How to lure analytic social science out of the doldrums - Some lessons from comparative research

The practice of quantitative research in the social sciences today is dominated by a specific research template that encourages researchers to focus on the net additive effects of independent variables on variation in a dependent variable, using samples drawn from 'given' populations. Comparative research, especially case-oriented investigation, offers a number of important challenges to this template. While these challenges may appear to constitute a rejection of conventional quantitative research, they can be viewed instead as important leads for improving quantitative analysis. The specific challenges addressed in this article center on researchers' conceptions of their populations, their dependent variables, their independent variables (especially the goal of estimating net effects) and the nature of the connections between case aspects.