ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the methodology employed for the research and examine the choice of spatial and time scales, and how this lead to a focus on one village and the period between 1987 and 1997. Diocesan Development Services(DDS) took the decision to focus on an individual village as the spatial unit for studying sustainability, but the rationale differed from that of Izac and Swift. A village in Igalaland was selected by applying the following criteria: a long history of engagement with DDS, the population had to be greater than 500 but less than 5,000, and a dds staff had to be resident in the village or living close to the village. DDS had been involved in crop extension in Eroke since 1976, and since the early 1980s a number of on-farm research trials had been implemented with the major crops. A census was carried out in 1993, to gain an overview of the composition of the population in Eroke.
