Allowing context to speak: the progressive case study method for cadastral systems research

Abstract

For research involving customary land rights, ‘context is key’ because every context brings specific nuances for consideration. Failure to account for context runs the risk of irrelevance, unintended consequences and/or failure. We present a research method that allows context to speak: the progressive case study. The approach combines deductive case study with inductive grounded theory approaches. The results are used to propose a framework for guiding cadastral systems development in customary land rights contexts. This paper presents the methodology, which should be useful for researchers, NGOs and multinational organisations doing development programming in developing contexts.