Questionnaires Do Not Work! A Comparison of Methods Used to Evaluate the Structure of Buildings and Wood Used in Rural Households, South Africa

The level of hardwood utilisation for house building was evaluated in a rural community of Maputaland, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. A full inventory of 42 households in that community was conducted, followed by a questionnaire survey coupled with a partial inventory of the same households. It was expected that the questionnaire design would be greatly improved by the prior survey, and that similar quantitative results could be obtained. The results show that despite a careful design, the questionnaires and coupled partial inventories provided significantly different results, thus placing considerable doubts on any research solely based on questionnaire results without proper ground proofing. The reasons for such differences are unclear. The main advantage of the questionnaire survey resided in the qualitative insight it offered for the analysis of the data

Hard Wood Utilization in Buildings of Rural Households of the Manqakulane Community, Maputaland, South Africa

An analysis of the structure and composition of household buildings in the rural community of Manqakulane, Maputaland, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, is presented. This bio-diversity-rich area forms part of the Maputaland Centre of Plant Endemism, currently under threat from land transformation and human utilisation outside conservation areas. The demand for natural resources as building material by people of the community is evaluated through a survey of the structure of 42 randomly selected households. A sample of 226 buildings used for habitation or other purposes was conducted. The results revealed a change in structure types from round reed hut observed in the 1980s towards durable structures made with brick or wooden walls and corrugated iron roofs. Round structures are replaced by square ones, and thatched roofs are no longer the majority. Materials used for construction are identified and quantified, and an attempt is made to plan utilisation for the next eight years