Small and Large-N Comparative Solutions
Date: 22nd - 23rd September 2005
Venue: University of Sussex
Comparative research has at its heart the ambition of generalisability and of having a breadth that is unavailable to case study approaches, but it is hampered by the practical difficulties of funding and facilitating widescale comparative projects. This tension is usually resolved either in favour of depth without breadth (through in-depth narrowly-oriented projects) or breadth without depth (through large, often quantitative, cross-national comparative projects seeking to garner basic data from multiple cases). The work of King, Keohane and Verba has forced comparative researchers to recognise the costs of either of these strategies and therefore we need to think more creatively about meeting the challenge. This workshop is focused around the particular issues that this trade-off raises for comparative researchers. The aim of the workshop is explore two potential (but very different) solutions to this problem. The two approaches identified and discussed in the seminars would be: (1) The use of Boolean analysis and fuzzy set analysis. This is a technique that can be used to maintain empirical rigour through looking intensively at a small number of cases and through formal logical analysis can yield greater empirical purchase on the small data size through the use of fuzzy case logic by Ragin; (2) The uses and challenges of multi-researcher multi-case multi-site analysis (MRMCMS). Using a large number of researchers from different intellectual contexts to come together to provide broad but in-depth comparative analysis of particular cases offers the hope of both in-depth and wide-reaching empirical research. But it also brings with it the challenges of (a) co-ordination and (b) synthesis.
Speakers
| John Holmwood | University of Sussex |
| Paul Taggart | University of Sussex |
| Charles Ragin | UC Berkeley |
| Jackie O'Reilly | University of Sussex |
| Chris Pickvance | University of Kent |
| Benoit Rihoux | Universite Catholique de Louvain |
| Charles Lees | University of Sheffield |
| Rosemary Crompton | City University |
| Mick Dunford | Sussex |
| Jan-Erik Lane | University of Geneva |
| Barry Cooper | University of Durham |
| Thomas Poguntke | University of Birmingham |
| Hilary Silver | Brown |
| Adrian Favell | UCLA |
| Paul Webb | University of Sussex |
Course Outline (Programme)
Thursday 22nd September
| 11:00 - 11:30am | Introduction John Holmwood, Paul Taggart |
| 11:30 - 12:45pm | Panel 1 Keynote Address 'The Challenge of Small-N Research' Charles Ragin (UC Berkeley) |
| 13:00 14:00pm | Lunch |
| 14:00 - 15:30 pm | Panel 2 Four Frameworks of Analysis: Approaches in Political Economy |
| 16:00 - 17:30pm | Panel 3 'We are all comparativists now'. Why and how single-country scholarship must adapt and incorporate the comparative politics approach Charles Lees (University of Sheffield) Comparing Portugal and the UK Linking Aggregate and Case Study/Micro Research: often in a comparative context and often using mixed methods Mick Dunford (Sussex) |
| 19:00 - 22:00pm | Conference Dinner (Quod) |
Friday 23rd September
| 09:30 - 11:00am | Panel 4 Realism and Methodology in Political Science: Our Need for Generalisations Jan-Erik Lane (University of Geneva) On Applying Ragin's Crisp and Fuzzy Set QCA to Large Datasets Barry Cooper (University of Durham) |
| 11:30 - 13:00pm | Panel 5 Comparing Presidentialisation? Thomas Poguntke (University of Birmingham) & Paul Webb (University of Sussex) The Methodology of Doing Social Exclusion of Homelessness Hilary Silver (Brown) Methods of Mobility: Reflections on the PIONEUR and Eurostars/Eurocities Projects on Mobile European Populations |
| 13:00 - 14:00pm | Lunch |
| 14:00 - 15:30pm | Roundtable Charles Ragin, Paul Webb, Jackie O'Reilly |
Location
IDS Room 121
The seminar will be held at:
University of Sussex
Duration
Thursday 11:00pm – 10:00pm
Friday 09:30am – 3:30pm
Contact
Email:j.holmwood@sussex.ac.uk