Comperative Research

Question 1

In which 3 ways can comperative methods be used?

Answer 1

1) To apply existing theory to new cases
2) To develop new theory or hypothesis
3) To test theory

Question 2

What is false uniqueness?

Answer 2

False uniqueness emphasisezes the specififity of the case entirely ignoring the social at work, and does not move beyond “thick description”.

Question 3

What is false universalism?

Answer 3

False universalism assumes that the theory tested in one country/ context will be applicable to other countries/ contexts.

Question 4

What is a theory-infirming or theory confirming approach?

Answer 4

It is an approach of use comparison to apply theory developed in one context (or case) to another. This is a “micro-representation”, which is designed to “test out “ in other national and cultural settings a proposition already validated in one setting.

Question 5

What types of comparision are there?

Answer 5

Case study, small N-study and large N -study

Question 6

What makes case studies comperative?

Answer 6

It is nearly always situated in a comperative context.

Question 7

What are two characteristics of a good case study?

Answer 7

1) They say something intresting and meaningful about the case that is being studied. The findings should be internily valid.
2) It should aim to say something more general, and engage with wider academic debates that might be applicable to another context and other cases. The findings should also propose theories or explenations that are externally valid.

Question 8

How is it possible to distinguish between the ways to choose cases (case selection)?

Answer 8

Researchers may select cases because they are critical (to testing theory), or reveloatory (reveal relationships which cannot be studied by other means) or unusual (throwing light on extreme cases).

Question 9

What is a crucial case?

Answer 9

A case is crucial if it can be regarded as cruical for the confirmatory or disconfirmation of a theory.

Question 10

What is process tracing?

Answer 10

Process tracing is a method used within-cases to investigate causual mechanisms underpinning the association between two varibles. It involves looking for evidence of pressures, incentives, motivations and decision-making calcualtions in any given instance of action.

Question 11

What are the key strenght of case studies?

Answer 11

They allow for a detalied analysis of political phenomena, with rich textual description. Because of this, they tend not to operate at high level of theoretical abstraction, and there is a good match between theory and evidence.

Question 12

What is the key advantage of small N study?

Answer 12

They allow for the detailed in-depth analysis of the case study, but at the same time provide greater scope for contextualization. It can be very useful for generating new ideas and answering questions.

Question 13

Why is selection bias at risk when it comes to small- N studies?

Answer 13

Because these studies are based on fewer cases, and the justification of case selection must be made clear.

Question 14

Which are the two main approaches that have been used for case selection of small-N studies?

Answer 14

It is Most Similar System Design (MSSD) and Most Different System Design (MDSM).

Question 15

What is MSSD based upon?

Answer 15

It is based upon selecting countires (or cases) that share many (theoretically) important characteristic but differ in one crucial aspect (related to the hypothesis of intrest). The shared characteristics acts as a control in order to test whether the crucial difference between the countries (or cases) is assosiated with the variation in the dependet variable.

Question 16

What is the logic of MDSD?

Answer 16

It is based on the idea of selecting cases that are different in most aspects and only similar on the key explanatory variable of intrest. Here, the compared countries or casesare very different from each other. With this approach, the observed differences on important variables act as a control to test whether the crucial similarity that the countires share is associated witht the dependet variable.

Question 17

What has been argued to be the best way to reduce the risk of case selection bias?

Answer 17

1) If possible, conduct a large N-study and select cases on random probability method.
2) Otherwise; select cases according to their characteristics on the iindependet variables.

This argument goes that if we select on the dependet variable and do not pay sufficent attention to the independet veribles, we may inwittingly exclude important factors from our analysis, or fail to control for them adequently.

Question 18

In small-N studies, what does “causuality is deterministic” refer to?

Answer 18

That is, in order to find evidence to support a hypothesis, the expected pattern needs to be observed in all cases. This obviously creates a problem, that is quite easy to reject a hypothesis that is actually true, just because one of the cases deviates from the expected pattern.

Question 19

What is Qualitative comperative analysis (intermediate N)?

Answer 19

A method which researchers use when exanaming a few cases at a time in detail, and look at how the different parts of a case fit together, both contectually and historically.

Question 20

Which are the two ways of doing Qualitative comperative analysis (QCA)?

Answer 20

1) Crisp Set; in which all variables in the analysis are treated as simple dichotomies (that is, the hypothesized causual condition is either present or absent).
2) Fuzzy Set; in which variables are allowed to take different values and are calibrated on an intervale scale between 0.0 and 1.0.

Question 21

What kind of questions do large-N studies usually answer?

Answer 21

The nature and direction of the relationship between economic development and democracy; the causes of ethnic conflict; the causes of civil war; the impact of party competition on social welfare; and the impact of international intervetnion on civil war.

Question 22

What are the advantages of large-N comperative research?

Answer 22

It allows us to test different hypothesis and make inferences about how variables are connected. In addition, these kinds of studies allows us to systematically examine the effect of many different variables and to knock down spourious assosiations.

Question 23

What is a big problem with analysing a lot of cases?

Answer 23

There is usually a trade-off between internal and exterrnal validity.