*2.4. Definition and Measurement of Variables*

Farmers' perceptions of changes in temperature and rainfall was measured by asking a close-ended question on whether temperature or rainfall is increasing, decreasing, or observed no change during the past 15 years. Data on the perceptions of extreme events were generated by asking the respondents a yes/no question on whether they had observed the occurrence of a range of climate events (drought, flood, snowfall, frost, delayed onset of rainfall, early termination of rainfall, and waterlogging) during the last 15 years. Given that perception is a function of the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of households, they were considered as explanatory variables to discern the convergence or divergence of farmers' perceptions from the observed meteorological trends. These characteristics were: age of household head (young—20–39; adult—40–59; old—60+), sex of household head (male, female), educational level of household head (no education, primary or above), size of land owned (small—<1 hectare; medium—1–2 hectare; large—≥2 hectare) economic status (low, medium, high, which was classified based on possession of farming tools and household equipment), access to media (no access at all, had access at least once a week which was determined based on farmer's access to a radio or television or newspaper), and social capital (low, medium, high). Social capital was measured on a four-point scale using twelve questions emphasizing household heads' participation in community-based organizations, trust and reciprocity, and contact with locally based formal institutions. The questions were internally consistent to measure social capital (alpha = 0.78). Economic status and social capital were grouped into three classes using the cumulative square root of the frequency method.
