The coming revolution in methods for rural development research
This paper argues that the past decade (1980-90) has seen the steady building of an intellectual revolution in methods of rural development research. The movement began in the late 1970s as a reaction against the traditional research tool kit of questioannaires, on-farm trials, cost-benefit analysis and other 'scientific' methods based on the assumptions regarding rural populations that are commonly held by western agro-economics and sociology.