THE STUDY OF MORALITY COST SITUATIONS OF THE PEOPLE IN RAYONG PROVINCE FOR SUPPORTING PROVINCIAL MORAL DRIVING

Abstract

This research aimed to 1) study and collect the data of moral situations causing positive and negative impacts in the Rayong area, 2) collect the data of morality cost, virtue in persons, and organizations in the Rayong area, and 3) support the academic process being beneficial towards provincial moral driving. The population of the qualitative research consisted of 751,434 people living in Rayong Province, with 400 samples selected using Taro Yamane’s formula with a margin of error of 0.05. The Purposive random sampling method is used to select the samples. Nine key informants for qualitative research were chosen among individuals involved in the Rayong morality driving. Frequency, Percentage, Mean, and Standard Deviation were used as statistical tools to analyze the quantitative data, while content analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data. 

           The study results for the quantitative research method revealed the following:

           1) The moral situation in Rayong, as a whole, was intense since there were well-preserved local traditions and cultures. Besides, there were settlements of moral communities in various areas that could be good models for moral communities. Importantly, there was strong support from the locals themselves, including the government and private sectors.

2) The people in Rayong obtained the level of behavior following the 5 cores of morality, namely, discipline, sufficiency, honesty, service mind, and gratitude, at the highest level (  = 4.25). When each item was taken singly, honesty was found at the highest level (  = 4.36) while sufficiency was found at a high level ( = 4.05). And when each district was taken singly, focusing on moral practices, it was found that Kao Chamao District was at a high level (  = 4.05), the last rank of all. The results of the qualitative research method were also found in the same direction.  

3) The academic supports that were beneficial for the moral driving of Rayong Province were to persuade local government units in Rayong to support moral cost activities or projects as public policy, and to publicize the outstanding activities or projects through all types of media, especially social media.