Table 3.
Respondents’ perceptions of the pollution indicators between rural with urban
| Rural, n = 1760 | Urban n = 5011 | Unpaired t-test | 95% Confidence Interval | Mann-Whitney U testγ | Fisher’s exact testδ | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean (SD)* | No. (%) disagreeω | No. (%) agreeα | Mean (SD)* | No. (%) disagreeω | No. (%) agreeα | p-valueβ | lower | Upper | Z-value | p-value | ||
| Did you notice an increase in the number of masks thrown on the streets? | 3.64 (1.13) | 362 (20.57%) | 1223 (69.49%) | 3.78 (1.09) | 850 (16.97%) | 3669 (73.22%) | < 0.001 | 0.077 | 0.199 | −4.605 | < 0.001 | 0.003 |
| Did you notice an increase in the number of masks thrown in rivers and lakes? | 3.13 (0.93) | 376 (21.37%) | 517 (29.38%) | 3.22 (0.96) | 952 (19%) | 1665 (33.23%) | 0.001 | 0.036 | 0.138 | −3.348 | < 0.001 | 0.003 |
| Did you notice an increase in the number of plastic gloves thrown on the streets? | 2.89 (1.19) | 817 (46.43%) | 663 (37.67%) | 3.12 (1.23) | 1939 (38.7%) | 2341 (46.72%) | < 0.001 | 0.166 | 0.296 | −6.849 | < 0.001 | < 0.001 |
| Did you notice an increase in the number of plastic gloves thrown in rivers and lakes? | 2.96 (0.98) | 516 (29.32%) | 413 (23.47%) | 3.02 (1) | 1346 (26.87%) | 1327 (26.48%) | 0.016 | 0.012 | 0.119 | −2.578 | 0.010 | 0.013 |
| Did you notice an increase in the number of plastic bags thrown on the street? | 3.29 (1.08) | 456 (25.91%) | 850 (48.3%) | 3.44 (1.09) | 1184 (23.63%) | 2718 (54.24%) | < 0.001 | 0.092 | 0.209 | −4.976 | < 0.001 | < 0.001 |
| Did you notice an increase in hospital waste? | 3.45 (0.96) | 229 (13.02%) | 797 (45.28%) | 3.55 (1) | 643 (12.84%) | 2543 (50.75%) | < 0.001 | 0.053 | 0.158 | −4.013 | < 0.001 | < 0.001 |
| Did you notice an increase in laboratories’ wastes? | 3.4 (0.94) | 224 (12.73%) | 745 (42.33%) | 3.45 (0.95) | 617 (12.32%) | 2209 (44.08%) | 0.077 | −0.005 | 0.098 | −1.614 | 0.106 | 0.209 |
| Did you notice an increase in special places designated for medical waste disposal? | 3.02 (1.06) | 508 (28.87%) | 534 (30.34%) | 3.04 (1.1) | 1453 (29%) | 1640 (32.73%) | 0.372 | −0.032 | 0.085 | −0.999 | 0.318 | 0.066 |
* – Participant perceptions were measured using the following scale: 1 = Strongly Disagree; 2 = Disagree; 3 = Neither Agree nor Disagree; 4 = Agree; 5 = Strongly Agree
ω – Percentage in disagreement was calculated using those who responded “Strongly disagree” or “Disagree”
α – Percentage in agreement was calculated using those who responded “Strongly agree” or “Agree”
β – p-values from unpaired t-test comparing rural with urban (assuming unequal variance)
γ – Used to confirm unpaired t-test results
δ – Used to compare No. (%) agree between rural with urban