THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF IDENTIFYING MARGINAL RURAL AREAS IN THE SLOVAK AND CZECH STUDIES

This article is devoted to the topic of rural areas in terms of theoretical and methodological aspects of identifying marginal areas with an emphasis on Slovak and Czech studies. Concept of marginality and peripherality in geography is closely linked to rural areas. However, these attributes may not be applied on rural environment exclusively. There are several discrepancies with its application - from theoretical approaches to understanding this concept as well as in applying different methods when identifying marginal and peripheral regions. Thus, based on brief theoretical input we try to present practical examples and studies related to the identification of marginal regions in Slovakia and Czech Republic with an emphasis on methodology and selected indicators. Through the analysis of 13 selected scientific papers we have focused on the character of the study, number of indicators and frequency of its usage when identifying marginal and peripheral regions. Since most of the studies within this issue uses quantitative methods, we aimed to provide not only an overview of these methods, but also point out specific features of data collecting and processing, as well as outline alternative approaches for identifying marginal rural areas - qualitative methods that can enrich this topic.