The challenge of combining quantitative and qualitative methods in Labour Force and livelihoods analysis: A case-study of Bangladesh

Development studies faces a major methodological challenge in combining large scale surveys of problematic accuracy in conceptualisation and measurement with local studies whose generalisation is questionable. This paper attempts to combine the overviews from highly aggregated quantitative Labour Force data, adjusted for child and underemployed labour, with insights from village level qualitative case studies to indicate the processes forming patterns of livelihoods in Bangladesh looking over a decade. Using this methodology the prognosis for the mass of people of Bangladesh is deeply worrying despite all their efforts to sustain and improve their income earning opportunities.