The comparative method in the social sciences 1600-SZD-WM-MPNS
The following problems with be discussed:
1. Schools and strands within the comparative method
2. Why compare? The advantages and disadvantages of the comparative method
3. What can be compared? Units and levels of analysis, the problem of equivalence
4. The role of theory in comparative research
5. Case selection (comparative case study, small-N research, QCA, statistical analysis, the most similar system design v. the most different system design, etc.)
6. How to compare? Conceptualization and operationalization in comparative research
7. How to compare? Measurement
8. The quality of comparative research. How to avoid mistakes?
Type of course
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
Upon the completion of the course the student:
KNOWLEDGE
- describes the origins, foundations and applications of the comparative method
- recognizes main contemporary schools and strands in comparative research
SKILLS
- explains major dilemmas, debates and challenges concerning the application of the comparative method
- evaluates the usefulness of selected strategies for comparative research and their potential application in his or her own research or in that of other researchers
SOCIAL COMPETENCES
- uses the knowledge and skills obtained during the course in research practice and public activities
Assessment criteria
At the end of the course, students write a research proposal which applies the comparative method and subsequently they “defend” it orally to the instructor.
Reassessment has the same format.
Research proposals are assessed by checking whether they fulfil a model set of criteria established in the mainstream social science. Full details will be announced in the class.
Bibliography
1. Bartolini, Stefano. „On Time and Comparative Research”. Journal of Theoretical Politics 5, nr 2 (1993): 131–67.
2. Della Porta, Donatella, and Michael Keating. Approaches and Methodologies in the Social Sciences: A Pluralist Perspective. Cambridge University Press, 2008.
3. Lijphart, Arend. „Comparative Politics and the Comparative Method”. The American Political Science Review 65, nr 3 (1971): 682–93.
4. Lijphart, Arend. „The comparable-cases strategy in comparative research”. Comparative political studies 8, nr 2 (1975): 158.
5. Przeworski, Adam, and Henry Teune. The Logic of Comparative Social Inquiry. New York: Wiley, 1970.
6. Boswell, John, Jack Corbett, and R. A. W. Rhodes. The Art and Craft of Comparison. Strategies for Social Inquiry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019.
7. Ragin, Charles C. The Comparative Method: Moving Beyond Qualitative and Quantitative Strategies. Univ of California Press, 2014.
8. Lange, Matthew. Comparative-Historical Methods. SAGE, 2012.
9. Guy Peters, B. Strategies for Comparative Research in Political Science: Theory and Methods. Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.
10. Seawright, Jason. 2016. Multi-Method Social Science: Combining Qualitative and Quantitative Tools. Strategies for Social Inquiry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2016.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: