study. In the

Office of Assistant Director of Horticulture in Tuticorin, all HOs and AEOs

available during data collection comprised the sample. HOs and AEOs

having knowledge about glory lily were selected for the study of glory lily.

(iii). Selection of market intermediaries

The market intermediaries in the study area were sampled. As far

as senna is concerned, simple random sampling technique was used to

select exporters and commission agents in Tuticorin city, whereas all the

exporters and brokers in Oddanchatram and Moolanur towns were

selected for the study of glory lily.

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3.6. Selection of variables and their measurement

Taking into consideration of the scope and objectives of the study,

initially 26 independent variables were identified on perusal of literature

and on consultation with scientists. Out of these 26 variables, 12

independent variables which have relevancy to the study were finally

selected.

3.6.1. Operationalization and measurement of independent variables

Independent variables relevant to the study were selected based on

the judges opinion. The reference sheet sent to judges is in Appendix-III.

Based on judges opinion, fifteen independent variables were selected for

the study. The operationalization and quantification of independent

variables are given below.

3.6.1.1. Age

Age was operationalized as the number of completed years of the

respondent at the time of inquiry and the chronological age was taken as

the measure. The respondents were classified into three categories

according to their age as developed by Trivedi (1963) and adopted by

Sudhakar (2007).

S. No Category Age group

1. Young Upto 35 years

2. Middle 36 to 45 years

3. Old Above 45 years

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3.6.1.2. Educational status

Educational status in this study was operationalised as the ability

of the respondent to read and write or the extent of formal education

possessed by the respondent at the time of enquiry. The scoring

procedure developed by Mansingh (1993) and adopted by Renjini (2000)

was used to measure the educational status of the respondents.

S. No Level of Education Score

1. Illiterate 1

2. Can read only 2

3. Can read and write 3

4. Primary school education 4

5. Middle school education 5

6. High school education 6

7. Higher secondary education 7

8. Collegiate education 8

3.6.1.3. Occupational status

Occupational status was operationalised as the extent to which

respondents were agriculturally occupied. The scoring procedure adopted

by Anandaraja (2002) was followed. According to him one who devoted

his/her full attention on farming alone would be able to pay much

undivided attention to his/her profession than those who had other

occupations besides farming. Hence, the following scoring procedure was

adopted.

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Occupation Score

Farming as a sole profession 4

Farming + Agricultural labourer 3

Farming + Business 2

Farming + Services (Salaried person) 1

3.6.1.4. Farm size

This refers to the extent of land cultivated by an individual at the

time of enquiry. The area was directly taken as a measure and

categorized into three, by using, the following procedure as adopted by

Srinivasan (1999).

S. No Category Area Score

1. Marginal farmer Less than 2.5 acres 1

2. Small farmer Between 2.5-5 acres 2

3. Big farmer More than 5 acres 3

3.6.1.5. Area under medicinal plant cultivation

This is referred to as the number of acres of land that the

respondent allocated especially for the cultivation for Aonla / Coleus/

Sweetflag / Aloe Vera at the time of inquiry. The total area under

medicinal plants cultivation was taken as such. Each acre under

medicinal plant was assigned with a score of two and the area with less

than one acre had a score of one. The scoring procedure followed by

Prabhakar (2000) was used in this study. Accordingly the respondents

49

were classified into low, medium and high category using cumulative

frequency method.

3.6.1.6. Social participation

It refers to the participation of an individual farmer in different

formal organizations. The social participation was measured using socio-

political scale developed by Murali (1997) the scale was slightly modified

for the present study as below.

S. No Items Score

1. Member in the past 1

2. Office bearer in the past 2

3. Member at present 3

4. Member at present and office bearer in the past

4

5. Office bearer at present 5

3.6.1.7. Extension agency contact

This variable was measured in terms of frequency and the purpose

of contacting the different extension agents by the respondents. Each

score obtained by an individual and the frequency was multiplied with

the score of purpose of contact for every item and the scores were

summed up to arrive at a total score of contact with extension agency of

an individual. The scoring procedure followed by Sriram (1997) was used

with suitable modifications to suit the present investigation.

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S. No Frequency of

contact Score Purpose Score

1. Regular 3 Agriculture

2

2. Rare 2

3. Never 1 Non-agriculture 1

To classify the respondents into three categories of low, medium

and high cumulative frequency method was used.

3.6.1.8. Mass media exposure

The degree to which different sources of mass media utilized by the

respondents was measured based on the frequency of exposure and the

purpose of use as followed by Kalimuthu (2001) with slight modification.

For this, a number of mass media sources like newspaper, radio,

television, Internet, etc. constituted this variable. The degree of exposure

of respondents was recorded in a three-point continuum. Further the

purpose of use was also rated in a three-point continuum.

Frequency of exposure Score

Never 1

Occasionally 2

Frequently 3

Purpose of use

Entertainment 1

News 2

Agriculture 3

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3.6.1.9. Risk orientation

Risk orientation was operationalised as the degree to which the

respondent was oriented towards risk and uncertainty and has courage

to face the problems in adopting new ideas. The scale developed by Supe

(1969) and adopted by Purushothaman (2003) was followed. The scale

consisted of six statements of which, the first and fifth were negative and

the rest were positive.

Response Strongly Agree

Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree

Score for positive

statements 7 5 4 3 1

Score for negative

statements 1 3 4 5 7

The scores obtained for each of the statements were summed up to

get the individual respondent's risk orientation score. The range of score

in this scale was from 6 to 42. Based on the scores obtained, the

respondents were classified into low, medium and high using cumulative

frequency.

3.6.1.10. Scientific orientation

Scientific orientation was operationalised as the degree to which a

farmer was oriented towards the use of scientific methods in farming. The

scale developed by Supe (1969) and followed by Amirreddy (2003) was

used.

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The scale consisted of six statements of which, the second one was

negative. The rest of them were positive. The response for each statement

was rated over a five point continuum which ranged from strongly agree

to strongly disagree.

Response Strongly Agree

Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree

Score for positive

statements 7 5 4 3 1

Score for negative

statements 1 3 4 5 7

The maximum score an individual could get on this scale was forty-

two and minimum was six. The score for all statements were added upto

arrive at the total scientific orientation score of an individual. The

respondents were then classified into low, medium and high groups

based on the cumulative frequency method.

3.6.1.11. Cosmopolitness

In the study, cosmopolitness was operationally defined as the

tendency of the farmer to be in contact with outside world bared on the

belief that all the needs of an individual can not be satisfied within his

own community. The procedure followed by Purusothaman (2003) was

used to measure the extent of cosmopolitness the two dimensions of the

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variable measured were:

a) The frequency of visit to the nearest town in a month.

b) The purpose of visit to the town.

a) The frequency of visit to the nearest town in a month.

S. No Frequency Score

1. Twice or more a week 6

2. Once in a week 5

3. Once a in fortnight 4

4. Once a in month 3

5. Very rarely 2

6. Never 1

b) The purpose of visit to the town.

S. No Purpose of Visit Score

1. All Visits relating to Agriculture 6

2. Some what relating to Agriculture 5

3. Personal or domestic matters 4

4. Entertainment 3

5. All other purpose 2

6. No specific purpose 1

The total score of cosmopoliteness for each respondent was

calculated by adding the above two dimensions of comopoliteness.

3.6.12. Export potentiality

This variable was operationalised with the help of a series of

54

question on export, export potential of the medicinal plants, price in the

world market. All the questions were in the form of objective type

designed to the test the knowledge of the farmer about the export

potential of the medicinal plant.

3.6.2. Dependent Variables

3.6.2.1. Knowledge level of medicinal plant growers

Knowledge is generally understood as an ultimate acquaintance of

an individual with facts. Bloom et at., (1956) defined knowledge as those

behaviour and test situation, which emphasize remembering either by

recognition or recall of ideas, materials and phenomena.

In the present investigation, knowledge denotes the farmer's

understanding of different medicinal plant cultivation techniques. To

measure this variable a teacher made test was followed.

The test included the main important technologies related to

medicinal plant cultivation. There were 20 objective type questions for

the farmers in this knowledge test for glory lily and senna at the rate of

10 questions for each crop. The test questions were selected from the text

book "production technologies for medicinal and aromatic crops" by

Farooqi et al. (1997) and also in consultation with horticultural

scientists.

