Strategies for Comparative Research in Political Science
In: Political Analysis Ser.
Cover -- Contents -- List of Key Texts -- List of Tables -- Preface -- 1 The Importance of Comparison -- Forms of comparative analysis -- Types of comparative studies -- The content of comparisons -- Cross-time comparisons -- Conclusion -- 2 The Logic of Comparison -- Comparative research design -- Research design and case selection -- Levels of analysis -- Threats to validity in non-experimental research -- Conclusion -- 3 The Number of Cases and Which Ones? -- Strategies with different numbers of cases -- Small-N research in general -- Conclusion -- 4 Measurement and Bias -- The traveling problem -- Typologies -- Triangulation -- Nominal categories -- Ideal-type analysis and measurement -- Conclusion -- 5 The Role of Theory in Comparative Politics -- Levels of explanation -- Macro-level theories -- Meso-level theories -- Micro-level theories -- State and society -- Conclusion -- 6 The Case Study -- Improving case research -- Case studies -- Conducting case research -- Defining cases -- The purposes of case research -- The case as process -- Issues in case study research -- The role of the case researcher -- Conclusion -- 7 Building on Case Analysis -- Meta-analysis -- Boolean algebra and cumulation -- Conclusion -- 8 Events Data and Change Over Time -- Events data -- The method -- Relationships with other methods -- Potential problems -- Conclusion -- 9 Statistical Analysis -- Statistical modes of explanation in comparative politics -- The question of time -- The problem of context -- Coping with a small N -- Secondary analysis -- Conclusion -- 10 The Future of Comparative Politics -- Territory or function: choices in comparison -- Theory and the restriction of perspective -- Methods and the restriction of vision -- The exceptional and the ordinary: what can we learn from each? -- Modesty, but hope -- The future of comparative politics.
