Much development research is not explicit about its methodology or philosophical foundations. Based on the extended case method of Burawoy and the philosophy of critical realism, this article discusses a methodological approach for reflexive livelihoods research that overcomes the unproductive social science dualism of positivism and social constructivism. The approach is linked to a livelihoods framework, and a sequence of research methods that can be iterated in light of research questions.
Allen, T.1998: ‘Informal sectors’ to ‘real economies’: Changing conceptions of Africa’s hidden livelihoods , Contemporary Politics4(4), 357–73 .
2.
Andersson, J.A.2001: Re-interpreting the rural-urban connection: Migration practices and socio-cultural dispositions of Buhera workers in Harare , Africa71(7), 82–112 .
3.
Andersson, J.A.2006: Informal moves, informal markets: International migrants and traders from Mzimba district , Malawi, African Affairs105/420, 375–97 .
4.
Archer, M. , Bhaskar R. , Collier A. , Lawson T. and Norrie A.1998: Critical realism: Essential readings. Routledge .
5.
Ashley, C. and Carney, D.1999: Sustainable livelihoods: Lessons from early experience. DfID .
6.
Baert, P.1998: Social theory in the twentieth century. Polity Press .
7.
Duflo, E. and Banerjee, A.2008: The experimental approach to development economics. CEPR working paper No. DP7037, Centre for Economic Policy and Research, London.
8.
Beall, J.2002: Living in the present, investing in the future – housing security among the poor. In Rakodi C. and Lloyd-Jones, T. editors, Urban livelihoods: A people-centred approach to reducing poverty. Earthscan Publications Ltd , 71–87.
9.
Bernstein, H.2005: Development studies and the marxists. In U. Kothari , editor, A radical history of development studies. Zed Books , 111–37.
10.
Bhaskar, R.1978: A realist theory of science. Harvester Press .
11.
Bhaskar, R.1979: Philosophy and the human sciences. Harvester Press .
12.
Bhaskar, R.1989: The possibility of naturalism: a philosophical critique of the contemporary human sciences. Harvester Wheatsheaf .
13.
Booth, D.2001: Towards a better combination of the quantitative and the qualitative. In Kanbur R. , editor, Q-squared: A commentary on qualitative and quantitative poverty appraisal, Working Paper No. 105, Cornell University Department of Applied Economics and Management .
14.
Burawoy, M.1991: Ethnography unbound: Power and resistance in the modern metropolis. University of California Press .
15.
Burawoy, M.1998: The extended case method . Sociological Theory16(1), 4–33 .
16.
Burawoy, M.2000: Global ethnography: Forces, connections, and imaginations in a postmodern world. University of California Press .
17.
Burawoy, M.2003: Revisits: An outline of a theory of reflexive ethnography , American Sociological Review68(5), 645–79 .
18.
Carney, D. editor. 1999: Sustainable rural livelihoods: What contribution can we make?DfID .
Chambers, R.2001: Qualitative approaches: self criticism and what can be gained from quantitative approaches. In Kanbur R. , editor, Q-squared: A commentary on qualitative and quantitative poverty appraisal, Working Paper No. 105, Cornell University Department of Applied Economics and Management .
21.
Chambers, R.2007: Who counts? The quiet revolution of participation and numbers. IDSWorking Paper 296, Institute of Development Studies (IDS) .
22.
Chambers, R. and Conway, G.R.1992: Sustainable rural livelihoods: practical concepts for the 21st century. Discussion Paper 296, Institute of Development Studies, Brighton, UK .
23.
Clark, J. and Carney, D.2008: Sustainable livelihoods approaches – what have we learnt?ESRC Research seminar, Institute of Development Studies, University of Brighton, Sussex, UK , October 2008.
24.
Conticini, A. 2004: We are the kings: The children of Dhaka’s streets. Unpublished Ph.D., University of Manchester, Manchester.
25.
