6533b7d9fe1ef96bd126ce12

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Between context and comparability: Exploring new solutions for a familiar methodological challenge in qualitative comparative research

Terhi NokkalaAnna KosmützkySara Diogo

subject

Management sciencecomparative higher-educationDewey Decimal Classification::300 | Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie Anthropologie::370 | Erziehung Schul- und BildungswesenComparabilitymetodologiaContext (language use)insightsissuesEducationddc:370Comparative researchvertaileva tutkimuskorkea-asteen koulutuskasvatustiedetutkimusmenetelmätcomparative researchSociologypoliticsvertaileva kasvatustiedepolicy

description

Finding the balance between adequately describing the uniqueness of the context of studied phenomena and maintaining sufficient common ground for comparability and analytical generalisation has widely been recognised as a key challenge in international comparative research. Methodological reflections on how to adequately cover context and comparability have extensively been discussed for quantitative survey or secondary data research. In addition, most recently, promising methodological considerations for qualitative comparative research have been suggested in comparative fields related to higher education. The article’s aim is to connect this discussion to comparative higher education research. Thus, the article discusses recent advancements in the methodology of qualitative international comparative research, connects them to older analytical methods that have been used within the field in the 1960s and 1970s, and demonstrates their analytical value based on their application to a qualitative small‐N case study on research groups in diverse organisational contexts in three country contexts. peerReviewed

https://dx.doi.org/10.15488/13860