*3.1. Description of the Study Area*

The research was conducted in the peri-urban area of Debre Markos town, the capital of East Gojjam. East Gojjam is one of the 11 administrative zones in Amhara National Regional State (ANRS) of Ethiopia (see Figure 1). Debre Markos currently demonstrates a high rate of urban expansion [49].

**Figure 1.** Map of the study areas.

The study areas comprise the peri-urban kebeles of Debre Markos town within the range of 5 km. The land use pattern of the study areas is dominated by a heterogeneous mosaic of agricultural, forest, meadow, and residential land. Due to urban expansion, the municipality has begun to expropriate and transform agricultural land in the peri-urban areas at a rapid pace. The main reasons for selecting this area for the investigations were the rapid urbanization and the current high rate of land tenure transformation.

In addition, three rural kebeles, Chimbord Yezangera, Leklekita, and Kebi, were selected for the investigation in order to compare land tenure disputes in both peri-urban and rural scenarios. The kebeles are close to the peri-urban fringe with an expected changing socio-demographic situation. Initially, the intention was to investigate land tenure disputes during the previous 10 years, but it was difficult for some respondents to remember details of disputes from a decade earlier. Thus, the potential cases were limited to those within the past five years.

## *3.2. Methods of Data Collection*

In this study, both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from primary and secondary sources. The quantitative data were obtained from respondents whereas qualitative data were collected from focus group discussion, legal documents, and key informant interviews.

A preliminary study was carried out in the sample area with the objective of obtaining a general overview of the peri-urban areas and input data for the selection of respondents. Discussions with relevant offices were conducted to obtain basic information and retrieve secondary data. The lists of all landholders in the study's peri-urban areas were recorded, and the lists of landholders in the selected rural kebeles were obtained from the Gozamin Environmental Protection, Land Administration, and Land Use Office. From these lists, 200 respondents from the peri-urban areas and 200 respondents from the rural kebeles were selected randomly. There was an equal probability of selecting respondents who had/had not been involved in land tenure disputes. In addition, during the selection of households, the age and gender distributions in the area were taken into account.

The techniques of data collection in survey research can be face-to-face interviews, telephone interviews, mail questionnaire, self-administered questionnaire, and web surveys [61]. This research involved face-to-face-interviews to gather the necessary data. Face-to-face interviews are preferable as the interviewer communicates personally with each respondent, asks questions, and records their responses [61]. The face-to-face interaction in survey research has many advantages. It stimulates a higher response rate and helps to properly manage longer and more complex questionnaires. In addition, the interviewer has control over the process, and enables respondents to better understand the questions. The interviews were based on a prepared questionnaire. Pre-testing of the questionnaire (see the Appendix A) was conducted before beginning the primary data collection process.

Two focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted with six members each from the peri-urban areas and the rural kebeles. The participants were experts of the rural and urban wereda courts as well as from justice offices. The experts provided general information about land dispute cases in peri-urban areas, as the legal bodies are particularly responsible for land disputes that are heard in court. A checklist was prepared to collect qualitative data during the FGD. This facilitated the assessment of detailed information and the triangulation of data from the respondents' surveys. Secondary data were collected by reviewing published and unpublished documents from the relevant offices.

Descriptive statistics were employed to analyze quantitative as well as qualitative data by using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS Version 20). Mean values, standard deviations, and percentages of the collected data were calculated for the final investigations. In the analysis of data, every questionnaire was coded and checked.

#### **4. Results**