Danermark, B. , Ekstrom, M. , Jakobsen, L. and Karlson, J.C.2002: Explaining society: An introduction to critical realism in the social sciences. Routledge .
26.
Davis, P.2006: Poverty in time: Exploring poverty dynamics from life history interviews in Bangladesh, CPRC Working Paper No. 69. Chronic Poverty Research Centre, University of Manchester, UK .
27.
Denzin, N.K. and Lincoln, Y.S. editors. 2000: Handbook of qualitative research. Sage Publications .
28.
Denzin, N.K. , 2004: Explaining society: Critical realism in the social sciences . Contemporary Sociology – a Journal of Reviews33(2), 249–50 .
29.
de Waal, A.1989: Famine that kills: Darfur, Sudan, 1984–1985. Oxford University Press .
30.
Department for International Development (DfID). 2000: Sustainable livelihoods – current thinking and practice. Department for International Development .
31.
Department for International Development (DfID). 2001: Proceedings from forum on operational zing participatory ways of applying sustainable livelihoods approaches. Department for International Development .
32.
Dreze, J. and Sen, A.1991: Hunger and public action. Oxford University Press .
33.
Ellen, R.F.1984: Ethnographic research: A general guide to conduct. Academic Press .
34.
Ellis, F.2000: Rural livelihoods and diversity in developing countries. Oxford University Press .
35.
Fairhead, J. and Leach, M.1996: Misreading the African landscape. Cambridge University Press .
36.
Ferguson, J. and Gupta, A.1997: Anthropological locations: Boundaries and grounds of a field science. University of California Press .
37.
Ferguson, J.1990: The anti-politics machine: ‘Development’, depoliticization, and bureaucratic power in Lesotho. Cambridge University Press .
38.
Francis, E.2000: Making a living: Changing livelihoods in rural Africa. Routledge .
39.
Francis, E.2002: Rural livelihoods, institutions and vulnerability in North West Province, South Africa , Journal of Southern African Studies, 28, 531–50 .
40.
Giddens, A.1984: The constitution of society: An outline of the theory of structuration. Polity Press .
41.
Glaser, B.G. and Strauss A.L.1967: The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research. Aldine de Gruyter .
42.
Gluckman, M.1941: Economy of the central barotse plain. The Rhodes-Livingstone Institute .
43.
Green, M. and Hulme, D.2005: From correlates and characteristics to causes: Thinking about poverty from a chronic poverty perspective , World Development33(6), 867–80 .
44.
Guba, E.G. and Lincoln, Y.S.1994: Competing paradigms in quantitative research. In Denzin N. and Lincoln, S.Y. , editors, The landscape of qualitative research. Sage Publications Ltd , 105–17.
45.
Haggblade, S. , Hazell, P. and Reardon, T.2007: Transforming the rural nonfarm economy: Opportunities and threats in the developing world. Johns Hopkins University Press .
46.
Hammersley, M.2004: Towards a usable past for qualitative research . International Journal of Social Research Methodology7(1), 19–27 .
47.
Harriss, J.2002: The case for cross-disciplinary approaches in international development , World Development30(3), 487–96 .
48.
Harriss, J. and Renzio, P.D.1997: Missing link or analytically missing? The concept of social capital , Journal of International Development9(7), 919–37 .
49.
Hart, K.1973: Informal income opportunities and urban employment in Ghana , Journal of Modern African Studies11(1), 61–89 .
50.
Hulme, D. and Toye, J. (2006) The case for cross disciplinary social science research on poverty, inequality and the quality of life , Journal of Development Studies, 42, 1085–107 .
51.
Huntingdon, S.1968: Political order in changing societies. Yale University Press .
52.
Hussein, K.2002: Livelihoods approaches compared: A multi-agency review of current practice. DfID .
53.
Kanbur, R. editor 2001: Q-squared: A commentary on qualitative and quantitative poverty appraisal. Working Paper No. 105, Cornell University Department of Applied Economics and Management .
