ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the methods that reveal community boundaries as defined by the research population, rather than as defined by the researcher. It considers the articulation of community boundaries within the qualitative data of the herper community case study through the structuring influences of place and legislation. The chapter presents a discussion of boundaries from within the social layer of the case study data, focuses on quantitative and qualitative analysis of discursive boundaries and the influence of gender as a shaping characteristic within the community. It draws on the qualitative data to provide a real world example of how internal and external boundaries are expressed in the case study community. The discussion of the herper community case study provides an example of how legislation and place provide insight into community boundaries. Social boundaries identified at the site of the individual, through the combination of whom they are willing to talk to about their interests and their demography.
