political science case study methodology

• A-Z Publications

Annual Review of Political Science

Volume 9, 2006, review article, qualitative research: recent developments in case study methods.

• Andrew Bennett 1 , and Colin Elman 2
• View Affiliations Hide Affiliations Affiliations: 1 Department of Government, Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20057; email: [email protected] 2 Department of Political Science, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287; email: [email protected]
• Vol. 9:455-476 (Volume publication date June 2006) https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.polisci.8.082103.104918
• First published as a Review in Advance on February 17, 2006
• © Annual Reviews

This article surveys the extensive new literature that has brought about a renaissance of qualitative methods in political science over the past decade. It reviews this literature's focus on causal mechanisms and its emphasis on process tracing, a key form of within-case analysis, and it discusses the ways in which case-selection criteria in qualitative research differ from those in statistical research. Next, the article assesses how process tracing and typological theorizing help address forms of complexity, such as path dependence and interaction effects. The article then addresses the method of fuzzy-set analysis. The article concludes with a call for greater attention to means of combining alternative methodological approaches in research projects.

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Publication Date: 15 Jun 2006

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Case Study Method and Policy Analysis

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• Leslie A. Pal  

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Case studies are a good part of the backbone of policy analysis and research. This chapter illustrates case study methodology with a specific example drawn from the author’s current research on Internet governance.

Real-world problems are embedded in complex systems, in specific institutions, and are viewed differently by different policy actors. The case study method contributes to policy analysis in two ways. First, it provides a vehicle for fully contextualized problem definition. For example, in dealing with rising crime rates in a given city, the case approach allows the analyst to develop a portrait of crime in that city, for that city, and for that city’s decision makers. Second, case studies can illuminate policy-relevant questions (more as research than analysis) and can eventually inform more practical advice down the road. The chapter reviews the relationship between case study research and the aspirations of more nomothetic (law-like generalizations) social science. To study a case is not to study a unique phenomenon, but one that provides insight into a broader range of phenomena.

The author’s example of ICANN illustrates issues pertaining to globalization, global governance, and the internationalization of policy processes.

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Making a Case for the Case: An Introduction

The Case of Case Study Research in Europe: Practice and Potential

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Pal, L.A. (2005). Case Study Method and Policy Analysis. In: Geva-May, I. (eds) Thinking Like a Policy Analyst. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781403980939_12

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21 Context, Contextualization, and Case-Study Research

Attilia Ruzzene is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Bergamo. She obtained her first PhD in economics at the University of Torino and a PhD in philosophy at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam. She has been teaching courses on the philosophy of science, economics, and social sciences at the Erasmus University Rotterdam, Witten/Herdecke University, and University of Bologna. Her research currently focuses on a variety of qualitative perspectives for the study of organizational phenomena which include causal-mechanistic reasoning, the practice approach, and visual analysis. She has long lasting interest in issues related to causal inference in case-study research and the use of case-study evidence for policy making.

• Published: 23 February 2023
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Whenever contextual conditions influence the occurrence of social phenomena, case studies come to the rescue by improving the accuracy of explanations that are exceedingly general and abstract. Being highly permeable to particulars of the setting in which the phenomenon unfolds, case-study research expresses a sensitivity to context that can be leveraged for understanding how context matters, to what extent, and in what respects. How this capacity of case-study research is effectively leveraged, however, remains in large part a mystery. In this chapter, I address this issue by investigating the way case studies pursue contextualization, that is the conversion of case-specific information into knowledge of context. I distinguish between process tracing and process embedding, suggest that their interplay is at the core of contextualization, and identify the evidentiary principles that govern their joint employment. I further illustrate the specific role process embedding plays vis-à-vis process tracing by drawing on a sample of few case studies on civil war.

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The Advantages and Limitations of Single Case Study Analysis

As Andrew Bennett and Colin Elman have recently noted, qualitative research methods presently enjoy “an almost unprecedented popularity and vitality… in the international relations sub-field”, such that they are now “indisputably prominent, if not pre-eminent” (2010: 499). This is, they suggest, due in no small part to the considerable advantages that case study methods in particular have to offer in studying the “complex and relatively unstructured and infrequent phenomena that lie at the heart of the subfield” (Bennett and Elman, 2007: 171). Using selected examples from within the International Relations literature[1], this paper aims to provide a brief overview of the main principles and distinctive advantages and limitations of single case study analysis. Divided into three inter-related sections, the paper therefore begins by first identifying the underlying principles that serve to constitute the case study as a particular research strategy, noting the somewhat contested nature of the approach in ontological, epistemological, and methodological terms. The second part then looks to the principal single case study types and their associated advantages, including those from within the recent ‘third generation’ of qualitative International Relations (IR) research. The final section of the paper then discusses the most commonly articulated limitations of single case studies; while accepting their susceptibility to criticism, it is however suggested that such weaknesses are somewhat exaggerated. The paper concludes that single case study analysis has a great deal to offer as a means of both understanding and explaining contemporary international relations.

