Measuring the Level of Social development in Rural Areas (Case Study: Darab County)

The main purpose of this study is to determine and analyze the level of social development in rural areas of DARAB County. The research method of the current study in term of nature, rate and the degree of control method of data collection was quantitative, field research and descriptive–correlation, survey research. In this regard, after review of related literature about social development, fifteen criteria were selected to measure the level of social development. Then, some indexes were specified for criteria. Social development level was determined by using obtained statistic from Iran statistics center and data gathered by questionnaires. Statistical population of this study was residents of rural areas at county of Darab which were 79262 individuals. The method of sampling was multistage stratified sampling method, that the 364 individuals were selected as statistical sample by using Cochran formula. Also, in order to test reliability of research instrument, Cronbach alpha coefficient was used. A reliability of 0.74 was achieved indicating that research instrument was reliable. The content and face validity of the instrument were established by a panel of experts in the fields social development. The method of principal component analysis and numerical taxonomy method was used for data analysis and computing compound indicator. The result of numerical taxonomic method indicated that Hashivar district with 0.38 score, rated as the most developed district and Nasravan with 0.96 score, rated as the least developed district among the districts in the Darab county. Result of coefficient of variation showed that indicators offacilities, economy, communication and telecommunication, healthcare, education, public participation, public transport, employment, lawful, Attitude to the legal equality, social networks, social security, social trust, social norms and the environment, respectively have the highest coefficient of variations, result of cluster analyses on the social development in rural areas of Darab county showed that districts of Hashivar, Paskhan, Ghariehkheir, Forg, Balesh, Bakhtagerd, and Rostagh categorized in the high level of social development groups and districts of Ghalebiaban, Fasaroud and Abshour in the medium level of social development groups. Also, in the term of level of social development, districts of Kohestan and Nasravan were less privileged. Data was analyzed using the SPSS software.