Approximately, 250 users were sampled from each country except for Martinique/Guadeloupe where a smaller sample was interviewed because of the smaller numbers of users. Volasertib research buy In Malaysia, an additional group of female users applying pesticides intensively on estates were included because of interest in the health of such workers (Fernandez et al. 2002). India was included in both the 2005 and 2006 surveys. In each country, a local market research team identified regions where the use

of pesticides was moderate to intensive. The survey group included only users of knapsack and hand held sprayers (mainly fixed line) who had sprayed for a minimum of 40 h in the previous year. The selection of respondents was on the basis of quota sampling

and targeted users on smallholdings of below average size and contract spray operators in countries where there were significant numbers of such users. The local market research teams defined their target smallholder farmers in terms of farm size and typical crops grown. Screening questions were used to ensure that the sample satisfied the quota requirements. The questionnaire was translated into the relevant language by the local market research team in each country and their staff visited users to conduct the interview. Respondents were approached in a variety of ways. In some regions, the village head would be contacted first and asked to identify smallholders who satisfied the quota requirements. Selumetinib purchase In other cases, the field team would visit potential respondents on their farms in selected communities or go to a central location such as a local agricultural cooperative to target potential respondents. Snowball sampling was also used to recruit further respondents in some communities. Some respondents were recruited using a telephone interview

to screen and arrange an appointment. However, this was not see more the usual practice because many smallholders did not like to commit to an appointment because of the variability involved in farm work, and because access to a telephone was limited in many of the remote communities targeted in the survey. Dmrkynetec estimated that the refusal rate in the survey was around 5% based on the Selleck CP673451 information supplied to them by local market research agencies responsible for coordinating the interviews. There was no evidence that there was significant variation in response rates between countries. Feedback from the local agencies indicated that the few individuals who refused to participate mainly did so because they were visited during a busy period for planting, harvesting or other farming activity.