RSS02.B7 Rethinking Comparison: Reinventing How and Why to Do Comparative Research

​How should we design non-controlled comparative research? The goal of this module is to introduce students to logics of comparative inquiry available to scholars beyond the already well-defined logics of controlled comparison. By expanding the modes of qualitative comparative inquiry available to them, students in this module will be able to both uncover new questions and drive innovations in how we answer existing questions.

In brief, this module will equip students to expand how they think about comparison and, as a result, expand how they think about the world and their understanding of it. Specifically, students will

1. learn how to identify the kinds of questions that lend themselves to non-controlled comparisons.
2. learn specific techniques through which to design a non-controlled comparative project.
3. learn how to iterate research designs if scholars’ initial assumptions are faulty.
4. learn alternative “outcomes” for research projects beyond causal inference.
5. Last, they will learn how to evaluate the quality of a non-controlled comparative design.

In mastering these skills, students will be able to deploy comparative research techniques at the cutting edge of political science and to reimagine what the next generation of political research will look like as a result.​​