Research Design

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the degree of convergence of higher education policies due to the Bologna Process as well as the conditioning influence of domestic factors on the degree of convergence. According to Boehmke, international policy convergence occurs “whenever a state’s policy moves closer to a policy in another state” (2009a, p. 1126). Policy convergence can arise from emulation or coincidence; it describes the end result of a process of policy change towards some common point over time (Knill, 2005). Four basic approaches to assess convergence can be distinguished: sigma, beta, gamma, and delta convergence (see Section 3.1.2). In a cross-national context, sigma (σ-) convergence is basically defined as a decrease in variation of domestic policies among countries. It can, therefore, be delineated as the type of convergence describing a process of increasing similarities of policies between states in a certain policy field over time. In this study, we focus on sigma convergence. While investigating the influence of domestic factors on sigma convergence, international factors — in this study the influence of transnational communication in the realm of the Bologna Process — are held constant. In the following, we explicate our sample, the period of investigation, the operationalization of the dependent and independent variables as well as methods used and the process of data gathering.