International Social Research Methods

References

A number of books provide an overview of the many aspects of researching in international contexts, and several have become classics in the theoretical and methods literature. The works listed below are grouped according to their disciplinary field.

You can download the following reference list in pdf here

General coverage of the comparative approaches in the social sciences

• Hantrais, L. (2005) 'Combining methods: a key to understanding complexity in European societies?', European Societies, 7(3): 399–421.
• Hantrais, L. (2009) International Comparative Research: theory, methods and practice, London / New York: Palgrave. http://www.palgrave.com/research/hantrais/ July 2012
• Hantrais, L. and Mangen, S. (eds) (1996) Cross-National Research Methods in the Social Sciences, London / New York: Pinter / Cassels.
• Hantrais, L. and Mangen, S. (eds) (2007) Cross-National Research Methodology & Practice, London / New York: Routledge.
• Lallement, M. and Spurk, J. (eds) (2003) Stratégies de la comparaison internationale, Paris: CNRS Éditions.
• Lewis, S. and Brannen, J. (2011) ‘Reflections on working in cross national teams’, in I. Jojer and S. Hojer (eds), Familj, vardagsliv och modernitet, Goteborg: Goteborg Universitet, pp. 275–87.
• Manning, S. (2010) ‘The strategic formation of project networks: a relational perspective’, Human Relations, 63 (4): 551–73.
• Øyen, E. (ed.) (1990) Comparative Methodology: theory and practice in international social research, London / Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
• Przeworski, A. and Teune, H. (1970) The Logic of Comparative Social Inquiry, 1st edn, New York / London: John Wiley & Sons.
• Ragin, C. (1987) The Comparative Method: moving beyond qualitative and quantitative strategies, Berkeley, CA / London: University of California Press.
• de Vaus, D. (2008) ‘Comparative and cross-national designs’, chapter 15 in P. Aluusatari, L. Bickman and J. Brannen (eds), Handbook of Social Research, London: Sage.
• Vigour, C. (2005) La Comparaison dans les sciences sociales: pratiques et méthodes, Paris: La Découverte.
• Warwick, D.P. and Osherson, S. (eds), Comparative Research Methods, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Comparative social research and social surveys
Armer, M. and Grimshaw, A.D. (eds) (1973) Comparative Social Research: methodological problems and strategies, London / New York: John Wiley & Sons. Atkinson, A.B. and Marlier, E. (eds) (2010) Income and living conditions in Europe, Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities (see especially chapters 2 and 3). http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-31-10-555/EN/KS-31-10-555-EN.PDF/ June 2012. Bradshaw, J. and Richardson, D. (2009) ‘An Index of Child Well-Being in Europe’, Child Indicators Research, 2(3): 319–51. Harkness, J.A., Van de Vijver, F.J.R. and Mohler, P.Ph. (eds) (2003) Cross-Cultural Survey Methods, Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Harkness (ed.) (1998) Cross-Cultural Survey Equivalence, ZUMA-Nachrichten Spezial Band 3, Mannheim: ZUMA. Jowell, R., Roberts, C., Fitzgerald, R. and Eva, G. (eds) (2007b) Measuring Attitudes Cross-Nationally: lessons from the European Social Survey, London / Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Rokkan, S., Verba, S., Viet, J. and Almasy, E. (eds) (1969) Comparative Survey Analysis, Paris / The Hague: Mouton. Szalai, A. and Petrella, R. (eds) (1977) Cross-National Comparative Survey Research: theory and practice, Oxford / New York: Pergamon Press. Stoop, I., Billiet, J., Koch, A. and Fitzgerald, R. (2010) Improving Survey Response: lessons learned from the European Social Survey, New York: John Wiley & Sons. Verma, V. and Betti, G. (2010) ‘Data accuracy in EU-SILC’, in A.B. Atkinson and E. Marlier (eds), Income and Living Conditions in Europe, Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, pp. 57–77. http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-31-10-555/EN/KS-31-10-555-EN.PDF/ June 2012. Wolff, P., Montaigne, F. and Rojas Gonzáles, G. (2010) ‘Investing in statistics’, in A.B. Atkinson and E. Marlier (eds), Income and Living Conditions in Europe, Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, pp. 37–55. http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-31-10-555/EN/KS-31-10-555-EN.PDF/ February 2012.
