Comparative research methods are central to sociology and its associated disciplines. This four-volume set brings together 77 articles and book chapters from key sources, spanning the history of comparative analysis in the social sciences, from ancient to modern works. The selections cover not only explanations of how to carry out comparative analysis in a reliable and creative way, but also exhaustively explore the fields of sociology, political science, anthropology and education.

Volume One: Foundations and Early Exemplars
The Politics - Aristotle
Histories - Polybius
The Rise of the Roman Empire
The Muqaddimah - Ibn Khaldun
Method for the Easy Comprehension of History - Jean Bodin
Comparative Political Analysis in Montesquieu and Tocqueville - Melvin Richter
The Positive Philosophy of Auguste Comte - Auguste Comte
System of Logic - John Stuart Mill
On the Method of Investigating the Development of Institutions - Edward B Tylor
Applied to Laws of Marriage and Descent
The Limitations of the Comparative Method in Anthropology - Franz Boas
Material Culture and Social Institutions of the Simpler Peoples - L T Hobhouse, G C Wheeler and M Ginsberg
An Essay in Correlation
Comparative Analysis of Political Ideologies - Daniel Lerner, I Pool and H D Lasswell
A Preliminary Statement
The Comparative Method in Anthropology - A R Radcliffe-Brown
Volume Two: The Logic of Comparative Methods
Macrocomparative Research Methods - Kenneth A Bollen, Barbara Entwisle and Arthur S Anderson
Informing Generality and Explaining Uniqueness - York Bradshaw and Michael Wallace
The Place of Case Studies in Comparative Research
Historical Explanation and Comparative Method - A A van den Braembussche
Towards a Theory of the History of Society
Causal Inference and Comparative Methods - E Gene DeFelice
Strategies in Comparative Sociology - Mattei Dogan
Comparative Cross-National Methodology - Joseph W Elder
On the Scope and Methods of Cross-Cultural Research - N Frijda and G Jahoda
Current Issues in Comparative Macrosociology - J H Goldthorpe
A Debate on Methodological Issues
Introduction - Bradford B Hudson, Mohamed K Barakat and Rolfe LaForge
Problems and Methods of Cross-Cultural Research
How Comparative Is Comparative Research? - Roger Jowell
Making Comparative Research Cumulative - Robert M Marsh
Galton¿s Problem - Raoull Naroll
The Logic of Cross-Cultural Research
Theory and Method in Comparative Research - Charles Ragin and David Zaret
Two Strategies
Toward Comparative Historiography - Fritz Redlich
The Development of Cross-National Comparative Research - Stein Rokkan
A Review of Current Problems and Possibilities
The Comparative Method in Social Research - E A Suchman
Measurement in Comparative Research - Henry Teune
The Cross-Cultural Method - J W M Whiting
Volume Three: Data (Sources and Problems) and Contemporary Exemplars
PART ONE: DATA SOURCES AND PROBLEMS
Concepts, Context and Discourse in a Comparative Case Study - Emma Carmel
Thickening Thin Concepts and Theories - M Coppedge
Combining Large and Small in Comparative Politics
Evidence and Inference in the Comparative Case Study - D Dion
Europe through the Looking-Glass - Bernhard Ebbinghaus
Comparative and Multi-Level Perspectives
The Quality and Quantity of Data for Cross-Cultural Studies - Carol R Ember
Data Problems in Quantitative Comparative Analysis - Michael C Hudson
Causal Inference in Historical Institutional Analysis - E S Lieberman
A Specification of Periodization Strategies
Comparative Field Studies - Robert L Munroe and Ruth H Munroe
Methodological Issues and Future Possibilities
Qualitative Comparative Analysis and a Hermeneutic Approach to Interview Data - Kati Rentala and Eeva Hellstrom
Comparative Research, Experimental Design and the Comparative Method - H Teune
