IQMR 2025

Rethinking Small-N Comparisons (Modules 32, 36)

Thursday, June 26; Friday, June 27

Nicholas Rush Smith (City University of New York – City College)

Why do we compare? Typically, in political science research, causal inference is taken as the primary goal. Similarly, research that is generalizable to as many cases as possible tends to be valued more than research which can explain only a few. This unit will push past these assumptions in two ways. First, it will provide logics for generalization not rooted in ideas of statistical generalizability or mechanical reproduction. Second, it will expand the goals of comparison from causal inference to alternative practices like creative redescription or conceptual development. Third, we will explore how we can leverage strategies for rethinking comparison to address the practical challenges and unexpected discoveries that often upend pre-established research designs. When a "crisis of research design" strikes, how can researchers cope with partially implemented data collection plans to still generate meaningful theoretical and empirical insights? How can scholars salvage their research designs while maintaining methodological rigor? Finally, we will critique short research designs that will be provided in advance. Among other questions, we will ask ourselves: What kinds of claims can the author make with this research design and why? What are the limits on the kinds of claims they can make? How convincing is this research design? If you were on the selection committee of a funding agency, how would you rate this research design?

Book to Purchase: Erica S. Simmons and Nicholas Rush Smith, Editors. Rethinking Comparison: Innovative Methods for Qualitative Political Research. New York: Cambridge University Press. 2021.

Participants may enter the module sequence after it has begun, but their doing so is discouraged

Re-thinking Small-N Comparisons I (M32, June 26)

8:45am - 10:15am – Controlled Comparisons and Their Crises

This session has three goals. First, it will introduce students to the basic principles underlying controlled comparative research designs – the primary mode of case study comparisons deployed in American political science. Second, through the example of a study of civil war dynamics in Lebanon, it shows some of the limits researchers may encounter when trying to deploy controlled comparisons. Finally, through the examples of a study of social mobilization in Latin America and a study of vigilantism and policing in South Africa, it will discuss how the adoption of an ethnographic sensibility can compensate for some of the limitations of controlled comparisons by allowing students to bring greater context and local meanings into their research.

Required readings:

Unless otherwise noted, all readings are available in Erica S. Simmons and Nicholas Rush Smith, Editors. Rethinking Comparison: Innovative Methods for Qualitative Political Research. New York: Cambridge University Press. 2021.

1:30pm - 3:00pm – Situating Comparisons in Context

This session considers the specific grounds from which comparative claims are made and how a situated method can help reshape the kinds of claims political scientists can make. Students are typically trained with an abstract method where scholars take a view from nowhere, that deploys universalizing concepts, deploys comparison to develop causal laws, and where evaluation is on procedural grounds. By contrast, a situated method approaches social science with a “view from somewhere,” helps scholars provincialize seemingly universal concepts, sees the purpose of comparison as translating across contexts, and evaluates research on a standard of trustworthiness. This session suggests strategies for using situated comparisons and connecting them to scholars’ professional and political goals.

Required readings:

Unless otherwise noted, all readings are available in Erica S. Simmons and Nicholas Rush Smith, Editors. Rethinking Comparison: Innovative Methods for Qualitative Political Research. New York: Cambridge University Press. 2021.

3:30pm - 5:00pm – Building Blocks of Comparison

This session will introduce students to strategies for rethinking the building blocks of the comparative method. It will include a discussion of different ways to compare, from the practice of comparison as cataloging the similarities and differences of objects to the practice of comparison as shifting the perspective from which we see the world. It will also include a discussion of how to reconsider case selection as a process of selecting cases in the world (i.e. studying a case) to a process where cases are actively produced during the practice of research (i.e. casing a study). Finally, we will consider how comparison can aid in creatively describing political phenomena and how creative redescription is a valid research “outcome” in its own right.

Required readings:

Unless otherwise noted, all readings are available in Erica S. Simmons and Nicholas Rush Smith, Editors. Rethinking Comparison: Innovative Methods for Qualitative Political Research. New York: Cambridge University Press. 2021.

Re-thinking Small-N Comparisons II (M36, June 27)

8:45am - 10:15am – Strategies of Comparison I: Studying Global Processes

This session will introduce students to several concrete strategies for developing non-controlled comparative projects. Specific techniques will include a discussion of how to study global processes like the move to green technologies, focusing particularly on strategies for selecting specific sites within the broader assemblage from which to gain insight on the whole process. They will also include a discussion of how to study processes of diffusion, where a wave of action – like the contention of the Arab Uprisings – have uneven effects across borders.

Required readings:

Unless otherwise noted, all readings are available in Erica S. Simmons and Nicholas Rush Smith, Editors. Rethinking Comparison: Innovative Methods for Qualitative Political Research. New York: Cambridge University Press. 2021.

1:30pm - 3:00pm – Strategies of Comparison II: Studying Complex Cases

Building on the previous session, this session will examine three more strategies of comparison. First, it will examine how to compare across historical cases that interact with one another. Second, it will focus on how the comparison of contexts, rather than cases, can be leveraged for theory development—an underappreciated but critical objective of political science research. Finally, it will include a discussion of how to conduct cross-national comparisons where the two countries do not lend themselves to controlled comparison through the selection of different foci for research.

Required readings:

Unless otherwise noted, all readings are available in Erica S. Simmons and Nicholas Rush Smith, Editors. Rethinking Comparison: Innovative Methods for Qualitative Political Research. New York: Cambridge University Press. 2021.

3:30pm - 5:00pm – Making General Claims from Situated Comparisons

This session will examine the ends to which we compare and ask how we can make broad claims from comparative cases. In political science, research that is generalizable to as many cases as possible tends to be valued more than research which can explain only a few. This unit will push past these assumptions in two ways. First, it will provide logics for generalization not rooted in ideas of statistical generalizability or mechanical reproduction. Second, it will ask from where our desire to generalize comes and with what political and epistemological consequences.

Required readings:

Unless otherwise noted, all readings are available in Erica S. Simmons and Nicholas Rush Smith, Editors. Rethinking Comparison: Innovative Methods for Qualitative Political Research. New York: Cambridge University Press. 2021.