A transparent and auditable framework for selecting rural study sites in water governance research: application to Chile

Background Rural site selection in place-based research is often influenced by convenience and operational constraints, yet the procedures used to select study locations are not always explicitly documented. This can limit transparency, auditability, and comparability across studies. Objective To develop and empirically illustrate a transparent and auditable framework for selecting rural study sites for water-governance research using publicly available indicators and documentary evidence. Methods This was an exploratory methodological framework-development study with an empirical application. The framework was applied in Chile through five sequential steps: (i) defining the initial selection universe; (ii) applying a rurality eligibility filter; (iii) conducting contextual stratification using regional infant-mortality tertiles as a contextual proxy for under-five mortality because an official comparable under-five indicator was unavailable at the required subnational scale; (iv) applying a Chile-specific population threshold of ≥10,000 inhabitants as an operational feasibility rule; and (v) assessing water-governance relevance using a seven-domain binary screening checklist based on publicly available documentary evidence. The checklist records the documented presence of predefined thematic domains and is not intended to measure their severity or intensity. For the Chilean empirical application, a one-site-per-stratum comparative design was used to preserve contextual contrast; a Chile-specific proximity-to-UDLA rule was used to order assessment among otherwise eligible municipalities, and assessment stopped when the first municipality met all seven domains. Results The initial universe comprised 346 municipalities. After exclusion of Antarctica, application of the rurality filter, and the Chile-specific population threshold, 96 municipalities remained eligible for thematic assessment. Teno, Nogales, and Florida were the first municipalities assessed within the lower-, middle-, and higher-mortality strata, respectively, and each presented documentary evidence for all seven predefined water-governance domains. Conclusions The framework converts rural site selection into an explicit and auditable sequence of methodological decisions while distinguishing transferable selection principles from context-specific indicators, feasibility rules, and implementation considerations. The Chilean application demonstrates the feasibility and traceability of the approach, while inter-evaluator reproducibility and transferability across settings remain to be examined in future applications.