Linda Hantrais - International Comparative Research: Theory, Methods and Practice

* CONTEMPORARY FRENCH SOCIETY

CROSS-NATIONAL RESEARCH METHODS IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES
(co-editor with Steen Mangen)

FAMILIES AND FAMILY POLICIES IN EUROPE (with Marie-Thrse Letablier)

FAMILY POLICY MATTERS: Responding to Family Change in Europe

* GENDERED POLICIES IN EUROPE: Reconciling Employment and Family Life (editor)

MANAGING PROFESSIONAL AND FAMILY LIFE: A Comparative Study of British and French Women

POUR UNE MEILLEURE VALUATION DE LA RECHERCHE PUBLIQUE EN SCIENCES HUMAINES ET SOCIALES (vol. 2)

* SOCIAL POLICY IN THE EUROPEAN UNION (third edition)

THE UNDERGRADUATES GUIDE TO STUDYING LANGUAGES

LE VOCABULAIRE DE GEORGES BRASSENS
Vol. 1: Une tude statistique et stylistique
Vol. 2: Concordance et index des rimes

* From the same publishers

Linda Hantrais 2009

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First published 2009 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN

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ISBN-13: 978-0-230-21768-3 hardback
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ISBN-13: 978-0-230-21769-0 paperback
ISBN-10: 0-230-21769-9 paperback

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Preface

For centuries, comparative approaches have been used to observe and analyse social phenomena and, more recently, to develop and test theory in the social sciences and humanities. Despite their long history, the debate continues about the fundamental questions raised by comparisons, more especially when they cross national, cultural and linguistic boundaries. Since the late 1980s, interest in international research projects and networking has grown exponentially, particularly within the European Union. Governments have called for researchers to be internationally active and to cooperate at international level. Within Europe, such cooperation is seen as essential in making the Union the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growthand social cohesion (Lisbon European Council, Presidency Conclusions, 2324 March 2000). Efforts to strengthen the European Research Area, combined with European enlargement to the East, and the rapid development of the data collection capacity of international organizations with worldwide reach have created a niche for a book designed to help equip new generations of students and researchers with the skills and knowledge required to make a meaningful contribution to the understanding of global research markets in the social sciences and humanities.

Within such a context, the present volume aims to fill gaps in a major body of hitherto largely disconnected and disparate literature by responding to the needs of researchers, funders and users of comparative research from a wide range of disciplines, different epistemologies, research cultures and national backgrounds. In recent decades, efforts have been made to prepare comparative researchers more adequately for their task. For example, the occasional series of Cross-National Research Papers (see www.xnat.org.uk), launched in 1985 and co-edited by the author of the present volume, set out to inform researchers engaged in, or contemplating embarking on, international comparative studies about the experience of others working in the field. Five years later, Else yens (1990: viii) edited collection of papers sought to make visible some of the important choices faced by researchers engaging in cross-national rather than single-nation studies, thereby displaying pitfalls to be avoided and improvingawareness of available strategies and their limitations. An edited collection published in 1996 by the present author and Steen Mangen aimed to provide an accessible resource book for cross-national comparative researchers in the social sciences. It remains, however, that researchers embarking on international comparative research across national, societal and cultural boundaries, as well as experienced researchers, funders and users of research findings wanting to enhance existing skills, often lack the knowledge, competencies and tools needed to conduct effective comparisons or evaluate outcomes.

The task of contributing to a greater understanding of the research process is central to the present book. The objective is to provide researchers, practitioners, policy advisers and organizations commissioning international comparative research with a sound theoretical, methodological and practical resource covering the design, management and delivery of reliable comparisons. The book sets out to guide readers through the research process using illustrations from a variety of comparative studies, many of them with a strong focus on European societies, the knowledge base and the policy dimension. The chapters draw on real-life experience of managing and conducting international comparative research projects and studies, acquired over more than 20 years from personal involvement and from accounts provided by researchers at varying stages in their careers, to analyse and document the theory, methods and practice of international comparative research.

Mutual policy learning and transfer across national borders has become an important offshoot from comparative research at a time when international interest in policy evaluation and evidence-based policy is being developed far beyond the Anglo-American policy and research communities. Much of the work referred to in this volume is relevant to policy and concerns the contribution of comparative research to well-informed policy formulation, development and implementation.