The Art and Craft of Comparison by John Boswell
Is it possible to compare French presidential politics with village leadership in rural India? Most social scientists are united in thinking such unlikely juxtapositions are not feasible. Boswell, Corbett and Rhodes argue that they are possible. This book explains why and how. It is a call to arms for interpretivists to embrace creatively comparative work. As well as explaining, defending and illustrating the comparative interpretive approach, this book is also an engaging, hands-on guide to doing comparative interpretive research, with chapters covering design, fieldwork, analysis and writing. The advice in each revolves around 'rules of thumb', grounded in experience, and illustrated through stories and examples from the authors' research in different contexts around the world. Naturalist and humanist traditions have thus far dominated the field but this book presents a real alternative to these two orthodoxies which expands the horizons of comparative analysis in social science research.-
Case Study Research
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Social Science History
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The Production of Knowledge
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Qualitative Causal Inference and Explanation
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Social Science Methodology
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Behind the Model
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Finding Pathways
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Natural Experiments in the Social Sciences
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Social Inquiry and Bayesian Inference
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Advances in Comparative-Historical Analysis
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Multi-Method Social Science
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Process Tracing
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Finding your Social Science Project
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The Case for Case Studies
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Set-Theoretic Methods for the Social Sciences
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Regression Inside Out
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Field Research in Political Science
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Integrated Inferences
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Democratization and Research Methods
'Against those who would seek to either constrict or suppress the comparative intuition, Boswell, Corbett, and Rhodes make a brilliant case for an open and artful use of comparison in the social sciencesComparing, they show, can be a creative act in which discovery, plausible conjecture, and unlikely juxtaposition figure prominently. A mind-opening perspective, colorfully presented, from which all social scientists can learn.' Frederic Schaffer, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
'… refreshingly honest, pragmatic and easy-to-follow, explaining how scholars within the broad interpretive tradition can adapt their research for comparative social science.' Marc Geddes, European Consortium for Political Research
'… refreshingly honest, pragmatic and easy-to-follow, explaining how scholars within the broad interpretive tradition can adapt their research for comparative social science.' Marc Geddes, European Consortium for Political Research
Rhodes, R. A. W.: - R. A. W. Rhodes is Professor of Government (Research) at the University of Southampton. He has authored or edited forty books and two hundred articles and book chapters, including Network Governance and the Differentiated Polity: Selected Essays, Volume I (2017); and Interpretive Political Science: Selected Essays, Volume II (2017). He is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and Britain.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781108472852 |
| ISBN 10 | 1108472850 |
| Title | The Art and Craft of Comparison |
| Author | John Boswell |
| Series | Strategies For Social Inquiry |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| Year published | 2019-10-24 |
| Number of pages | 174 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |