Research methodology in best practice studies should strive to move beyond what Steven Kelman (Innovations in Government, Research, Recognition and Replication, 2008) refers to as the first generation quantitative studies. When relationships are measured researchers tend to explore how two or more variables are associated or related to one another or a change in one variable can affect change in the other. A study of best practices is in fact a study of measuring relationships and their sustainability which in turn also becomes the fundamental task of data analysis. Regression analysis is a statistical procedure to determine the relationship which may exist between one dependent variable and its impact upon the independent variable. This also leads to a kind of predicting responses or reactions to changes in the independent variables.

Research in micro-level practices has turned the tables or brought a ‘major paradigm shift’ (Lan and Anders,A Paradigmatic View of Contemporary Public Administration Research, 2000) for the users of objective, positivist research principles . Now there is greater need for a multidimensional approaches to research . White and Adams (1994) have summarized this argument as follows;

“ We are persuaded by the weight of historical and epistemological evidence that no single approach- even if accorded the highly positive label Science – is adequate for the conduct of research in public administration. If research is to be guided by reason, a diversity of approaches, honoring both practical and theoretical reasons, seems necessary.”

Many different types of research methods have been employed in the study of these micro experiments. Some of the most frequently used methods are that of Case Study Method, Ethnographic Action Research and the Historical-Legal Approach. A major component of research method is the participant observation in the midst of culture based behaviours, group based reactions, individual motivations and a record of social achievements which construct historical artifacts for case studies. Lately Eva Schiffer’s (2007) Net Mapping has proved to be an important research methodology to use in regions where people do not disclose much of the information on service delivery due to lack of knowledge or awareness. Net Mapping is a social network analysis tool invented by Eva Schiffer a post-doctoral fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington DC.http://www.ifpri.org/PUBS/dp/ifpridp00703.asp She was working on a project in Ghana with the Challenge Program on Water and Food The White Volta River Basin Board in rural Ghana, responsible for overseeing local water resources, was looking to enhance decision making among its many collaborators.