55

Each item of knowledge test was dichotomized into 'correct" and

"incorrect" response. Every correct response was assigned two score,

while the incorrect response received one score. The total score obtained

by the respondent on the knowledge test formed the respondent's

knowledge score. The maximum possible score one could obtain was

twenty for glory lily and twenty for seena. Knowledge index for each

respondent was calculated using the formula developed by Bhaskaran

and Praveena (1982).

KI = P

K x 100

Where KI denotes the knowledge index

K denotes the knowledge score by the respondent

P denotes the possible maximum score for all the medicinal plant

technologies

3.6.2.2. Extent of adoption of recommended medicinal plants

cultivation practices by the respondents

Rogers (1983) defined adoption as a decision to make use of an

innovation as the best course of action available.

In this study extent of adoption is operationalised as the extent to

which particular recommended practices on glory lily and senna

cultivation were adopted by an individual correctly without any distortion

of message.

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In order to study the extent of adoption of glory lily and senna

cultivation practices by the respondents nine major glory lily cultivation

practices and six major senna cultivation practices were selected in

consultation with the extension officials, researchers and based on the

available literature. The each respondent was asked about his adoption

or non-adoption against each item. The respondents were also asked to

mention the reasons for non-adoption.

A score of two was given for adoption and non-adoption was given

one score. The scores for all these items were added-up for each

respondent and his adoption score was arrived at. The formula for

adoption index adopted by Venkatakumar (1997) was followed in this

study.

Adoption index =

Percentage analysis was also worked out to study the practicewise

adoption of medicinal plant growers.

3.6.3. Constraints faced by the medicinal plant growers

In this study, the constraints were divided under two heads, viz.

production constraints and marketing constraints. Based on the

responses, percentage analysis was carried out to rank the constraints.

Respondent’s total score

Total possible score X 100

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3.7. Methods of data collection

Interview schedule is the tool having a set of questions, which are

used to gather data from the respondents by an interviewer in a face to

face situation. A well-structured interview schedule was prepared in

English taking into consideration the various objectives of the study.

Necessary precautions were taken to ensure that the questions in the

schedule were unambiguous, concise, complete and comprehensive.

Besides, the schedule was pre-tested in a non-sample area and

necessary modifications were carried out before the final administration.

The schedule is given in Appendix V. Preliminary visits were made to get

the basic data regarding the study area. Rapport was developed with the

respondents through informal discussion. Data were collected by

personal interview with the respondents in their farms and homes.

3.8. Statistical tools used

The data collected were analysed using (i) percentage analysis (ii)

cumulative frequency method and (iii) zero order correlation co-efficient

and (iv) multiple regression analysis.

3.8.1. Percentage analysis

Simple percentage analysis was employed to make simple

comparisons wherever necessary.

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3.8.2. Cumulative frequency method

The method was used to classify the variables into three categories

viz., low, medium and high by dividing the difference between the

maximum and minimum scores of a variable into three equal classes.

Where,

K = Median between lower limit of the class in which 11 occurs and

the upper limit of previous class

Li = Boundary values namely 11 and 12

Ċ = Square root of cumulative frequency upto classes in which

Li, lies

F = Square root of the frequency of the class in which the

median lies

H = Interval of the class

i) Below the L1 = Low

ii) Between the L1 and L2 value = Medium

iii) Above L2 value = High

3.8.3 Zero-order correlation co-efficient

Correlation was used to determine the relationship of the

independent variables with each of the dependent variable.

59

This tool was used to find whether any significant relationship

existed between the Independent and dependent variables; the formula

used was

Where

n = sample size

xy = correlation coefficient

x = Independent variables

y = Dependent variables

Σxy = Sum of products of x and y

Σy = Sum of value of y

Σx = Sum of value of x

Σx2 = Sum of square of ′x′ values

Σy2 = Sum of square of ′y′ values

(Σx)2 = Square of sum of ′x′ values

(Σy)2 = Square of sum of ′y′ values

3.8.4 Multiple regression analysis

To find out the functional relationship between independent and

the dependent variables, multiple regression analysis was used.

The following is the general formula of multiple regression

equation.

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y = a+b1x1+b2x2+…………… + bnxn

Where,

Y = Dependent variable

A = intercept

x1 to xn = Independent variables

b1 to +bn = Partial regression co-efficient.

By adopting the methodology explained above, the data were

collected, coded, tabulated, analysed and interpreted.

61