Realist synthesis methodology

This chapter provides a discussion of realist synthesis methodology, explaining its suitability for studying the outcomes of land reform interventions in complex socio-political and economic contexts. Realist synthesis allows us to make explicit the “program theory” underpinning the design of the interventions. Once made explicit, the program theories can be revised to explain how the interventions worked in practice and discuss what these findings imply for land reform policy. The chapter describes the steps followed to screen and select published articles and evaluations that provided data for the realist study, as well as how we applied the realist protocols for extracting, synthesizing, and assessing data.