Extending the horizons of agricultural research and extension: Methodological challenges
The recent enthusiasm for “participation” in agricultural development has fueled the development of new approaches to research and extension. The rhetoric of “participation” extends the horizons of agricultural research and extension beyond technical problem-solving. Yet in practice few of the personal, political, and experiential aspects of this process are addressed. This paper aims to draw attention to these elements of practice and to locate research and extension within wider social processes. Through a critique of conventional methodological strategies, this paper considers the possibilities offered by “participatory” alternatives. Considering the scope and objectives of agricultural development raises a series of methodological questions: What counts as knowledge? Who defines and represents this knowledge? Whose knowledge counts? Knowledge for what? Knowledge for whom? The paper goes on to assess a number of these “new” methodologies, within and beyond agricultural development. Through a consideration of their strengths and weaknesses, a series of further issues are highlighted for future methodological development. It is argued that for agricultural research and extension to acknowledge process, closer attention needs to be paid to context. The activities of research and extension need to be set in time. Strategies are needed to explore and address diversity and difference in communities. Situating the actors and agencies involved in development within relations of power involves addressing—and redressing—the nature of interactions between these actors. These changes require not an ever increasing array of methods, it is argued, but new approaches to learning. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 1994
Year of publication: |
1994
|
---|---|
Authors: | Cornwall, Andrea ; Guijt, Irene ; Welbourn, Alice |
Published in: |
Agriculture and Human Values. - Springer, ISSN 0889-048X. - Vol. 11.1994, 2, p. 38-57
|
Publisher: |
Springer |
Saved in:
Online Resource
Saved in favorites
Similar items by person
-
Acknowledging process : challenges for agricultural research and extension methodology
Cornwall, Andrea, (1993)
-
Welbourn, Alice, (2006)
-
Does Impact Evaluation in Development Matter? Well, It Depends What It’s For!
Guijt, Irene, (2014)
- More ...