Nexus between Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining and Livelihood in Prestea Mining Region, Ghana
Table 1
Operationalization and coding of the study variables.
Variable
Operational definition
Category
Code
Community
Place of residence
Bondaye Prestea Himan
1 2 3
Sex (dichotomous)
Being a male or female
Male Female
1 2
Age of respondents (ranked)
Number of years attained by a respondent at his last birthday
<21 years 21–30 years 31–40 years 41–50 years 51–60 years 60 years and above
1 2 3 4 5 6
Status in the community (nominal)
Categorized as native (as born in the community), a settler (a person who moves to the community to settle permanently), or a migrant (just living in the community for a short while or purpose)
Native Migrant Settler
1 2 3
Marital status (nominal)
Categorized as married, single, and divorced. Single cohabitation is classified as married. Those who are not married and widowhood are classified under single. Those who are no more cohabiting are classified under divorced
Married Single Divorced
1 2 3
Occupation (nominal)
A kind of economic activity that a respondent undertakes to earn income
Trading Teaching Mining Fishing Others
1 2 3 4 5
Educational level (ranked)
A kind of educational level a respondent completed. Dropout is where respondent could not complete basic school
Basic Secondary education Tertiary education Drop-out Never been to school
1 2 3 4 5
Ethnicity (nominal)
The ethnic background/tribe of the respondents
Akan Ewe Ga Northerners Others
1 2 3 4 5
Religion (nominal)
Religious affiliation of the respondents
Christianity Islam African Traditional Others
1 2 3 4
Income level (ranked)
Income received monthly by respondents from all sources including cash and gifts
Less than Gh¢ 100 Gh¢ 100–400 Gh¢ 401–1000 Gh¢ 1001–2000 Above Gh¢ 2000
1 2 3 4 5
Number of years of stay in the community (ranked)
Number of years a respondent has stayed in the community
Less than 5 years 5–10 years 11–15 years More than 15 years
1 2 3 4
Northerners used in this context means the people of Mole-Dagbani, Guan, and Gurma ethnic groups of Ghana.