The term ‘case study’, John Gerring has suggested, is “a definitional morass… Evidently, researchers have many different things in mind when they talk about case study research” (2006a: 17). It is possible, however, to distil some of the more commonly-agreed principles. One of the most prominent advocates of case study research, Robert Yin (2009: 14) defines it as “an empirical enquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon in depth and within its real-life context, especially when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident”. What this definition usefully captures is that case studies are intended – unlike more superficial and generalising methods – to provide a level of detail and understanding, similar to the ethnographer Clifford Geertz’s (1973) notion of ‘thick description’, that allows for the thorough analysis of the complex and particularistic nature of distinct phenomena. Another frequently cited proponent of the approach, Robert Stake, notes that as a form of research the case study “is defined by interest in an individual case, not by the methods of inquiry used”, and that “the object of study is a specific, unique, bounded system” (2008: 443, 445). As such, three key points can be derived from this – respectively concerning issues of ontology, epistemology, and methodology – that are central to the principles of single case study research.

First, the vital notion of ‘boundedness’ when it comes to the particular unit of analysis means that defining principles should incorporate both the synchronic (spatial) and diachronic (temporal) elements of any so-called ‘case’. As Gerring puts it, a case study should be “an intensive study of a single unit… a spatially bounded phenomenon – e.g. a nation-state, revolution, political party, election, or person – observed at a single point in time or over some delimited period of time” (2004: 342). It is important to note, however, that – whereas Gerring refers to a single unit of analysis – it may be that attention also necessarily be given to particular sub-units. This points to the important difference between what Yin refers to as an ‘holistic’ case design, with a single unit of analysis, and an ’embedded’ case design with multiple units of analysis (Yin, 2009: 50-52). The former, for example, would examine only the overall nature of an international organization, whereas the latter would also look to specific departments, programmes, or policies etc.

Secondly, as Tim May notes of the case study approach, “even the most fervent advocates acknowledge that the term has entered into understandings with little specification or discussion of purpose and process” (2011: 220). One of the principal reasons for this, he argues, is the relationship between the use of case studies in social research and the differing epistemological traditions – positivist, interpretivist, and others – within which it has been utilised. Philosophy of science concerns are obviously a complex issue, and beyond the scope of much of this paper. That said, the issue of how it is that we know what we know – of whether or not a single independent reality exists of which we as researchers can seek to provide explanation – does lead us to an important distinction to be made between so-called idiographic and nomothetic case studies (Gerring, 2006b). The former refers to those which purport to explain only a single case, are concerned with particularisation, and hence are typically (although not exclusively) associated with more interpretivist approaches. The latter are those focused studies that reflect upon a larger population and are more concerned with generalisation, as is often so with more positivist approaches[2]. The importance of this distinction, and its relation to the advantages and limitations of single case study analysis, is returned to below.

Thirdly, in methodological terms, given that the case study has often been seen as more of an interpretivist and idiographic tool, it has also been associated with a distinctly qualitative approach (Bryman, 2009: 67-68). However, as Yin notes, case studies can – like all forms of social science research – be exploratory, descriptive, and/or explanatory in nature. It is “a common misconception”, he notes, “that the various research methods should be arrayed hierarchically… many social scientists still deeply believe that case studies are only appropriate for the exploratory phase of an investigation” (Yin, 2009: 6). If case studies can reliably perform any or all three of these roles – and given that their in-depth approach may also require multiple sources of data and the within-case triangulation of methods – then it becomes readily apparent that they should not be limited to only one research paradigm. Exploratory and descriptive studies usually tend toward the qualitative and inductive, whereas explanatory studies are more often quantitative and deductive (David and Sutton, 2011: 165-166). As such, the association of case study analysis with a qualitative approach is a “methodological affinity, not a definitional requirement” (Gerring, 2006a: 36). It is perhaps better to think of case studies as transparadigmatic; it is mistaken to assume single case study analysis to adhere exclusively to a qualitative methodology (or an interpretivist epistemology) even if it – or rather, practitioners of it – may be so inclined. By extension, this also implies that single case study analysis therefore remains an option for a multitude of IR theories and issue areas; it is how this can be put to researchers’ advantage that is the subject of the next section.

Having elucidated the defining principles of the single case study approach, the paper now turns to an overview of its main benefits. As noted above, a lack of consensus still exists within the wider social science literature on the principles and purposes – and by extension the advantages and limitations – of case study research. Given that this paper is directed towards the particular sub-field of International Relations, it suggests Bennett and Elman’s (2010) more discipline-specific understanding of contemporary case study methods as an analytical framework. It begins however, by discussing Harry Eckstein’s seminal (1975) contribution to the potential advantages of the case study approach within the wider social sciences.

Eckstein proposed a taxonomy which usefully identified what he considered to be the five most relevant types of case study. Firstly were so-called configurative-idiographic studies, distinctly interpretivist in orientation and predicated on the assumption that “one cannot attain prediction and control in the natural science sense, but only understanding ( verstehen )… subjective values and modes of cognition are crucial” (1975: 132). Eckstein’s own sceptical view was that any interpreter ‘simply’ considers a body of observations that are not self-explanatory and “without hard rules of interpretation, may discern in them any number of patterns that are more or less equally plausible” (1975: 134). Those of a more post-modernist bent, of course – sharing an “incredulity towards meta-narratives”, in Lyotard’s (1994: xxiv) evocative phrase – would instead suggest that this more free-form approach actually be advantageous in delving into the subtleties and particularities of individual cases.

