Data gathering collection technique
The data sets come from the submitted statement of operations of about 788 cooperatives in one region of the Philippines. An on-the-job (OJT) group of students were assigned the collection of data with specific instructions on the format of encoding and the variables collected for the study. The collection and encoding of data covered a period of seven years from 2011 to 2017. Older data sets cannot be included since there were no records retained prior to 2011. The permission to gather data of the audited financial statement of the cooperatives is covered by an agreement between the cooperative agency and the university who did the study.