Quantative data gathering procedures.
Members of the evaluation team conducted the posttest survey with 123
gardeners and 123 matched comparison group participants. For rental and
pantry gardens, we randomly selected the gardeners from client lists (except in
the case of the county grounds garden, where we randomly selected the
gardeners from plot numbers). For youth gardens, we randomly selected the
clients from program meetings during high participation times (selecting only
children over the age of nine, to insure comprehension of the instrument). We
interviewed 50 clients from the Milwaukee county grounds garden, 53 from
this garden's comparison group, 12 to 14 clients from each other garden, and
11 to 12 participants from these gardens' comparison groups. See Table 2.2
for respondent characteristics. We found no statistically significant differences
between intervention and comparison groups in ethnic background, age
categories, and sex.