Eckstein’s four other types of case study, meanwhile, promote a more nomothetic (and positivist) usage. As described, disciplined-configurative studies were essentially about the use of pre-existing general theories, with a case acting “passively, in the main, as a receptacle for putting theories to work” (Eckstein, 1975: 136). As opposed to the opportunity this presented primarily for theory application, Eckstein identified heuristic case studies as explicit theoretical stimulants – thus having instead the intended advantage of theory-building. So-called p lausibility probes entailed preliminary attempts to determine whether initial hypotheses should be considered sound enough to warrant more rigorous and extensive testing. Finally, and perhaps most notably, Eckstein then outlined the idea of crucial case studies , within which he also included the idea of ‘most-likely’ and ‘least-likely’ cases; the essential characteristic of crucial cases being their specific theory-testing function.

Whilst Eckstein’s was an early contribution to refining the case study approach, Yin’s (2009: 47-52) more recent delineation of possible single case designs similarly assigns them roles in the applying, testing, or building of theory, as well as in the study of unique cases[3]. As a subset of the latter, however, Jack Levy (2008) notes that the advantages of idiographic cases are actually twofold. Firstly, as inductive/descriptive cases – akin to Eckstein’s configurative-idiographic cases – whereby they are highly descriptive, lacking in an explicit theoretical framework and therefore taking the form of “total history”. Secondly, they can operate as theory-guided case studies, but ones that seek only to explain or interpret a single historical episode rather than generalise beyond the case. Not only does this therefore incorporate ‘single-outcome’ studies concerned with establishing causal inference (Gerring, 2006b), it also provides room for the more postmodern approaches within IR theory, such as discourse analysis, that may have developed a distinct methodology but do not seek traditional social scientific forms of explanation.

Applying specifically to the state of the field in contemporary IR, Bennett and Elman identify a ‘third generation’ of mainstream qualitative scholars – rooted in a pragmatic scientific realist epistemology and advocating a pluralistic approach to methodology – that have, over the last fifteen years, “revised or added to essentially every aspect of traditional case study research methods” (2010: 502). They identify ‘process tracing’ as having emerged from this as a central method of within-case analysis. As Bennett and Checkel observe, this carries the advantage of offering a methodologically rigorous “analysis of evidence on processes, sequences, and conjunctures of events within a case, for the purposes of either developing or testing hypotheses about causal mechanisms that might causally explain the case” (2012: 10).

Harnessing various methods, process tracing may entail the inductive use of evidence from within a case to develop explanatory hypotheses, and deductive examination of the observable implications of hypothesised causal mechanisms to test their explanatory capability[4]. It involves providing not only a coherent explanation of the key sequential steps in a hypothesised process, but also sensitivity to alternative explanations as well as potential biases in the available evidence (Bennett and Elman 2010: 503-504). John Owen (1994), for example, demonstrates the advantages of process tracing in analysing whether the causal factors underpinning democratic peace theory are – as liberalism suggests – not epiphenomenal, but variously normative, institutional, or some given combination of the two or other unexplained mechanism inherent to liberal states. Within-case process tracing has also been identified as advantageous in addressing the complexity of path-dependent explanations and critical junctures – as for example with the development of political regime types – and their constituent elements of causal possibility, contingency, closure, and constraint (Bennett and Elman, 2006b).

Bennett and Elman (2010: 505-506) also identify the advantages of single case studies that are implicitly comparative: deviant, most-likely, least-likely, and crucial cases. Of these, so-called deviant cases are those whose outcome does not fit with prior theoretical expectations or wider empirical patterns – again, the use of inductive process tracing has the advantage of potentially generating new hypotheses from these, either particular to that individual case or potentially generalisable to a broader population. A classic example here is that of post-independence India as an outlier to the standard modernisation theory of democratisation, which holds that higher levels of socio-economic development are typically required for the transition to, and consolidation of, democratic rule (Lipset, 1959; Diamond, 1992). Absent these factors, MacMillan’s single case study analysis (2008) suggests the particularistic importance of the British colonial heritage, the ideology and leadership of the Indian National Congress, and the size and heterogeneity of the federal state.

Most-likely cases, as per Eckstein above, are those in which a theory is to be considered likely to provide a good explanation if it is to have any application at all, whereas least-likely cases are ‘tough test’ ones in which the posited theory is unlikely to provide good explanation (Bennett and Elman, 2010: 505). Levy (2008) neatly refers to the inferential logic of the least-likely case as the ‘Sinatra inference’ – if a theory can make it here, it can make it anywhere. Conversely, if a theory cannot pass a most-likely case, it is seriously impugned. Single case analysis can therefore be valuable for the testing of theoretical propositions, provided that predictions are relatively precise and measurement error is low (Levy, 2008: 12-13). As Gerring rightly observes of this potential for falsification:

“a positivist orientation toward the work of social science militates toward a greater appreciation of the case study format, not a denigration of that format, as is usually supposed” (Gerring, 2007: 247, emphasis added).

In summary, the various forms of single case study analysis can – through the application of multiple qualitative and/or quantitative research methods – provide a nuanced, empirically-rich, holistic account of specific phenomena. This may be particularly appropriate for those phenomena that are simply less amenable to more superficial measures and tests (or indeed any substantive form of quantification) as well as those for which our reasons for understanding and/or explaining them are irreducibly subjective – as, for example, with many of the normative and ethical issues associated with the practice of international relations. From various epistemological and analytical standpoints, single case study analysis can incorporate both idiographic sui generis cases and, where the potential for generalisation may exist, nomothetic case studies suitable for the testing and building of causal hypotheses. Finally, it should not be ignored that a signal advantage of the case study – with particular relevance to international relations – also exists at a more practical rather than theoretical level. This is, as Eckstein noted, “that it is economical for all resources: money, manpower, time, effort… especially important, of course, if studies are inherently costly, as they are if units are complex collective individuals ” (1975: 149-150, emphasis added).

