ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the research methods used to explore the various elements and describes the two rural case study areas in which the in-depth phase of the research was undertaken. The counties of Dyfed and Powys were chosen as the remote rural case study area as they exhibited a very high concentration of telecottages, and as such provided an ideal area to explore the effectiveness of agencies in influencing the development of telework. Self-employment, with no employees forms by far the greatest component of total self-employment, with just over two-thirds of those in self-employment in both areas working alone. The chapter aims to gain an in-depth understanding of the perceptions, characteristics, experiences and motivations of three sets of respondents, namely teleworkers, organisations and agencies, without assuming any prior knowledge of all the issues. It presents the details of methodologies involved in collection and analysis of the data as well as providing some background information for the two case study areas.