54.
Kothari, U. editor. 2005: A radical history of development studies. Zed Books .
55.
Long, N.1968: Social change and the individual: A study of the social and religious responses to innovation in a Zambian rural community. Published for the Institute for Social Research, University of Zambia, Manchester University Press .
56.
Long, N.2001: Development sociology: Actor perspectives. Routledge .
57.
Maqueen, D.2001: Measurement malaise – is the SL approach inoperable?Natural Resources Institute .
58.
Maxwell, S.1999: The meaning and measurement of poverty, ODI Poverty Briefing No. 3, Overseas Development Institute, London .
59.
Merton, R.1967: On sociological theories of the middle-range. In Merton, R. , editor, On theoretical sociology: Five essays old and new, Free Press , 39–72.
60.
Miller, R.L.2000: Researching life stories and family histories. Sage Publications .
61.
Moser, C.O.N.1998: The asset vulnerability framework: Reassessing urban poverty reduction strategies , World Development26(1), 1–20 .
62.
Murray, C.2000: Changing livelihoods: The free state 1990s , African Studies59, 115–42 .
63.
Murray , 2002: Livelihoods research: Transcending boundaries of time and space , Journal of Southern African Studies28(3): 489–509 .
64.
O’Laughlin, B.2002: Proletarianisation, agency and changing rural livelihoods: Forced labour and resistance in colonial Mozambique , Journal of Southern African Studies28, 511–30 .
65.
Olsen, W. and Morgan, J.2005: A critical epistemology of analytical statistics: addressing the sceptical realist , Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour35(3), 255–84 .
66.
Parsons, T.1964: Evolutionary universals in society , American Sociological Review29, 339–57 .
67.
Prowse, M. (2007) Burley Tobacco, Food Security and Vulnerability: The Changing Nature of Rural Livelihoods in the Central Region of Malawi, unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Manchester, UK.
68.
Pawson, R.2009: Middle range theory and program theory evaluation: from provenance to practice. In Vaessen, J. and Leeuw, F.L. , editors, Mind the gap: Perspectives on policy evaluation and the social sciences. Transaction Publishers , 171–202.
69.
Popper, K.R.S.1992: The logic of scientific discovery. Routledge .
70.
Pretty, J.1999: Capital assets and natural resource improvements: Linkages and new challenges. Centre for Environment and Society, University of Essex .
71.
Prowse, M.2009: Becoming a bwana and burley tobacco in the central region of Malawi , Journal of Modern African Studies. 47, 575–602 .
72.
Punch, M.1994: Politics and ethics in qualitative research. In Denzin, N. and Lincoln, Y. , editors, Handbook of qualitative research. SAGE Publications , 83–95.
73.
Rakodi, C.2002: A livelihoods approach: Conceptual issues and definitions. In Rakodi, C. and Lloyd-Jones, T. , editors, Urban livelihoods: A peoplecentred approach to reducing poverty. Earthscan Publications , 3–22.
74.
Rao, V.2001: Potters and slums: two qualitative/quantitative projects in India. In Kanbur, R. , editor, Q-squared: A commentary on qualitative and quantitative poverty appraisal, Working Paper No. 105, Cornell University, Department of Applied Economics and Management .
75.
Ravallion, M.2009: Evaluation in the practice of development , The World Bank Research Observer24(1), 29–53 .
76.
Reardon, T.1997: Using evidence of household in-come diversification to inform study of the rural nonfarm market in Africa , World Development25(5), 735–47 .
77.
Redclift, M.1987: Sustainable development: Exploring the contradictions. Methuen .
78.
Rodrik, Dani . 2009: The new development economics: We shall experiment, but how shall we learn? In Cohen, J. and Easterly, W. , editors, What works in development? Thinking big and thinking small. Brookings Institution Press , 24–47.
79.