Limitations

Single case study analysis has, however, been subject to a number of criticisms, the most common of which concern the inter-related issues of methodological rigour, researcher subjectivity, and external validity. With regard to the first point, the prototypical view here is that of Zeev Maoz (2002: 164-165), who suggests that “the use of the case study absolves the author from any kind of methodological considerations. Case studies have become in many cases a synonym for freeform research where anything goes”. The absence of systematic procedures for case study research is something that Yin (2009: 14-15) sees as traditionally the greatest concern due to a relative absence of methodological guidelines. As the previous section suggests, this critique seems somewhat unfair; many contemporary case study practitioners – and representing various strands of IR theory – have increasingly sought to clarify and develop their methodological techniques and epistemological grounding (Bennett and Elman, 2010: 499-500).

A second issue, again also incorporating issues of construct validity, concerns that of the reliability and replicability of various forms of single case study analysis. This is usually tied to a broader critique of qualitative research methods as a whole. However, whereas the latter obviously tend toward an explicitly-acknowledged interpretive basis for meanings, reasons, and understandings:

“quantitative measures appear objective, but only so long as we don’t ask questions about where and how the data were produced… pure objectivity is not a meaningful concept if the goal is to measure intangibles [as] these concepts only exist because we can interpret them” (Berg and Lune, 2010: 340).

The question of researcher subjectivity is a valid one, and it may be intended only as a methodological critique of what are obviously less formalised and researcher-independent methods (Verschuren, 2003). Owen (1994) and Layne’s (1994) contradictory process tracing results of interdemocratic war-avoidance during the Anglo-American crisis of 1861 to 1863 – from liberal and realist standpoints respectively – are a useful example. However, it does also rest on certain assumptions that can raise deeper and potentially irreconcilable ontological and epistemological issues. There are, regardless, plenty such as Bent Flyvbjerg (2006: 237) who suggest that the case study contains no greater bias toward verification than other methods of inquiry, and that “on the contrary, experience indicates that the case study contains a greater bias toward falsification of preconceived notions than toward verification”.

The third and arguably most prominent critique of single case study analysis is the issue of external validity or generalisability. How is it that one case can reliably offer anything beyond the particular? “We always do better (or, in the extreme, no worse) with more observation as the basis of our generalization”, as King et al write; “in all social science research and all prediction, it is important that we be as explicit as possible about the degree of uncertainty that accompanies out prediction” (1994: 212). This is an unavoidably valid criticism. It may be that theories which pass a single crucial case study test, for example, require rare antecedent conditions and therefore actually have little explanatory range. These conditions may emerge more clearly, as Van Evera (1997: 51-54) notes, from large-N studies in which cases that lack them present themselves as outliers exhibiting a theory’s cause but without its predicted outcome. As with the case of Indian democratisation above, it would logically be preferable to conduct large-N analysis beforehand to identify that state’s non-representative nature in relation to the broader population.

There are, however, three important qualifiers to the argument about generalisation that deserve particular mention here. The first is that with regard to an idiographic single-outcome case study, as Eckstein notes, the criticism is “mitigated by the fact that its capability to do so [is] never claimed by its exponents; in fact it is often explicitly repudiated” (1975: 134). Criticism of generalisability is of little relevance when the intention is one of particularisation. A second qualifier relates to the difference between statistical and analytical generalisation; single case studies are clearly less appropriate for the former but arguably retain significant utility for the latter – the difference also between explanatory and exploratory, or theory-testing and theory-building, as discussed above. As Gerring puts it, “theory confirmation/disconfirmation is not the case study’s strong suit” (2004: 350). A third qualification relates to the issue of case selection. As Seawright and Gerring (2008) note, the generalisability of case studies can be increased by the strategic selection of cases. Representative or random samples may not be the most appropriate, given that they may not provide the richest insight (or indeed, that a random and unknown deviant case may appear). Instead, and properly used , atypical or extreme cases “often reveal more information because they activate more actors… and more basic mechanisms in the situation studied” (Flyvbjerg, 2006). Of course, this also points to the very serious limitation, as hinted at with the case of India above, that poor case selection may alternatively lead to overgeneralisation and/or grievous misunderstandings of the relationship between variables or processes (Bennett and Elman, 2006a: 460-463).

As Tim May (2011: 226) notes, “the goal for many proponents of case studies […] is to overcome dichotomies between generalizing and particularizing, quantitative and qualitative, deductive and inductive techniques”. Research aims should drive methodological choices, rather than narrow and dogmatic preconceived approaches. As demonstrated above, there are various advantages to both idiographic and nomothetic single case study analyses – notably the empirically-rich, context-specific, holistic accounts that they have to offer, and their contribution to theory-building and, to a lesser extent, that of theory-testing. Furthermore, while they do possess clear limitations, any research method involves necessary trade-offs; the inherent weaknesses of any one method, however, can potentially be offset by situating them within a broader, pluralistic mixed-method research strategy. Whether or not single case studies are used in this fashion, they clearly have a great deal to offer.

