This seminar focuses upon the methodological and philosophical issues, problems, and research strategies related to "small-N" analysis and comparative research design. Over the course of the semester, we will engage the classic and ongoing debates concerning the merits and problematics of case study description, concept formation and measurement, descriptive and causal inferences, longitudinal and cross-sectional design strategies, theory formation and testing, multi-level approaches, and the agent-structure problem. In addition, we will not avoid the difficult but critical ontological and epistemological issues underlying social science research. Beyond rigorous engagement with the assigned texts, students will be encouraged to present and to evaluate their research projects in light of course readings and discussions. 
 

Required Texts
Clayton Roberts, The Logic of Historical Explanation, (1996) 
George P. Huber and Andrew H. Van De Ven, eds. Longitudinal Field Research Methods, (1995) 
Margaret Archer, Realist Social Theory, (1995) 
Gary King, Robert Keohane, and Sidney Verba, Designing Social Inquiry, (1994) 
Lawrence Dodd and Calvin Jillson, eds., The Dynamics of American Politics, (1994) 
Charles Ragin, The Comparative Method, (1987) 
 

Reserve Articles
The additional reading listed below will be placed on library reserve. 
 

Week 1: The Construction of Causal Explanations
Daniel Little, Varieties of Social Explanation, pp. 1-29. 
Arthur Stinchcombe, Constructing Social Theories, pp. 3-6. 
Jon Elster, Nuts and Bolts for the Social Sciences, pp. 3-10. 
Gabriel Almond and Stephen Genco, "Clouds, Clocks, and the Study of Politics, WP, (1977), 29: 489-522. 
Albert Hirschman, "The Search for Paradigms as a Hindrance to Understanding," WP, (1970), 22: 329-343. 
Herbert M. Kritzer, "The Data Puzzle: The Nature of Interpretation in Quantitative Research," AJPS, (1996), 40: 1-32. 
 

Week 2: The Stakes of the Agent-Structure Debate
Margaret Archer, Realist Social Theory
Alexander E. Wendt, "The Agent-Structure Problem in International Relations Theory, IO, (1987), 41: 335-70. 
David Dessler, "What's at Stake in the Agent-Structure Debate," IO, (1989), 43: 441-73. 
William H. Sewell, "A Theory of Structure: Duality, Agency and Transformation," AJS, (1992), 98: 1-29. 
Youssef Cohen, Radicals, Reformers, and Reactionaries, (1994), pp. 1-52. 
Walter Carlsnaes, "The Agency-Structure Problem in Foreign Policy Analysis," ISQ, (1992), 36: 245-270. 
 

Week 3: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches
Daniel Little, Varieties of Social Explanation, ch. 8. 
Robert Jackman, "Cross-national Statistical Research and the Study of Comparative Politics, AJPS, (1985), 29: 161-82. 
Sidney Verba, "Some Dilemmas in Comparative Research," WP, (1967), 20: 111-27. 
Adam Przeworski and Henry Teune, The Logic of Comparative Social Inquiry, pp. 3-30. 
 

Week 4: The Comparative Method
"Thinking without comparison is unthinkable...."⁽¹⁾
John Stuart Mill, A System of Logic, Ratiocinative and Inductive, 8th ed., pp. 606-613. 
Francois Simiand, "Causal Interpretation and Historical Research," ([1903-1906], 1953 trans.) in Enterprise and Secular Change, Frederic Lane, ed., pp. 469-88. 
Marc Bloch, "Toward a Comparative History of European Societies," ([1928], 1953 trans.), in Ibid., pp. 494-521. 
Guy E. Swanson, "Frameworks for Comparative Research: Structural Anthropology and the Theory of Action," in Ivan Vallier, ed., Comparative Methods in Sociology, (1971). 
Arend Lijphart, "Comparative Politics and the Comparative Method," APSR (1971), 65: 682-693. 
Arend Lijphart, "The Comparable-Cases Strategy in Comparative Research," Comparative Political Studies, (1975), 8: 158-177. 
E. Gene DeFelice, "Causal Inference and Comparative Methods," Comp. Political Studies (1986), 19: 415-437. 
John Frendreis, "Explanation of Variation and Detection of Covariation," Comparative Political Studies, (1983), 16: 255-272. 
 

Week 5: The Problem of Causation: Correlation and Causal Mechanisms
Peter D. McClelland, Causal Explanation and Model Building in History, Economics and the New Economic History, (1975), pp. 1-145. 
C. G. Hempel and P. Oppenheim, "Studies in the Logic of Explanation." Philos. of Science, (1948), 15: 135-75. 
David Dressler, "Beyond Correlation: Toward a Causal Theory of War," ISQ, (1991), 35: 337-55. 
Robert Bates and Donald Da-Hsiang Lien, "A Note on Taxation, Development, and Representative Government.., Politics and Society, (1985), 14: 53-70. 
Alexander George, "The Causal Nexus between Cognitive Beliefs and Decision-Making Behavior," in Psychological Models in International Politics, L. Falkowski, ed., (1979), pp. 95-124. 
 

Week 6: The Comparative Approach Revisted, I
Charles Ragin, The Comparative Method: Moving Beyond Qualitative and Quantitative Strategies
 

Week 7: The Comparative Approach Revisited, II
Gary King, Robert Keohane and Sidney Verba, Designing Social Inquiry: Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research, (1994) 
Symposium: "The Qualitative-Quantitative Dispute," APSR, (1995), 89: 454-81. 
 

