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Methodological Choice and Design pp 187–201Cite as

The Challenge of Comparative Research : A Critical Introduction

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Part of the book series: Methodos Series ((METH,volume 9))

Abstract

Thinking comparatively is a state of mind. Scholars of comparative religion, comparative anatomy, comparative sociology, and comparative politics have long grappled with how to develop a systematic science of comparison. Philosophers such as John Stuart Mill (1843, A system of logic, ratiocinative and inductive) also contributed significantly to the art of thinking comparatively. More recently, comparative research in education has been influenced by diverse currents, drawn from positivism/scientism; dependency theory, post-colonialism, globalisation and studies of diaspora, the latter two of which have problematised the taken-for-granted status of the nation-state as unit of analysis. Common to many such efforts is the ongoing effort to understand, articulate, and refine, both the rationale for comparison, and appropriate theories and methods of comparative research. This chapter reviews what it means to think comparatively, what it can contribute to educational research, and some of the major schemas on how to go about it.

Without comparisons, we could neither talk nor think.

(Deutsch , Dominguez & Heclo , 1981 p. 4)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education and Social Work, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Anthony Welch

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Correspondence to Anthony Welch .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Fac. Education & Social Work, University of Sydney, Sydney, 2006, New South Wales, Australia

    Lina Markauskaite

  2. Fac. Education & Social Work, University of Sydney, Sydney, 2006, New South Wales, Australia

    Peter Freebody

  3. Fac. Education & Social Work, University of Sydney, Sydney, 2006, New South Wales, Australia

    Jude Irwin

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Welch, A. (2011). The Challenge of Comparative Research : A Critical Introduction. In: Markauskaite, L., Freebody, P., Irwin, J. (eds) Methodological Choice and Design. Methodos Series, vol 9. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8933-5_17

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