THAILAND DEVELOPMENT ACCORDING TO PRACHARAT’S POLICY ALONG WITH PEOPLE’S PARTICIPATION IN CHACHOENGSAO PROVINCE

Abstract

The objectives of this study were threefold: (1) to ascertain the factors influencing Thailand development according to Pracharat’s policy along with people’s participation in Chachoengsao Province; (2) to compare the country development according to Pracharat policy with classified accord to personal factors people’s participation in Chachoengsao Province; and (3) to examine the relationship between the contributory factors and the country development with people’s participation in Chachoengsao Province. The study was mixed in nature – the quantitative and qualitative research methods.

With regard to the quantitative research method, 400 people living in the province comprised the sample of the study. The sample size was determined by Taro Yamane’s formula. The stratified sampling technique was used to select the sample. The study instrument tool was the self – administered questionnaires of face – to – face. The collected data were analyzed by means of descriptive statistics, F – test (one – way ANOVA) and Pearson r.

With respect to the qualitative data, the needed data were gathered from three sources: documents, non – participant observation, and in – depth interviews. Regarding in – depth interviews, 11 topflight persons were interviewed to obtain the qualitative data; the collected data were analyzed using content analysis.

As a result of the quantitative data analysis, the researcher has discovered the following facts: On the country development according to Pracharat’s policy, holistically, it was found to be low ( = 2.35). Separately, the mean scores in descending order of degree were as follows: to follows the people’s understanding of the government’s policy ( = 2.52), people’s participation in policy implementation ( = 2.48), people’s participation in evaluation ( = 2.24), and people’s participation in offering solutions to problems pertaining to policies ( = 2.17).

On the association between the country development and the socioeconomic backgrounds of the people, it was found that people with different education and monthly incomes differed in their participation in development activities; the difference was statistically significant at the .05 level. Meanwhile, the people with different sexes, ages, and occupations failed to differ in their participation in development activities.

            On the factors influencing the people’s participation, holistically, it was relationship positive development Pracharat’s policies and the people’s participation was very high (r = .80), the researcher has found the following facts: the correlation coefficients was very high including the country development and participation motivation (r = .85), the correlation coefficients of positive was medium level  include participation relation (r = 0.56) and opportunities or channels to participate (r = 0.51), and the correlation coefficients of positive to low include community environment (r = 0.45); the difference was statistically significant at the .01 level.

As for the findings derived from the qualitative data analysis, the following salient findings merited mention: The people took part in development activities according to Pracharat’s policies which were implemented by the government for the purpose of bringing about the greatest benefits to the people’s families and communities; the people participated in planning and seeking solutions to various problems encountered  in the process of carrying out different programs such as Villege Fund Program, Pracharat Housing Program for the Low Income Group, Pracharat School Development Program, Social Welfare Card Program, Thong Fa Pracharat Program, Credit for Micro SME Program, and Pracharat Against Drug Abuse Program, and so on.

It was noteworthy that various programs created by Pracharat played an important role in helping the people have occupations, strengthen the family institutions as well as communities, generate people’s incomes, and prevent youths from getting involved in drug abuse; the Pracharat programs strongly motivated people to take part in the development of their country to the greatest extent. As could be witnessed, the Pracharat programs have created security of family institutions by providing them with work experiences, learning lessons, and folk wisdom so that the people could use them as capital for leading their happy lives in sustainable manner.