References 

Bennett, A. and Checkel, J. T. (2012) ‘Process Tracing: From Philosophical Roots to Best Practice’, Simons Papers in Security and Development, No. 21/2012, School for International Studies, Simon Fraser University: Vancouver.

Bennett, A. and Elman, C. (2006a) ‘Qualitative Research: Recent Developments in Case Study Methods’, Annual Review of Political Science , 9, 455-476.

Bennett, A. and Elman, C. (2006b) ‘Complex Causal Relations and Case Study Methods: The Example of Path Dependence’, Political Analysis , 14, 3, 250-267.

Bennett, A. and Elman, C. (2007) ‘Case Study Methods in the International Relations Subfield’, Comparative Political Studies , 40, 2, 170-195.

Bennett, A. and Elman, C. (2010) Case Study Methods. In C. Reus-Smit and D. Snidal (eds) The Oxford Handbook of International Relations . Oxford University Press: Oxford. Ch. 29.

Berg, B. and Lune, H. (2012) Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences . Pearson: London.

Bryman, A. (2012) Social Research Methods . Oxford University Press: Oxford.

David, M. and Sutton, C. D. (2011) Social Research: An Introduction . SAGE Publications Ltd: London.

Diamond, J. (1992) ‘Economic development and democracy reconsidered’, American Behavioral Scientist , 35, 4/5, 450-499.

Eckstein, H. (1975) Case Study and Theory in Political Science. In R. Gomm, M. Hammersley, and P. Foster (eds) Case Study Method . SAGE Publications Ltd: London.

Flyvbjerg, B. (2006) ‘Five Misunderstandings About Case-Study Research’, Qualitative Inquiry , 12, 2, 219-245.

Geertz, C. (1973) The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays by Clifford Geertz . Basic Books Inc: New York.

Gerring, J. (2004) ‘What is a Case Study and What Is It Good for?’, American Political Science Review , 98, 2, 341-354.

Gerring, J. (2006a) Case Study Research: Principles and Practices . Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.

Gerring, J. (2006b) ‘Single-Outcome Studies: A Methodological Primer’, International Sociology , 21, 5, 707-734.

Gerring, J. (2007) ‘Is There a (Viable) Crucial-Case Method?’, Comparative Political Studies , 40, 3, 231-253.

King, G., Keohane, R. O. and Verba, S. (1994) Designing Social Inquiry: Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research . Princeton University Press: Chichester.

Layne, C. (1994) ‘Kant or Cant: The Myth of the Democratic Peace’, International Security , 19, 2, 5-49.

Levy, J. S. (2008) ‘Case Studies: Types, Designs, and Logics of Inference’, Conflict Management and Peace Science , 25, 1-18.

Lipset, S. M. (1959) ‘Some Social Requisites of Democracy: Economic Development and Political Legitimacy’, The American Political Science Review , 53, 1, 69-105.

Lyotard, J-F. (1984) The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge . University of Minnesota Press: Minneapolis.

MacMillan, A. (2008) ‘Deviant Democratization in India’, Democratization , 15, 4, 733-749.

Maoz, Z. (2002) Case study methodology in international studies: from storytelling to hypothesis testing. In F. P. Harvey and M. Brecher (eds) Evaluating Methodology in International Studies . University of Michigan Press: Ann Arbor.

May, T. (2011) Social Research: Issues, Methods and Process . Open University Press: Maidenhead.

Owen, J. M. (1994) ‘How Liberalism Produces Democratic Peace’, International Security , 19, 2, 87-125.

Seawright, J. and Gerring, J. (2008) ‘Case Selection Techniques in Case Study Research: A Menu of Qualitative and Quantitative Options’, Political Research Quarterly , 61, 2, 294-308.

Stake, R. E. (2008) Qualitative Case Studies. In N. K. Denzin and Y. S. Lincoln (eds) Strategies of Qualitative Inquiry . Sage Publications: Los Angeles. Ch. 17.

Van Evera, S. (1997) Guide to Methods for Students of Political Science . Cornell University Press: Ithaca.

Verschuren, P. J. M. (2003) ‘Case study as a research strategy: some ambiguities and opportunities’, International Journal of Social Research Methodology , 6, 2, 121-139.

Yin, R. K. (2009) Case Study Research: Design and Methods . SAGE Publications Ltd: London.

[1] The paper follows convention by differentiating between ‘International Relations’ as the academic discipline and ‘international relations’ as the subject of study.

[2] There is some similarity here with Stake’s (2008: 445-447) notion of intrinsic cases, those undertaken for a better understanding of the particular case, and instrumental ones that provide insight for the purposes of a wider external interest.

[3] These may be unique in the idiographic sense, or in nomothetic terms as an exception to the generalising suppositions of either probabilistic or deterministic theories (as per deviant cases, below).

[4] Although there are “philosophical hurdles to mount”, according to Bennett and Checkel, there exists no a priori reason as to why process tracing (as typically grounded in scientific realism) is fundamentally incompatible with various strands of positivism or interpretivism (2012: 18-19). By extension, it can therefore be incorporated by a range of contemporary mainstream IR theories.

