Weighting a Community-Based Coastal Resource Management Self-Assessment Tool: Evidence from the Caribbean
This study examines category weighting in CRM-SET, a participatory tool for tracking changes in organisational capacity and coastal resource management activities.
Eleven fisheries officers from five Caribbean countries and four Japanese consultants compared the ten CRM-SET categories in pairs. Weights were derived using Scheffé’s paired comparison method with Nakaya’s modification and applied to assessments in Grenada and Saint Kitts and Nevis.
The analysis identified differences in the relative importance assigned to the categories, producing weights ranging from 1.00 to 1.63. In the time series applications, however, weighting had little influence on score changes or the interpretation of progress.
The study shows that pairwise comparison can enhance the objectivity and transparency of category weighting by systematically translating practitioner judgements into relative weights.
For CRM-SET, equal weighting remains a practical approach, while context specific weighting may supplement analysis where stakeholder priorities need explicit consideration.