Nang Rong Projects [Thailand]

Social surveys were the starting point for research in Nang Rong, a district in the Buriram province of northeast Thailand. The surveys were part of three waves of data collection conducted in 1984, 1994, and 2000. The baseline was established in 1984 when a community survey and a household census were conducted in 51 study villages. The census obtained information on all members of all households within the study area. A second round of surveys was fielded a decade after the baseline, in 1994, building on and extending the original research design and focus. The 1994 data were collected through a community survey administered in all villages in Nang Rong (including but not limited to the original 51 study villages), a household survey providing a complete census of all households in each of the original 51 study villages, and a migrant follow-up survey. The migrant follow-up survey collected data on out-migrants from 22 of the original 51 study villages who had relocated to one of four urban destinations: (1) metropolitan Bangkok, (2) the eastern seaboard, a focus of rapid growth and development, (3) Korat, a regional city, and (4) Buriram, the provincial capital. The 2000 round of data collection again built on the previous data collection efforts and included a community survey administered in all villages in Nang Rong district, a household survey and complete census of the original 51 study villages, a migrant follow-up survey that tracked out-migrants from 22 villages to the four urban destinations as well as to rural villages within Nang Rong district. In addition, this round also included a geospatial component with the collection of locational data for dwelling units and agricultural plots.