— Written by: Ben Willis Written at: University of Plymouth Written for: David Brockington Date written: January 2013

Further Reading on E-International Relations

• Identity in International Conflicts: A Case Study of the Cuban Missile Crisis
• Imperialism’s Legacy in the Study of Contemporary Politics: The Case of Hegemonic Stability Theory
• Recreating a Nation’s Identity Through Symbolism: A Chinese Case Study
• Ontological Insecurity: A Case Study on Israeli-Palestinian Conflict in Jerusalem
• Terrorists or Freedom Fighters: A Case Study of ETA
• A Critical Assessment of Eco-Marxism: A Ghanaian Case Study

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A practical guide to the comparative case study method in political psychology

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A Political Science Guide

For students, researchers, and others interested in doing the work of political science, sampling and case selection, introduction to sampling and case selection.

One of the most important decisions we make as researchers involves narrowing our substantive focus. The reasons for doing this are many. For instance,  there may be practical limitations to the scope of our projects, there may be theoretical justifications for selecting and focusing on specific cases and not others (such as research on “extreme” cases).

The lecture slides and readings below are intended to help you think about the advantages and disadvantages of the case selection methods that you choose.

Lecture by Professor Nelson on Sampling and Case Selection

General resources.

• King, Gary, Robert Owen Keohane, and Sidney Verba. 1994. Designing social inquiry: scientific inference in qualitative research . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press: ch. 2-4, 5.1, 6.
• Kidder, Louise H. et al. 1986. Research methods in social relations. Boston, MA: Holt, Rinehart and Winston: ch. 6, 9.

Resources on Specific Sampling Strategies

• Sudman, Seymour. “ Applied Sampling .” In Handbook of Survey Research, ed. Peter Rossi, James Wright, and Andy Anderson, New York: Academic Press: 145-94
• Henry, Gary T. 1990. Practical sampling . Beverly Hills, CA:  SAGE: ch. 2
• Biernacki, P., and D. Waldorf. 1981. “ Snowball sampling. ” Sociological methods and research 10(2): 141–163.
• Babbie, Earl R. 1990. Survey research methods . Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Pub. Co: ch. 6.

Resources on Case Selection

• Patton, Michael Quinn. 2002. Qualitative research and evaluation methods . Beverly Hills, CA: SAGE. Beginning at page 169 is an excellent discussion of case selection strategies.
• George, Alexander L. and Timothy McKeown. 1985. “Case Studies and Theories of Organizational Decision Making.” In Robert Coulam and Richard Smith, eds., Advances in Information Processing in Organizations. Greenwich, CT.: JAI Press. 43-68.
• Kaarbo, J, and RK Beasley. 2002. A practical guide to the comparative case study method in political psychology. Political Psychology. 20(2). 369-391.
• Eckstein, H. 1975. “ Case study and theory in political science. ” In Handbook of political science, Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley: 79–137.
• Geddes, B. 1990. “ How the cases you choose affect the answers you get: Selection bias in comparative politics.” Political analysis 2(1): 131.

Abstract : This article demonstrates how the selection of cases for study on the basis of outcomes on the  dependent variable biases conclusions. It first lays out the  logic of explanation and shows how it is violated when only cases  that have achieved the outcome of interest are studied. It then examines three well-known and highly regarded studies in the field of comparative politics, comparing the conclusions reached in  the original work with a test of the arguments on cases selected without regard for their position on the dependent variable. In  each instance,  conclusions based on the uncorrelated sample differ from the original conclusions.

Advanced Resources

• Collier, David, Henry E. Brady, and Jason Seawright. “”Critiques, Responses, and Trade-offs: Drawing Together the Debate” and “Sources of Leverage in Causal Inference: Toward an Alternative View of Methodology.” In Rethinking Social Inquiry: Diverse Tools, Shared Standards , eds. David Collier and Henry E. Brady, Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
• Campbell, Donald T. “Degrees of Freedom and the Case Study. ” Comparative Political Studies 8: 178-193.

updated August 3, 2017 – MN

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• > Journals
• > American Political Science Review
• > Volume 65 Issue 3
• > Comparative Politics and the Comparative Method

Article contents

Comparative politics and the comparative method.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

This paper is a systematic analysis of the comparative method. Its emphasis is on both the limitations of the method and the ways in which, despite these limitations, it can be used to maximum advantage.

The comparative method is defined and analyzed in terms of its similarities and differences vis-à-vis the experimental and statistical methods. The principal difficulty facing the comparative method is that it must generalize on the basis of relatively few empirical cases. Four specific ways in which this difficulty may be resolved are discussed and illustrated: (1) increasing the number of cases as much as possible by means of longitudinal extension and a global range of analysis, (2) reducing the property space of the analysis, (3) focusing the comparative analysis on “comparable” cases (e.g., by means of area, diachronic, or intranation comparisons), and (4) focusing on the key variables.

It is argued that the case study method is closely related to the comparative method. Six types of case studies (the atheoretical, interpretative, hypothesis-generating, theory-confirming, theory-infirming, and deviant case analyses) are distinguished, and their theoretical value is analyzed.

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This article is a revised version of a paper presented to the Round Table Conference on Comparative Politics of the International Political Science Association, held in Turin, Italy, September 10–14, 1969. I am very grateful to David E. Apter, Donald T. Campbell, Robert A. Dahl, Giuseppe Di Palma, Harry Eckstein, Lewis J. Edinger, Samuel E. Finer, Galen A. Irwin, Jean Laponce, Juan J. Linz, Stefano Passigli, Austin Ranney, Stein Rokkan, Dankwart A. Rustow, and Kurt Sontheimer for their comments and suggestions on earlier drafts of the paper, which were very helpful in the preparation of the revision.

