The study used quantitative and qualitative research tools. A semi-structured interview and questionnaires were used in data collection, through interviewing 100 households which had used credit services from micofinance institutes in Sengkae, Thmorkol and Samlot district of Battambang province. Additionally, there was an in-depth interview with various groups of stakeholders including 6 commune managers, 12 village managers, 2 credit officers of the National Bank of Cambodia, 2 credit officers of a rural development bank, and 5 representatives of microfinance institutes and NGOs.
This study relies on both primary and secondary data. The primary data provided by households through closed and open-ended questionaires was a focal point in this study. The questionaires were examined and coded before they were formally used. Secondary data such as theses, dissertations, journals and research reports were extracted from the internet to be used in comparing the results of similar research in other countries.
The sample size was decided by using the Non-probability Sampling Method; only the households who used micro-credit from microfinance institutes were chosen. In addition, The Cluster Sampling Method was used to determine the location for the study and the Simple Random Sampling method was used to select the households from a list provided by the local authority for interviews.
The collected data was coded and entered into MS Excel and SPSS programs for analysis. The data was divided into two parts: qualitative and quantitative data. Descriptive and inferential statistics such as chi- square test, correlation, graphics and diagrams were used in this study.