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Regular version of the site
Master 2024/2025

Approaches to Comparative Social Research

Type: Compulsory course (Comparative Social Research)
Area of studies: Sociology
Delivered by: School of Sociology
When: 1 year, 2, 3 module
Mode of studies: offline
Open to: students of one campus
Master’s programme: Comparative Soсial Research
Language: English
ECTS credits: 6
Contact hours: 40

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.” This course is designed to be a broad orientation to the different methodologies featured in the program in International Master in Comparative Social Research. The goal at hand is to strengthen whatever weaknesses the course attendees may have on the topic and to improve their ability to become, down the road, intelligent about methodology as well as proficient.
Learning Objectives

Learning Objectives

  • to study seminal texts in comparative social research
  • to learn basic concepts of comparative social research
  • to be able to construct productive research questions using approaches of comparative sociology
  • to learn to build comparative research designs in comparative social research
  • to be able to distinguish and apply various social data to comparative research questions
  • to learn to criticize and evaluate the quality of outcome of different forms of comparison
Expected Learning Outcomes

Expected Learning Outcomes

  • be able to meaningfully construct comparative research questions
  • understand basic principles of comparative social research
  • be able to criticize comparative studies
  • model comparative research designs in comparative social research
Course Contents

Course Contents

  • Introduction
  • Two Programs of Comparative Social Research
  • Conceptionalizing Types of Comparison
  • Variables and Cases in Comparative Research Designs
  • Empirical Cross-national Comparative Research
  • Issues of Qualitative Comparative Research
  • Case-Orientated & Small N Comparison
  • Central Issues of Comparative Social Analysis I
  • Central Issues of Comparative Social Analysis II
  • Central Issues of Comparative Social Analysis III
Assessment Elements

Assessment Elements

  • non-blocking Book review
  • non-blocking In-class activity
Interim Assessment

Interim Assessment

  • 2024/2025 3rd module
    0.5 * Book review + 0.2 * In-class activity + 0.3 * In-class activity
Bibliography

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

  • Blyton, P. (2001). The General and the Particular in Cross-National Comparative Research. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 50(4), 590–595. https://doi.org/10.1111/1464-0597.00074
  • Font, J., della Porta, D., & Sintomer, Y. (2012). Presentation. Methodological challenges in participation research. Revista Internacional de Sociología, (Extra_2), 9. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsdoj&AN=edsdoj.800e74344fc48fa94f8da80b7c6579b
  • Lieberson, S. (1991). Small N’s and Big Conclusions: An Examination of the Reasoning in Comparative Studies Based on a Small Number of Cases. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.5ACBF27C
  • Lijphart, A. (2011). Democratic Quality in Stable Democracies. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.A9BD1B40
  • Smelser, N. J. (1994). Sociological theories. International Social Science Journal, 46(139), 1. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=sih&AN=9504100912
  • Soskice, D. (2005). Varieties of Capitalism and Cross-National Gender Differences. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.CAFCCDD2
  • Tilly, C. (DE-588)121677117, (DE-576)163318476, 1929-2008. (2007). Democracy / Charles Tilly. Cambridge [u.a.]: Cambridge Univ. Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edswao&AN=edswao.263615383
  • Wiseman, A. W., & Popov, N. (2015). Comparative Science : Interdisciplinary Approaches (Vol. First edition). Bingley, England: Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=993133

Recommended Additional Bibliography

  • Crawford, B., & Lijphart, A. (1997). Liberalization and Leninist Legacies: Comparative Perspectives on Democratic Transitions. United States, North America: eScholarship, University of California. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.DB007F5
  • Hall, T. D. (2017). Comparing Globalizations : Historical and World-Systems Approaches. Cham: Springer. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1636710
  • Iversen, T., & Soskice, D. (2005). Electoral institutions, parties, and the politics of class: Why some democracies redistribute more than others. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.65DCFAFA
  • Kucera, D. (2007). Qualitative Indicators of Labour Standards : Comparative Methods and Applications. Dordrecht: Springer. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=196760
  • Rainer Bauböck, Donatella Della Porta, Ignacio Lago, & Camil Ungureanu. (2012). What methodological “wars” methodological pluralism? Revista Española de Ciencia Política, (29), 11. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsdoj&AN=edsdoj.2385852644e540ab804dd172189cabdd
  • Stroschein, S. (2004). From Contention to Coexistence in Local Politics: Mixed Cities in Central Europe. Conference Papers —— American Political Science Association, 1–34. https://doi.org/apsa_proceeding_29943.PDF
  • Tilly, C. (1998). Democratization. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edssch&AN=edssch.oai%3aescholarship.org%2fark%3a%2f13030%2fqt98t901j5

Authors

  • FRYOLIKH KRISTIAN -
  • Десятова Мария Ивановна
  • MITROFANOVA EKATERINA SERGEEVNA
  • Pobedonostsev Aleksei Vladimirovich