THIS GUIDE STARTS with the premise that “History adds new questions to development thinking, and adequate research tools tend to lag behind” and sets out to overcome this inadequacy by giving practical suggestions and describing field study methodologies which can be used as effective tools for new development approaches. In this light the author focuses less on conventional, more established field study methods and more on those associated with rapid and participatory research. The book is targeted at development researchers and practitioners from both the North and the South, and is intended for use both as a teaching and a research manual. The introduction gives a brief outline of the book. This is followed by a chapter which examines issues in “current development thinking”, including “populist” approaches to development, drawing on popular knowledge, the call for a multidisciplinary perspective, chapter describes the approach and structure of community action planning, with subsections which consider individual components such as land regularization and community construction contracts. The third chapter discusses the extension of this settlement upgrading approach into economic activities including lending for micro-enterprise development. This has been mainly undertaken through a related organization, the Praja Sahayaka Service. The fourth chapter considers the “impacts and achievements” of this approach and the associated programmes of activity. The final chapter draws lessons from the experiences of implementing community action planning for other programmes. The author discusses what worked smoothly and where problems in implementation were identified