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. A critique of the survey questionnaire is made to illustrate how methods can stray from their original purpose and can lead to a totally erroneous findings wrapped up in the deceptiveness of quantified data. Case studies are presented from the Philippines and Peru. A diverse selection of participatory methods, which seek to reduce the distance between 'researcher' and 'researched' , is introduced. The origin of these methods, their potentials and pitfalls are discussed.