Methods for Development Work and Research: A New Guide for Practitioners
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consistent and structured exposition so typical of scientific writing. It is definitely not science, rather The Hidden Handshake is an outward expression of deeply held and felt anxieties concerning how one should try and find their place in the world around them. It is poetry in prose and, as such, a relaxing read that invites each of its readers to look deep inside themselves to discover what Debeljak has already discovered for himself.
Victor D. Bojkov London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
Methods for Development Work and Research: A New Guide for Practitioners Britha Mikkelsen Sage Publications, New Delhi, 2005, 376pp. ISBN: 0-7619-3328-X Journal of International Relations and Development (2007) 10, 84–87. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jird.1800101 In recent decades, development researchers have learned many lessons from the failures of development policies to reduce poverty in the world. It is now generally accepted in development studies that approaches with underlying modernization, dependency or neoliberal theories have suffered from a top-down approach inherent in the social sciences. ‘Development is not a technical fix’ (p. 27), says Britha Mikkelsen in the second, recently updated, edition of Methods for Development Work and Research, which was first published in 1995. The guide advocates a paradigmatic shift to a participatory bottom-up approach and presents a large array of methods to help local populations get involved in development planning and implementation. Despite its innovative tone, Mikkelsen’s position is not unrealistic. She does not dismiss the mainstream development discourse based on objective-oriented project cycle management and the Millennium Development Goals. Further, since the first edition of the book participation has been — at least in theory — included in countries’ Poverty Reduction Strategies as promoted by the World Bank, policies formerly ignored the interests of the poor. It would be more accurate, then, to consider the author’s contribution an attempt at synthesizing the traditional top-down approach to development favoured by donors with the new bottom-up participatory approach. The guide describes the actual methods already proven in practice, mostly by Scandinavian bilateral aid agencies, and lists their pros and cons. Causal diagrams, social maps, timelines and well-being matrixes, to cite only a few of the tools, help assess local resources, knowledge and the perception of poverty by the poor. These tools are often more graphical than textual to meet the needs of illiterate people. The methods are closely related to qualitative data, which are increasingly used in development. For instance, poverty measured by the type of housing observed in a specific region may reflect social realities better than costly and often unavailable economic indicators.
Book Reviews
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Some methods are ready to use without further reference and will be welcomed by all development workers. This particularly applies to interviews as the most important source of information. T
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