Comparative qualitative social research methods and studies
Blossfeld, H-P. (2009) ‘Comparative life course research: a cross-national and longitudinal perspective’, in G. Elder and J. Giele (eds), The Craft of Life Course Research, New York: Guilford Press, pp. 280–306. Brannen, J., Lewis, S., Nilsen, A. and Smithson, J. (eds) (2002) Young Europeans, Work and Family: futures in transition, London: Routledge. Brannen, J. and Nilsen, A. (2011) ‘Comparative biographies in case-based cross-national research: methodological considerations’, Sociology, 45 (4): 603–19. Cameron, C. (ed.) (2003) Cross-National Qualitative Methods, EUR 20737, Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities. Cronin, A., Alexander, V.D., Fielding, J., Moran-Ellis, J. and Thomas, H. (2008) ‘The analytic integration of qualitative data sources’, in P. Aluusatari, L. Bickman and J. Brannen (eds), Handbook of Social Research, London: Sage, pp. 572–84. Gomm, R, Hammersley, M. and Foster, P. (eds) (2000) Case Study Method, London: Sage. Kucera, D. (ed.) (2010) Qualitative Indicators of Labour Standards: comparative methods and applications, Dordrecht: Springer. Lewis, S., Brannen, J. and Nilsen, A. (eds) (2009) Work, Families and Organisations in Transition. Bristol: Policy Press. Mangen, S. (1999) ‘Qualitative research methods in cross-national settings’, International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 2 (2): 109–24 (available on-line). Republished in L. Hantrais and S. Mangen (eds) (2009), in Cross-National Research Methodology and Practice, London: Routledge, pp. 19–34. Nilsen, A., Brannen, J. and Lewis, S. (2012) (eds) Transitions to Parenthood in a Life Course Perspective: gendered cross-European comparisons, Bristol: Policy Press. Yin, R.K. (2003) Case Study Research: design and methods, 3rd edn, London: Sage.
Comparative sociology
Eyers, I. (2004) ‘Comparative multi-methods approaches to researching the care of older people’, Cross-National Research Papers, 7 (2): 30–8. www.xnat.org.uk/ February 2012. Kohn, M.L. (1987) ‘Cross-national research as an analytic strategy, American Sociological Association 1987 Presidential Address’, American Sociological Review, 52 (6): 713–31. Kohn, M.L. (ed.) (1989) Cross-National Research in Sociology, Newbury Park, CA / London: Sage. Kovacheva, S. (2001) ‘Flexibilisation of youth transitions in Central and Eastern Europe’, YOUNG, 9 (1): 41–60. Marsh, R.M. (1967) Comparative Sociology: a codification of cross-societal analysis, New York: Harcourt, Brace & World. Lewis, S., Brannen, J. and Nilsen, A. (eds) (2009) Work, Families and Organisations in Transition. Bristol: Policy Press. Marsh, R.M. (1967) Comparative Sociology: a codification of cross-societal analysis, New York: Harcourt, Brace & World. Nilsen, A., Brannen, J. and Lewis, S. (2012) (eds) Transitions to Parenthood in a Life Course Perspective: gendered cross-European comparisons, Bristol: Policy Press. Skocpol, T. and Somers, M. (1980) ‘The uses of comparative history in macrosocial inquiry’, Comparative Studies in Sociology and History, 22 (2): 174–97. Vallier, I. (ed.) (1971) Comparative Methods in Sociology: essays on trends and applications, Berkeley, CA / London: University of California Press.
