Master
2022/2023
Comparative Research Designs and Methods
Type:
Elective course (Comparative Social Research)
Area of studies:
Sociology
Delivered by:
School of Sociology
Where:
Faculty of Social Sciences
When:
2 year, 1 module
Mode of studies:
distance learning
Online hours:
16
Open to:
students of one campus
Instructors:
Ekaterina Mitrofanova
Master’s programme:
Comparative Soсial Research
Language:
English
ECTS credits:
4
Contact hours:
6
Course Syllabus
Abstract
The ability to compare effectively involves the ability to be clearheaded about what is to be compared. Questions regarding the “unit of analysis/comparison” are therefore at the center of any comparative endeavor in sociology and the social sciences more generally. These questions are approached in this course primarily from a meta-theoretical vantage point. Accordingly, we will focus not so much on “what is compared” as on “what sort of thing is compared” and on “how to go about comparing it”.https://www.edx.org/course/comparative-research-designs-and-methods
Learning Objectives
- An understanding of systematic comparative analysis and why it is more useful than other broad-based statistical methods
- How to use systematic comparative analysis for constructive explanation and theory building
- How to apply systematic comparative analysis to real-world politics
Expected Learning Outcomes
- Acquire practical skills in conducting a comparative usability study
- Know the major concepts of comparative sociology
- Know the foundational classics of comparative social research
- Know Charles Tilly´s distinction between different types of comparison in social science
- Able to discuss the main differences between case-oriented and variable-oriented research designs and to discuss various forms of case selection in empirical studies.
- Able to debate on culture and historical processes from a comparative perspective
Course Contents
- SESSION ONE: Introduction
- SESSION TWO: Two Programs of Comparative Social Research
- SESSION THREE: Conceptionalizing Types of Comparison
- SESSION FOUR: Variables and Cases in Comparative Research Designs
- SESSION FIVE: Empirical Cross-national Comparative Research
- SESSION SIX: Issues of Qualitative Comparative Research
- SESSION SEVEN: Case-Orientated & Small N Comparison
- SESSION EIGHT: Central Issues of Comparative Social Analysis I
- SESSION NINE: Central Issues of Comparative Social Analysis II
- SESSION TEN: Central Issues of Comparative Social Analysis III
Bibliography
Recommended Core Bibliography
- A handbook of comparative social policy, , 2013
- Fishman, J., Sasaki, M., Zimmermann, E., Goldstone, J., & Sanderson, S. K. (2014). Concise Encyclopedia of Comparative Sociology. Leiden: Brill. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1587280
- Kennett, P. (2004). A Handbook of Comparative Social Policy. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Recommended Additional Bibliography
- Comparative social evolution, , 2017
- Comparative social policy : theory and research, Kennett, P., 2001
- Fleming, W. G. (1970). The Logic of Comparative Social Inquiry. By Adam Przeworski and Henry Teune. (New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1970. Pp. 153. $8.50.). American Political Science Review, 4, 1255.
- Sechiyama, K. (2013). Patriarchy in East Asia : A Comparative Sociology of Gender. Brill.