Community Re-Studies: Lessons and Prospects

Abstract

Community re-studies have played an important role in the development of knowledge about social relationships and social change although they have had a chequered history. Assessments of their value vary according to whether they are approached as replications of earlier studies or as a different type of project. Re-studies have the potential to undermine the credibility of earlier studies but they can also fill in gaps and provide the basis for assessment of social change at a local level. They are generally characterized by methodological and theoretical innovation, learning from and building on what has gone before and contributing to an accumulating body of knowledge about community relations and how to study them.