Comparative anthropology and ethnology
Barth F. (on-line, 2010) ‘Comparative methodologies in the analysis of anthropological data’, in J. Bowen and R. Petersen (eds), Critical Comparisons in Politics and Culture (first published in 1999), pp. 78-89. Burawoy, M. (2009) The Extended Case Method: four countries, four decades, four great transformations, and one theoretical tradition, University of California Press. Detienne, M. (2008) Comparing the Incomparable: cultural memory in the present, trans. J. Lloyd, Stanford: Stanford University Press (first published in French as Comparer l'incomparable, Paris: Seuil, 2000). Holy, L. (ed.) (1987) Comparative Anthropology, Oxford / New York: Basil Blackwell. Schleiter, F. (2009) Religion and Culture: a critical survey of methods of approach to religious phenomena, Charleston: BiblioBazaar (first published 1919).
Comparative politics
Almond, G.A. (ed.) (1974) Comparative Politics Today: a world view, Boston / Toronto: Little, Brown and Company. Anckar, D. (2007) ‘Selecting cases in cross-national political research’, International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 10 (1): 49–61. Caramani, D. (ed.) (2008) Comparative Politics, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Dogan, M. and Kazancigil, A. (eds) (1994) Comparing Nations: concepts, strategies, substance, Oxford / Cambridge, MA: Blackwell. Groth, A.J. (1971) Comparative Politics: a distributive approach, New York / London: Collier–Macmillan. Hopkin, J. (2010) ‘The comparative method’, in D. Marsh and G. Stoker (eds), Theory and Methods in Political Science, 3rd edn, Basingstoke / New York: Palgrave Macmillan (1st edn 1995), pp. 285–307. Landmann, T. (2008) Issues and Methods in Comparative Politics: an introduction, 3rd edn, Abingdon / New York: Routledge (1st edn 2000). Lijphart, A. (1971) ‘Comparative politics and the comparative method’, American Political Science Review, 65 (3): 682–93. Lipset, S.M. and Rokkan, S. (eds) (1967) Party Systems and Voter Alignment: cross-national perspectives, New York / London: Free Press / Collier–Macmillan. Newton, K. and van Deth, J.W. (2009) Foundations of Comparative Politics, 2nd edn, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1st edn 2005). Pennings, P., Keman, H. and Kleinnijenhuis, J. (1999) Doing Research in Political Science: an introduction to comparative methods and statistics, London / Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Peters, B.G. (1998) Comparative Politics: theory and method, New York: New York University Press. Rokkan, S. (ed.) (1968) Comparative Research across Cultures and Nations, Paris / The Hague: Mouton. Rose, R. (1991) ‘Comparing forms of comparative analysis’, Political Studies, 39 (3): 446–62. Lichbach, M.I. and Zuckerman, A.S. (eds) (1997) Comparative Politics: rationality, culture, and structure, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Sartori, G. (ed.) (1984) Social Science Concepts: a systematic analysis, Beverly Hills, CA / London: Sage. Sartori, G. (1991) ‘Comparing and miscomparing’, Journal of Theoretical Politics, 3 (3): 243–57. Scarrow, H.A. (1969) Comparative Political Analysis: an introduction, New York / London: Harper & Row.
Comparative law
Chodosh, H.E. (2005) Global Justice Reform: a comparative methodology, New York / London: New York University Press. De Cruz, P. (2007) Comparative Law in a Changing World, 3rd edn, London / New York: Routledge–Cavendish (1st edn 1995). David, R. and Brierley, J.E.C. (1985) Major Legal Systems in the World Today, 3rd edn, London: Stevens (1st English edn 1966; 1st French edn 1964). Glenn, P. (2010) Legal Traditions of the World: sustainable diversity in law, 4th edn, Oxford University Press (1st edn, 2000). Gutteridge, H.C. (1946) Comparative Law: an introduction to the comparative method of legal study and research, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Hall, J. (1963) Comparative Law and Social Theory, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. Merryman, J.H. (2007) The Civil Law Tradition: an introduction to the legal systems of Europe and Latin America, 3rd edn, Stanford: Stanford University Press (1st edn 1969). Örücü, E. and Nelken, D. (eds) (2007) Comparative Law: a handbook, Oxford: Hart. Reimann, M. and Zimmermann, R. (eds) (2008) The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Law, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Zweigert, K. and Kötz, H. (1998) Introduction to Comparative Law, T. Weir (trans.), 3rd edn, Oxford: Clarendon Press (1st English edn 1977; 1st German edn 1969–71).
