Analysis of the effects of pilot project implementation on improving the quality of life in rural areas (Case study: Khalajistan ward, Qom County)

The master plan is an official document for the physical development of rural settlements. It can play a special and effective role in the development of the country's villages and improving the lives of the villagers, have less attention to its effects on the quality of life of residents. Therefore, in the present study, an attempt has been made to study and evaluate the effects of the implementation of the pilot project on improving the quality of life of rural communities. The statistical population of the study included all inhabited villages (49 villages) in Khalajistan district. 10 villages were selected from two groups with project implementation and no project implementation as a statistical sample by "probabilistic classification" method. To measure quality of life, 38 items from four dimensions (environmental, economic, social and physical) were selected as criteria. Data were collected through a questionnaire and analyzed in SPSS software by Mann-Whitney test and the effect. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by several professors and rural planning experts and its reliability was calculated by SPSS software and its rate was 0.78. The results of calculating the effect show that the implementation of the project in the physical dimension, had the most effect (0.67) and the economic dimension had the least effect (0.30) in the villages with the implementation of the project. To classify the severity of the effect according to Cohen's criterion, the effect on each of the environmental, economic and social dimensions was moderate, and on the physical dimension was high. Therefore, there is a significant difference between the two groups in physical, environmental, social and economic dimensions. Also, the implementation of the plan had the greatest effect on the physical dimension and the least effect on the economic dimension. According to Cohen's criterion, the amount of effect in the physical dimension was "high" and in the environmental, social and economic dimensions was "moderate". Therefore, in order to prepare and implement development plans and projects, attention should be paid to the capabilities of the villages and proper knowledge of the people and the region.