PART TWO: CONTEMPORARY EXEMPLARS IN SOCIOLOGY AND POLITICAL SCIENCE
Comparative Political Systems - Gabriel A Almond
A Comparative Method for the Study of Politics - David E Apter
The Comparative Study of Organizations - Peter Blau
Democracy with Adjectives - David Collier and S Levitsky
Conceptual Innovation in Comparative Research
The Comparative and Historical Study of Revolutions - Jack A Goldstone
The Comparative Study of National Societies - Terry K Hopkins and Immanuel Wallerstein
The Role of General Theory in Comparative-Historical Sociology - E Kiser and Michael Hechter
Comparative Politics and the Comparative Method - Arend Lijphart
The Comparative Method in Political Studies - Leslie Lipson
Comparative Social Mobility - Judah Matras
Comparative Politics - Sigmund Neumann
A Half-Century Appraisal
Comparative Sociology and the Comparative Method - Charles C Ragin
Comparing Historical Sequences - A Powerful Tool for Causal Analysis - Dietrich Rueschemeyer and J D Stephens
The Uses of Comparative History in Macrosocial Inquiry - Theda Skocpol and Margaret Somers
Method and Theory in Comparative Urban Studies - David A Smith
Means and Ends of Comparison in Macrosociology - Charles Tilly
PART THREE: CONTEMPORARY EXEMPLARS IN ANTHROPOLOGY AND EDUCATION
The Comparative Method of Anthropology - Kenneth E Bock
Measurement of Education in Comparative Research - Michael Braun and Walter Muller
Case Study Research Methods and Comparative Education - Michael Crossley and Graham Vulliamy
Social Anthropology and the Method of Controlled Comparison - Fred Eggan
The Comparative Method in Anthropological Perspective - E A Hammel
Cross-National Studies and the Analysis of Comparative Qualitative Research - Gerald LeTendre
Comparative Education - Francisco O Ramirez and John W Meyer
The Social Construction of the Modern World System
Research Strategies in Comparative Education - V D Rust et al
On Comparative Methods in Social-Cultural Anthropology and in Linguistics - Gopala Sarana
Volume Four: Qualitative and Quantitative Research: Problems and Prospects
PART ONE: QUALITATIVE METHODS
Where to Begin? A Survey of Five Approaches to Selecting Independent Variables for Qualitative Comparative Analysis - Edwin Amenta and J D Poulsen
Insights and Pitfalls - David Collier and James Mahoney
Selection Bias in Qualitative Research
Narrative as Data - Roberto Franzosi
Linguistic and Statistical Tools for the Qualitative Study of Historical Events
Qualitative Comparative Analysis and Analytical Induction - A M Hicks
Nominal, Ordinal and Narrative Appraisal in Macrocausal Analysis - James Mahoney
Canons of Research Design in Qualitative Analysis - Gerardo L Munck
The Logic of Qualitative Comparative Analysis - Charles C Ragin
Odious Comparisons - George Steinmetz
Incommensurability, the Case Study and ¿Small N¿s¿ in Sociology
PART TWO: QUANTITATIVE METHODS
New Directions in Quantitative Comparative Sociology - Wil Arts and Loek Halman
Reduction of Complexity for a Small-N Analysis - D Berg-Schlosser and G De Meur
The Methodology of Necessary Conditions - Bear F Braumoeller and Gary Goertz
The Quantitative Study of National Character - Hayashi Chicko
Interchronological and International Perspectives
Log-Linear Models in Comparative Research - Jos Dessens, Wim Jansen and Kristen Ringdal
A Paradigm Lost?
Evidence and Inference in the Comparative Case Study - Douglas Dion
Quantitative Cross-National Analysis as a Research Tool in the Sociology of Developing Countries - Mark Herkenrath
A Critical Examination
Small N¿s and Big Conclusions - Stanley Lieberson
An Examination of the Reasoning in Comparative Studies Based on a Small Number of Cases
Strategies of Causal Inference in a Small-N Analysis - James Mahoney