Week 8: Comparing What? Case Studies and Concept Formation
Barbara Geddes, "How the Cases You Choose Affect the Answers You Get: Selection Bias in Comparative Politics," Political Analysis, (1990), 2: 131-150. 
York Bradshaw and Michael Wallace, "Informing Generality and Explaining Uniqueness: The Place of Case Studies in Comparative Research," International Journal of Comparative Sociology, (1991), 32: 154-171. 
Lawrence B. Mohr, "Causation and the Case Study," (draft) April 22, 1996. 
E. Gene DeFelice, "Comparison Misconceived," Comparative Politics, (1980), 13: 119-126. 
David Collier and James Mahon, "Conceptual 'Stretching' Revisted: Adapting Categories in Comparative Analysis," APSR, (1993), 87: 845-55. 
J.P. Nettl, "The State as a Conceptual Variable," WP, (1968), 20: 559-92. 
 

Week 9: Counterfactuals
Peter D. McClelland, Causal Explanation and Model Building in History, Economics and the New Economic History, (1975), pp. 146-168. 
James Fearon, "Counter Factuals and Hypothesis Testing in Political Science," World Politics, (1991), 43: 169-195. 
Adam Przeworski, Symposium on "The Role of Theory in Comparative Politics," World Politics, (1995), 48: 16-21. 
Max Weber, "Objective Possibility and Adequate Causation in Historical Exploration," The Methodology of the Social Science, (1949, trans.), pp. 164-88.
 

Week 10: The Agency Dimension Revisited: Micro-level foundations
Milton Friedman, "The Methodology of Positive Economics," in Daniel Hausman, ed., The Philosophy of Economics, pp. 210-244. 
Donald Green and Ian Shapiro, The Pathologies of Rational Choice Theory, (1994). 
Terry Moe, "On the Scientific Status of Rational Models," AJPS, (1979), 23: 215-243. 
Edgar Kiser and Michael Hechter, "The Role of General Theory in Comparative-Historical Sociology," AJS, (1991), 97: 1-30. 
Michael Taylor, "Structure, Culture and Action in the Explanation of Social Change," Politics & Society, (1989), 17: 115-62. 
 

Week 11: The Forgotten Dimension: Time and Longitudinal Comparisons
"Those who think they can understand histories without chronology are as much in error as those who wish to escape the windings of a labyrinth without a guide. The latter wander hither and thither and cannot find any end to the maze, while the former are carried among the many intricacies of the narrative with equal uncertainty and do not understand where to commence or where to turn back. But the principle of time, the guide for all histories, like another Ariadne tracing the hidden steps with a thread, not only prevent us from wandering, but also makes it possible for us to lead back erring historians to the right path.... [W]ithout a system of time hardly any advantage is culled from history."⁽²⁾
 

George P. Huber and Andrew H. Van De Ven, eds. Longitudinal Field Research Methods, (1995). 
Paul A. David, "Clio and the Economics of QWERTY," American Economic Review, (1985), 75: 332-37. 
Douglass C. North, Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance, (1990). 
 

Week 12: The Problems of Longitudinal Comparison
Marc Bloch, "Toward a Comparative History of European Societies," (1928), in Frederic C. Lane and Jelle C. Riemersma, ed. Enterprise and Secular Change: Readings in Economic History, (1953), pp. 494-521. 
Raymond Grew, "The Case for Comparing Histories," American Historical Review, (1980), 85: 763-78. 
Theda Skocpol and Margaret Somers, "The Uses of Comparative History in Macrosocial Inquiry," Comparative Studies in Society and History, (1980), 22: 174-97. 
Theda Skocpol, Vision and Method in Historical Sociology, (1984), pp. 356-91. 
A.A. Van Den Braembussche, "Historical Explanation and Comparative Method: Towards a Theory of the History of Society," History and Theory, (1989), 28: 1-24. 
Mark Bevir, "Objectivity in History," History and Theory, (1994), 33: 328-44. 
 

Week 13: Process-Tracing and Colligation
Clayton Robert, The Logic of Historical Explanation, (1996) 
Alexander George, "Case Studies and Theory Development: The Method of Structured, Focused Comparison," in Paul G. Lauren, ed., Diplomacy: New Approaches in History, Theory and Policy, pp. 43-68. 
Alexander George and Timothy McKeown, "Case Studies and Theories of Organizational Decision Making," Advances in Information Processing in Organizations, (1985), 2: 21-58. 
Fritz K. Ringer, "Causal Analysis in Historical Reasoning," History and Theory, (1989), 28: 154-172. 
Barney G. Glaser and Anselm L. Strauss, The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research
 

Week 14: Beyond Description--The Search for General Theory
Robert K. Merton, "Theories of the Middle Range," in Social Theory and Social Structure, (1952) 
Victoria E. Bonnell, "The Uses of Theory, Concepts and Comparison in History Sociology," Comparative Studies in Society and History, (1980), 22: 156-73. 
Edgar Kiser and Michael Hechter, "The Role of General Theory in Comp.-historical Sociology," AJS, 97: 1-30. 
Douglas D. Heckathorn, "A Formal Theory of Social Exchange: Process and Outcome," Current Perspectives in Social Theory, (1984), 5: 145-80. 
Kathleen M. Eisenhardt, "Building Theories from Case Study Research," Longitudinal Field Research Methods, (1995), pp. 65-90. 
 

Week 15: Is Scientific Progress Possible?
Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolution
Imre Lakatos, "Falsification and the Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes," in Imre Lakatos and Alan Musgrave, eds., Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge, pp. 91-196. 
Larry Lauden, Progress and Its Problems: Towards a Theory of Scientific Growth, (1977) 

1. Guy E. Swanson, "Frameworks for Comparative Research: Structural Anthropology and the Theory of Action," in Ivan Vallier, ed., Comparative Methods in Sociology, (1971).

2. Jean Bodin, Method for the Easy Comprehension of History, trans. Beatrice Reynolds, (1946, [1566]), p. 303.