1 The reverse applies to the relatively new field of “political behavior”: its name indicates a substantive field of inquiry, but especially the derivative “behaviorism” has come to stand for a general approach or set of methods. See Dahl , Robert A. , “ The Behavioral Approach in Political Science: Epitaph for a Monument to a Successful Protest ,” American Political Science Review , 55 ( 12 , 1961 ), pp. 763 –72 CrossRef Google Scholar .

2 Sartori , Giovanni , “ Concept Misfonnation in Comparative Politics ,” American Political Science Review , 64 ( 12 , 1970 ), p. 1033 CrossRef Google Scholar .

3 Kalleberg , Arthur L. , “ The Logic of Comparison: A Methodological Note on the Comparative Study of Political Systems ,” World Politics , 19 (October 1966 ), p. 72 CrossRef Google Scholar .

4 Eisenstadt , Shmuel N. , “ Social Institutions: Comparative Study ,” in Sills , David L. , ed., International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences ( New York : Macmillan & Free Press , 1968 ), Vol. 14 , p. 423 Google Scholar . See also Eisenstadt , , “ Problems in the Comparative Analysis of Total Societies ,” Transactions of the Sixth World Congress of Sociology ( Evian : International Sociological Association , 1966 ), Vol. 1 , esp. p. 188 Google Scholar .

5 Lasswell , Harold D. , “ The Future of the Comparative Method ,” Comparative Politics , 1 ( 10 , 1968 ), p. 3 CrossRef Google Scholar .

6 Almond , Gabriel A. , “ Political Theory and Political Science ,” American Political Science Review , 60 ( 12 , 1966 ), pp. 877 –78 CrossRef Google Scholar . Almond also argues that comparative politics is a “movement” in political science rather than a subdiscipline. See his “ Comparative Politics ,” in International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences , Vol. 12 , pp. 331 –36 Google Scholar .

7 Kalleberg, op. cit. , pp. 72–73; see also pp. 75–78.

8 Sartori, op. cit. , p. 1033. See also Lazarsfeld , Paul F. and Barton , Allen H. , “ Qualitative Measurement in the Social Sciences: Classification, Typologies, and Indices ,” in Lerner , Daniel and Lasswell , Harold D. , eds., The Policy Sciences: Recent Developments in Scope and Method ( Stanford : Stanford University Press , 1951 ), pp. 155 –92 Google Scholar .

9 Heckscher , Gunnar , The Study of Comparative Government and Politics ( London : Allen and Unwin , 1957 ), p. 68 Google Scholar (italics added).

10 Goldschmidt , Walter , Comparative Functionalism: An Essay in Anthropological Theory ( Berkeley : University of California Press , 1966 ), p. 4 CrossRef Google Scholar . Oscar Lewis argues that “there is no distinctive ‘comparative method’ in anthropology,” and that he therefore prefers to discuss “comparisons in anthropology rather than the comparative method.” See his “ Comparisons in Cultural Anthropology ” in Thomas , William L. Jr. , ed., Current Anthropology ( Chicago : University of Chicago Press , 1956 ), p. 259 Google Scholar .

11 For the idea of discussing the comparative method in relation to these other basic methods, I am indebted to Smelser's , Neil J. outstanding and most enlightening article “ Notes on the Methodology of Comparative Analysis of Economic Activity ,” Transactions of the Sixth World Congress of Sociology ( Evian : International Sociological Association , 1966 ), Vol. 2 , pp. 101 –17 Google Scholar . For other general discussions of the comparative method, see Moulin , Léo , “ La Méthode comparative en Science Politique ,” Revue Internationale d'Histoire Politique et Constitutionelle , 7 (01-06, 1957 ), pp. 57 – 71 Google Scholar ; Nadel , S. F. , The Foundations of Social Anthropology ( London : Cohen and West , 1951 ), pp. 222 –55 Google Scholar ; Duverger , Maurice , Méthodes des Sciences Sociales ( 3rd ed., Paris : Presses Universitaires de France , 1964 ), pp. 375 –99 Google Scholar ; Whiting , John W. M. , “ The Cross-Cultural Method ,” in Lindzey , Gardner , ed., Handbook of Social Psychology ( Reading, Mass. : Addison-Wesley , 1954 ), Vol. 1 , pp. 523 –31 Google Scholar ; Moore , Frank W. , ed., Readings in Cross-Cultural Methodology ( New Haven, Conn. : HRAF Press , 1961 ) Google Scholar ; Przeworski , Adam and Teune , Henry , The Logic of Comparative Social Inquiry ( New York : Wiley-Interscience , 1970 ) Google Scholar ; and Holt , Robert T. and Turner , John E. , “ The Methodology of Comparative Research ,” in Holt , and Turner , , eds., The Methodology of Comparative Research ( New York : Free Press , 1970 ), pp. 1 – 20 Google Scholar .

12 The case study method will be discussed below.

13 Meehan , Eugene J. , The Theory and Method of Political Analysis ( Homewood, Ill. : Dorsey Press , 1965 ) Google Scholar . He expresses this idea in three short sentences: “Science seeks to establish relationships” (p. 35); “Science … is empirical” (p. 37); “Science is a generalizing activity” (p. 43).