Comparative political economy and organisations
Blyth, M. (2009) ‘An approach to comparative analysis, or a sub-field within a sub-field? Political economy’, in M. Lichbach and A. Zuckerman (eds), Comparative Politics: rationality, culture, and structure, 2nd edn, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1st edn 1997), pp. 193–219. Grootings, P. (1986) ‘Technology and work: a topic for East–West comparison?’, in P. Grootings (ed.), Technology and Work: East–West comparison, London: Croom Helm, pp.275–301. Kindleberger, C.P. (2000) Comparative Political Economy: a retrospective, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Lammers, C.J. and Hickson, D.J. (1979) Organizations Alike and Unlike: international and interinstitutional studies in the sociology of organizations, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Wever, K.S. and Turner, L. (eds) (1995) The Comparative Political Economy of Industrial Relations, Madison, WI: Industrial Relations Research Association.
Comparative social and public policy
Barbier, J-C. and Letablier, M-T. (eds) (2005) Politiques sociales: enjeux méthodologiques et épistémologiques des comparaisons internationales; Social Policies: epistemological and methodological issues in cross-national comparison, Brussels: P.I.E.-Peter Lang. Clasen, J. (ed.) (1999) Comparative Social Policy: concepts, theories and methods, Oxford / Malden, MA: Blackwell. Dolowitz, D. and Marsh, D. (1996) ‘Who learns what from whom: a review of the policy transfer literature’, Political Studies, 44 (2): 343–57. Dolowitz, D.P. and Marsh, D. (2000) ‘Learning from abroad: the role of policy transfer in contemporary policy-making’, Governance: An International Journal of Policy and Administration, 13 (1): 5–24. Flora, P. and Heidenheimer, A.J. (eds) (1982) The Development of Welfare States in Europe and America, New Brunswick: Transaction Books. Galtung, J. (1982) ‘On the meaning of “nation” as a variable’, in M. Nießen and J. Peschar (eds), International Comparative Research: problems of theory, methodology and organisation in Eastern and Western Europe, Oxford / New York: Pergamon Press, pp.17–34. Hantrais, L. (ed.) (2004) Improving Policy Responses and Outcomes to Socio-Economic Challenges: changing family structures, policy and practice (Iprosec), EUR 21105, Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities. Heidenheimer, A.J., Heclo, H. and Adams, C.T. (1983) Comparative Public Policy: the politics of social choice in America, Europe and Japan, 2nd edn, New York: St Martin’s Press (1st edn 1975). Hetherington, R., Baistow, K., Katz, I., Mesie, J. and Trowell, J. (2002) The Welfare of Children with a Mentally Ill Parent: learning from inter-country comparisons, Chichester: John Wiley. Jones Finer, C. (ed.) (1999) Transnational Social Policy, Oxford / Malden, MA: Blackwell. Kennett, P. (2001) Comparative Social Policy: theory and research, Buckingham / Philadelphia, PA: Open University Press. Kennett, P. (ed.) (2004) A Handbook of Comparative Social Policy, Cheltenham / Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar (new edition in preparation). Liske, C., Loehr, W., McCamant, J. (eds) (1975) Comparative Public Policy: issues, theories, and methods, New York / London: John Wiley & Sons. Mangen, S. (2004) ‘”Fit-for-purpose?” Qualitative methods in comparative social policy’, in P. Kennett (ed.) (2004) A Handbook of Comparative Social Policy, Cheltenham / Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar, pp. 307–23. Nießen, M. and Peschar, J. (eds) (1982) International Comparative Research: problems of theory, methodology and organisation in Eastern and Western Europe, Oxford / New York: Pergamon Press. Nießen, M., Peschar, J. and Kourilsky, C. (eds) (1984) International Comparative Research: social structure and public institutions in Eastern and Western Europe, Oxford / New York: Pergamon Press. Quilgars, D., Elsinga, M., Jones, A., Toussaint, J., Ruonavaara, H. and