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MENDELNET 2013THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL ASPECTS OFIDENTIFYING MARGINAL RURAL AREAS IN THE SLOVAKAND CZECH STUDIESMáliková L.Department of Human Geography and Demography, Faculty of Natural Sciences,Comenius University in Bratislava, Mlynská Dolina 842 15, Slovak RepublicE-mail: malikova@fns.uniba.skABSTRACTThis article is devoted to the topic of rural areas in terms of theoretical and methodological aspectsof identifying marginal areas with an emphasis on Slovak and Czech studies. Concept ofmarginality and peripherality in geography is closely linked to rural areas. However, theseattributes may not be applied on rural environment exclusively. There are several discrepancieswith its application – from theoretical approaches to understanding this concept as well as inapplying different methods when identifying marginal and peripheral regions. Thus, based on brieftheoretical input we try to present practical examples and studies related to the identification ofmarginal regions in Slovakia and Czech Republic with an emphasis on methodology and selectedindicators. Through the analysis of 13 selected scientific papers we have focused on the characterof the study, number of indicators and frequency of its usage when identifying marginal andperipheral regions. Since most of the studies within this issue uses quantitative methods, we aimedto provide not only an overview of these methods, but also point out specific features of datacollecting and processing, as well as outline alternative approaches for identifying marginal ruralareas – qualitative methods that can enrich this topic.Key words: marginality, peripherality, rural areas, methodology, indicators459 | P age