This book systematically investigates the past accomplishments and future agendas of contemporary comparative-historical analysis. Its core essays explore three major issues: the accumulation of knowledge in the field over the past three decades, the analytic tools used to study temporal process and historical patterns, and the methodologies available for making inferences and for building theories. The introductory and concluding essays situate the field as a whole by comparing it to alternative approaches within the social sciences. Comparative Historical Analysis in the Social Sciences will serve as an invaluable resource for scholars in the field, and it will represent a challenge to many other social scientists - especially those who have raised skeptical concerns about comparative-historical analysis in the past.

The first systematic guide to the tools researchers employ to explore and answer broad macro-historical questions in the social sciences.

This book situates comparative-historical analysis within contemporary debates in political science and explores the latest theoretical and conceptual advances.

This bright, engaging title provides a thorough and integrated review of comparative-historical methods. It sets out an intellectual history of comparative-historical analysis and presents the main methodological techniques employed by researchers, including: - comparative-historical analysis, - case-based methods, - comparative methods - data, case selection and theory. Matthew Lange has written a fresh, easy to follow introduction which showcases classic analyses, offers clear methodological examples and describes major methodological debates. It is a comprehensive, grounded book which understands the learning and research needs of students and researchers.

How to study the past using data Quantitative Analysis for Historical Social Science advances historical research in the social sciences by bridging the divide between qualitative and quantitative analysis. Gregory Wawro and Ira Katznelson argue for an expansion of the standard quantitative methodological toolkit with a set of innovative approaches that better capture nuances missed by more commonly used statistical methods. Demonstrating how to employ such promising tools, Wawro and Katznelson address the criticisms made by prominent historians and historically oriented social scientists regarding the shortcomings of mainstream quantitative approaches for studying the past. Traditional statistical methods have been inadequate in addressing temporality, periodicity, specificity, and context—features central to good historical analysis. To address these shortcomings, Wawro and Katznelson argue for the application of alternative approaches that are particularly well-suited to incorporating these features in empirical investigations. The authors demonstrate the advantages of these techniques with replications of research that locate structural breaks and uncover temporal evolution. They develop new practices for testing claims about path dependence in time-series data, and they discuss the promise and perils of using historical approaches to enhance causal inference. Opening a dialogue among traditional qualitative scholars and applied quantitative social scientists focusing on history, Quantitative Analysis for Historical Social Science illustrates powerful ways to move historical social science research forward.

Comparison is an essential research method in political science. This book helps students to understand comparison as a scientific instrument, to grasp its necessity and its effective purpose for research. For that reason, it replies to three ‘simple’ questions: why compare, what to compare, and how to compare. The introduction distinguishes itself by considering not only the comparative tradition but also by taking methodological innovations of the last two decades into account.

No detailed description available for "Comparative Research across Cultures and Nations".

Gale Researcher Guide for: The Comparative-Historical Method is selected from Gale's academic platform Gale Researcher. These study guides provide peer-reviewed articles that allow students early success in finding scholarly materials and to gain the confidence and vocabulary needed to pursue deeper research.

Even after teaching generations of social scientists, Neil Smelser's classic study remains the most definitive statement of methodological issues for comparative scholars in political science, anthropology, sociology, economics, and psychology. These issues are timeless and therefore the lucid analysis remains timely and relevant—offering a unique clarity to working scholars, as well as students fighting their way through the methodological thickets of comparative studies. Smelser posits a methodological continuity between the comparative studies of past masters and the more recent flow of contemporary comparative work. To that end, he takes a pragmatic, critical look at the classic studies of Alexis de Tocqueville, Émile Durkheim, and Max Weber. His analyses respect the historical specifics and contexts of their work, but also raise general issues such as cross-unit comparability, empirical representation of theoretical concepts and measures, and historical causality. The book further deals with the ongoing flows of comparative study in the social sciences, which, while methodologically more self-conscious than past work, nevertheless face a common set of issues, including causation, classification, and reducing bias. This book is one of the most well-known and frequently referenced studies of methodology and historical applications in the social sciences, and how the approaches vary by disciplines. It is written by the internationally recognized expert on the intersection of sociology with economics, psychology, and political science. An enduring resource, it is presented now as part of the Classics of the Social Sciences Series from Quid Pro Books.