Naumanen, P. (2009) ‘Inside qualitative, cross-national research: making methods transparent in a EU housing policy’, International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 12 (1): 119–33. Levi-Faur, D. (2006) ‘A question of size? A heuristic for stepwise comparative research design’, in B. Rihoux and H. Grimm (eds), Innovative Comparative Methods for Policy Analysis: beyond the quantitative–qualitative divide, New York: Springer, pp. 43–56. Rihoux, B. and Grimm, H. (eds) (2006) Innovative Comparative Methods for Policy Analysis: beyond the quantitative–qualitative divide, New York: Springer. Rodgers, B.N., Doron, A. and Jones, M. (1979) The Study of Social Policy: a comparative approach, London: Allen & Unwin. Rodgers, B.N., with J. Greve and J.S. Morgan (1968) Comparative Social Administration, 1st edn, London: George Allen & Unwin. Rose, R. (2002) ‘When all other conditions are not equal: the context for drawing lessons’, Studies in Public Policy, no 366. Spicker, P. (2011) ‘Generalisation and phronesis: rethinking the methodology of social policy’, Journal of Social Policy, 40 (1): 1–19. Tennom, J. (1995) ‘European research communities: France vs. the United Kingdom’, The Puzzle of Integration. European Yearbook on Youth Policy and Research (CYRCE), vol. 1: 269–81. Tizot, J. (2001) ‘The issues of translation, transferability and transfer of social policies: French and British “urban social policy”: finding common ground for comparison?’, International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 4 I (4): 301–17. Whiteside, N. (2004) ‘Historical methods for comparing pension policies’, Cross-National Research Papers, 7 (2): 21–9. www.xnat.org.uk/ February 2012 Wilensky, H.L., Luebbert, G.M., Reed Hahn, S. and Jamieson, A.M. (1985) Comparative Social Policy: theories, methods, findings, Berkeley, CA: University of California.
Comparative education
Bray, M. (ed.) (2003) Comparative Education: continuing traditions, new challenges and new paradigms, London: Kluwer. Hans, N. (1949) Comparative Education: a study of educational factors and traditions, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Holmes, B. (1981) Comparative Education: some considerations of method, London: Allen & Unwin. Mjøset, L. (2007) ‘No fear of comparison or context: on the foundations of historical sociology’, Comparative Education, 42 (4): 337–62. Noah, H.J. and Eckstein, M.A. (1969) Towards a Science of Comparative Education, London: Collier–Macmillan. Phillips, D. and Schweisfurth, M. (2008) Comparative and International Education: an introduction to theory, method and practice, London: Continuum. Rust, V.D., Soumaré, A., Pescador, O. and Shibuya, M. (1999) ‘Research strategies in comparative education’, Comparative Education Review, 43 (1): 86–109.
Management of international comparative research projects
Dench, S., Iphofen, R. and Huws, U. (2004) An EU Code of Ethics for Socio-Economic Research, Brighton: Institute for Employment Studies, http://www.respectproject.org/main/index.php/ June 2012. Feng, Y. and Jament, J. (2008) ‘Can ethical guidelines be international? Students’ dilemmas researching education in China and India’, Research Intelligence (British Educational Research Association), no. 104: 24-25. Iphofen, R. (2009) Ethical Decision Making in Social Research: a practical guide, Basingstoke / New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Lewis, S. and Brannen, J. (2011) ‘Reflections on working in cross national teams’, in I. Jojer and S. Hojer (eds), Familj, vardagsliv och modernitet, Goteborg: Goteborg Universitet, pp.275–86. Manning, S. (2010) ‘The strategic formation of project networks: a relational perspective’, Human Relations, 63 (4): 551–73.
Multidisciplinary case studies
Articles in the International Journal of Social Research Methodology and the Cross-National Research Papers series (www.xnat.org.uk/ February 2012) provide further examples of international social research methods case studies.