Santos, R.C.L.F.D. 2005: Development and sustainability of information systems for public budget transparency: A case study from Brazil using a new institutional approach. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Manchester, Manchester.
80.
Schwandt, T.A.2000: Three epistemological stances for qualitative inquiry: Interpretivism, hermeneutics, and social constructionism. In Denzin, N.K. and Lincoln, Y.S. , editors, Handbook of qualitative research. SAGE Publications , 189–213.
81.
Scoones I. (1998) Sustainable rural livelihoods: A framework for analysis. IDS Discussion Paper 72, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex .
82.
Sen, A.1981: Poverty and famines: An essay on entitlement and deprivation. Clarendon Press .
83.
Steinmetz, G.1998: Critical realism and historical sociology. A review article , Comparative Studies in Society and History40(1), 170–86 .
84.
Steinmetz, G.2004: Odious comparisons: Incommensurability, the case study, and ‘small N’s’ in sociology , Sociological Theory22(3), 371–400 .
85.
Steinmetz, G. and Chae O. B.2002: Sociology in an era of fragmentation: From the sociology of knowledge to the philosophy of science and back again . Sociological Quarterly43(Winter): 11–37 .
86.
Stewart, F.1985: Planning to meet basic needs. Macmillan .
87.
Streeten, P. , Burki, S.J. , M. ul Haq , Hicks, N. and Stewart, F.1982: First things first: Meeting basic human needs in the developing countries. Published for the World Bank by Oxford University Press .
88.
Tedlock, B.2000: Ethnography and ethnographic representation. In Denzin, N.K. and Lincoln, Y.S. , editors, Handbook of qualitative research. SAGE , 455–86.
89.
Thin, N.2000: Characteristics of DFID-funded projects. SCOPE paper No. 12. Social Development Department, Department for International Development, London .
90.
Thomas, W.I. and Znaniecki F.W.1927: The Polish peasant in Europe and America. A. A. Knopf .
91.
Toner, A.L.2003: Knowing poverty: critical reflections on participatory research and policy , Journal of Development Studies40(1), 183–85 .
92.
Turner, V.W.1957: Schism and continuity in an African society: A study of Ndembu village life. Published on behalf of the Rhodes-Livingstone Institute by Manchester University Press .
93.
van Velsen, J.1964: The politics of kinship: A study in social manipulation among the Lakeside Tonga of Nyasaland. Manchester University Press .
94.
van Velsen, J.1967: The extended-case method and situational analysis. In Epstein, A.L. , editor, The Craft of Social Anthropology. Tavistock , 129–52.
95.
Vidich, A.J. and Lyman, S.M.2000: Qualitative methods: their history in sociology and anthropology. In Denzin, N.K. and Lincoln, Y.S. , editors, Handbook of qualitative research. SAGE , 37–84.
96.
Willis, P. and Trondman, M.2000: Manifesto for ethnography , Ethnography1(1), 5–16 .
97.
Wilson, G.1941: An essay on the economics of detribalization in Northern Rhodesia. By Godfrey Wilson . The Rhodes-Livingstone Institute .
98.
Wood, G.2003: Staying secure, staying poor: The ‘Faustian Bargain’ , World Development31(3), 455–71 .
99.
Wood, G. and Solway, S.2000: Securing livelihoods in Dhaka slums , Journal of International Development, 12, 669–88 .
100.
Woodhouse, P.1998: People as informants. In Thomas, A. , Chataway, J. and Wuyts, M. , editors, Finding out fast: investigative skills for policy and development. Oxford University Press , 127–46.
101.
Woolcock, M.2001: The place of social capital in under-standing social and economic outcomes , Canadian Journal of Policy Research2, 11–17 .
102.
Woolcock, M.2009: Towards a plurality of methods in project avaluation: A contextualised approach to understanding impact trajectories and efficacy. Working Paper 73. Brooks World Poverty Institute, University of Manchester, UK .
103.
World Bank. 2000: World development report 2000/1. World Bank .
