The study aimed basically at achieving the following objectives: developing a
quantitative, valid and reliable scale of social capital, identifying the relative
importance of sub- dimensions used in measuring the social capital degree,
describing the social capital levels in three patterns of different developmental
levels of rural communities in Fayoum district, Fayoum governorate, identifying
differences in the social capital levels among the three studied types of rural
communities, and finally identifying variables affecting the degree of
respondents social capital.
The study was conducted on three patterns of different developmental levels
of villages in Fayoum district, Fayoum governorate. These villages were: Demo,
Monshaet Sakran and Manashy El- Khateeb. A systematic random sample of 243
farmers (representing 10% of total numbers of farmers in the studied villages)
were selected to conduct the study. Data were collected through an interviews
with respondent farmers using a questionnaire. The statistical analysis tools used
in the study were: Spearman Brown, Guttman and Cronback methods to estimate
the reliability coefficient of the social capital scale. The construct validity
method was utilized to estimate the validity degree of the proposed scale.
Frequencies, percentages, arithmetic mean, standard deviation and range were
also used to present and describe data. One way analysis of variance and least
significant difference test were utilized in determining the defferences among the
three studied villages according to the respondents' social capital levels. Pearson
correlation coefficient, chi square test and Cramer coefficient were used to
identify the relationships between the respondents' social capital levels and the
studied variables. Finally, the study used stepwise multiple regression analysis to
identify the relative importance of sub- dimensions used in measuring the social
capital degree and also to identify the most important variables affecting the
respondents' social capital levels.