The Case Study Method in Examining Land Registration Usage

Abstract

The case study method is appropriate for examining how and why landholders choose to use or not use land registration to effect transactions after first registration. The paper covers two related approaches to building theory that explains land registration usage behaviour. The methodologies may be extended to examining usage of other forms of land tenure information system (LTIS). Land titling and registration projects have proliferated in the developing world since World War II, often motivated by the theory that economic benefits will flow from the capital vested in the land that is freed up as a consequence of registration. Many of these projects fail to produce the desired results because the intended beneficiaries do not register transactions after first registration. Surprisingly, few studies investigate the reasons for the failure of land titling projects from the perspective of the intended beneficiaries. The case study method is suited to examine the strategies that landholders use to secure transactions. The advantages of case studies are that they may include all the data the researcher deems relevant, they emphasise the local context, and certain phenomena may be examined more deeply than other methods of inquiry allow. In case studies, researchers can examine issues at the grassroots level while at the same time incorporating the influences of local politics, social change, land administration agency behaviour and the influence of local and national law and policy.