Research Paper

CASE STUDIES: THEORY AND PRACTICE IN NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Jim Crosthwaite1, Neil MacLeod2 and Bill Malcolm3

A paper submitted for the Proceedings of the Australian Association for Social Research Conference, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, February 1997. 1. Jim Crosthwaite is Research Fellow, Department of Agriculture and Resource Management at the University of Melbourne. He is on leave from the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Victoria where he has worked on economic and social issues associated with the conservation of biodiversity. 2. Neil MacLeod is a Senior Research Scientist at CSIRO Tropical Agriculture, St Lucia Queensland who has worked extensively on integrated research projects. He has a strong interest in extension and adoption. 3. Bill Malcolm is Associate Professor, Department of Agriculture and Resource Management at the University of Melbourne and has published, worked and taught extensively in farm management economics.

Abstract

Relevant research solves problems, and solving problems in present day agriculture and natural resource management increasingly involves drawing on knowledge from a range of disciplines. The mix of disciplinary knowledge appropriate to answer questions depends on the nature of the problem at hand. Research resource constraint means that there are trade-offs between the number of relevant cases which can be included in an analysis and the disciplinary breadth and depth brought to bear on each case. Thus there is a continuum of research methods ranging from techniques which deal in a shallow way with large numbers of cases and draw on a narrow range of disciplinary knowledge, focusing on a few features of each case, to the approach commonly called the case study method which typically deals with few cases and draws on a wide range of disciplinary knowledge to analyse complex systems in depth. Attention to theoretical questions concerning design of the analysis can enhance considerably the...