Research Methods Events
Comparative Methods
Availability |  Fully booked |
Organising Department | NCRM, School of Social Sciences |
Organising Institution | NCRM, University of Southampton |
Location | Manchester University |
Country | |
Start date | 18/03/10 |
End date | 19/03/10 |
Contact | Jacqui Thorp Training Administrator National Centre for Research Methods University of Southampton Email: jmh6@soton.ac.uk Tel: 023 8059 4069 |
Website and registration | http://www.ncrm.ac.uk/TandE/events2010/0318/index.php |
Type of event | Residential up to 1 week |
Name of organiser, presenter or chair | Wendy Olsen, Senior Lecturer in Socio-Economic Research, University of Manchester |
Additional info | The course is designed for those doing comparative or case-study research, whether they have 3 cases or 30 cases or more. The methodological issues reviewed include how history, institutional context and quantitative data can be brought to bear on a comparative project (dealt with on the first morning); and new ways of doing mixed methods comparative research (first afternoon). We introduce NVIVO software for organising data about case-studies (second morning), explaining how case-studies might be useful for medium-N or small-N comparative research. In addition a serious discussion of causality is given. This offers a supplement to the usual mixed-methods discussions about which method is used first, which is dominant and how data support drawing conclusions. In qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), necessary conditions are distinguished from sufficient conditions. QCA assumes that the most interesting causes are ‘contingent’, i.e. not always present. The comparative researcher seeks to find cases that show contrasts. We examine three sample data sets to find out how these contrasts can lead to improved explanations of outcomes. The sampling issues are drawn together, and research design advice is provided (with a model protocol) in the final session. |
Cost | The fee is: 1. £60 - For UK registered postgraduate students 2. £120 �¢Ãƒ¯¿½Ãƒ¯¿½ For staff at UK academic institutions, ESRC funded researchers and registered charity organisations 3. £440 - For all other participants All fees include event materials, lunch, morning and afternoon tea. They do not include travel and accommodation costs. |
Level | Entry (no or almost no prior knowledge) |
Keywords | Comparative Research |
Funding | |
Establishment | NCRM |
Type of NCRM event |