14 Lazarsfeld , Paul F. , “ Interpretation of Statistical Relations as a Research Operation ,” in Rosenberg , Lazarsfeld and Morris , eds., The Language of Social Research: A Reader in the Methodology of Social Research ( Glencoe, Ill. : Free Press , 1955 ), p. 115 Google Scholar . However, control by means of partial correlations does not allow for the effects of measurement error or unique factor components: see Brewer , Marilynn B. , Crano , William D. and Campbell , Donald T. , “ Testing a Single-Factor Model as an Alternative to the Misuse of Partial Correlations in Hypothesis-Testing Research ,” Sociometry , 33 ( 03 , 1970 ), pp. 1 – 11 CrossRef Google Scholar . Moreover, partial correlations do not resolve the problem of the codiffusion of characteristics, known in anthropology as “Galton's problem”; see Naroll , Raoul , “ Two Solutions to Galton's Problem ,” Philosophy of Science , 28 ( 01 , 1961 ), pp. 15 – 39 CrossRef Google Scholar , and Przeworski and Teune, op. cit. , pp. 51–53.

15 Nagel , Ernest , The Structure of Science ( New York : Harcourt, Brace, and World , 1961 ), pp. 452 f. Google Scholar

16 For instance, if the groups are made equivalent by means of deliberate randomization, the investigator knows that they are alike with a very high degree of probability, but not with absolute certainty. Moreover, as Hubert M. Blalock, Jr., states, so-called “forcing variables” cannot be controlled by randomization. See his Causal Inferences in Nonexperimental Research ( Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press , 1964 ), pp. 23 – 26 Google Scholar . In general, Blalock emphasizes “the underlying similarity between the logic of making causal inferences on the basis of experimental and nonexperimental designs” (p. 26).

17 Lazarsfeld , , “ Interpretation of Statistical Relations as a Research Operation ,” p. 119 Google Scholar . Talcott Parsons makes a similar statement with regard to the comparative method: “Experiment is … nothing but the comparative method where the cases to be compared are produced to order and under controlled conditions.” See his The Structure of Social Action ( 2nd ed., New York : Free Press , 1949 ), p. 743 Google Scholar . Another advantage of the experimental method is that the time variable is controlled, which is especially important if one seeks to establish causal relationships. In statistical design, this control can be approximated by means of the panel method.

18 In order to highlight the special problems arising from the availability of only a small number of cases, the comparative method is discussed as a distinct method. Of course, it can be argued with equal justice that the comparative and statistical methods should be regarded as two aspects of a single method. Many authors use the term “comparative method” in the broad sense of the method of multivariate empirical, but nonexperimental, analysis, i.e. , including both the comparative and statistical methods as defined in this paper. This is how A. R. Radcliffe-Brown uses the term when he argues that “only the comparative method can give us general propositions.” ( Brown , , “ The Comparative Method in Social Anthropology ,” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland , 81 [ 1951 ], p. 22 . Google Scholar ) Émile Durkheim also follows this usage when be declares that “comparative sociology is not a particular branch of sociology; it is sociology itself, in so far as it ceases to be purely descriptive and aspires to account for facts.” ( Durkheim , , The Rules of Sociological Method , translated by Solovay , Sarah A. and Mueller , John H. , [ 8th ed., Glencoe, Ill. : Free Press , 1938 ], p. 139 . Google Scholar ) See also the statements by Lasswell and Almond cited above. Rodney Needham combines the two terms, and speaks of “large-scale statistical comparison,” i.e. , the statistical method. ( Needham , , “ Notes on Comparative Method and Prescriptive Alliance ,” Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde , 118 [ 1962 ], pp. 160 –82. CrossRef Google Scholar ) On the other hand, E. E. Evans-Pritchard uses exactly the same terminology as used by Smelser and as adopted in this paper, when he makes a distinction between “small-scale comparative studies” and “large-scale statistical ones.” See his The Comparative Method in Social Anthropology ( London : Athlone Press , 1963 ), p. 22 Google Scholar .

19 Beer , Samuel H. , “ The Comparative Method and the Study of British Politics ,” Comparative Politics , 1 ( 10 , 1968 ), p. 19 CrossRef Google Scholar .

20 Eckstein , Harry , “ A Perspective on Comparative Politics, Past and Present ,” in Eckstein , and Apter , David E. , eds., Comparative Politics: A Reader ( New York : Free Press of Glencoe , 1963 ), p. 3 Google Scholar .

21 Rokkan , Stein , “ Comparative Cross-National Research: The Context of Current Efforts ,” in Merritt , Richard L. and Rokkan , , eds., Comparing Nations: The Use of Quantitative Data in Cross-National Research ( New Haven : Yale University Press , 1966 ), pp. 19 – 20 Google Scholar . Rokkan specifically recommends the use of “paired comparisons” for this purpose; see his “ Methods and Models in the Comparative Study of Nation-Building ,” in Citizens, Elections, Parties: Approaches to the Comparative Study of the Processes of Development ( Oslo : Universitetsforlaget , 1970 ), p. 52 Google Scholar .

22 Merritt and Rokkan, op. cit. , p. 193.

23 Hopkins , Terence K. and Wallerstein , Immanuel , “ The Comparative Study of National Societies ,” Social Science Information , 6 ( 10 , 1967 ), pp. 27 – 33 CrossRef Google Scholar (italics added). See also Przeworski and Teune, op. cit. , pp. 34–43.

24 He adds: “This is a very naive conception of social science propositions; if only perfect correlations should be permitted social science would not have come very far.” Galtung , Johan , Theory and Methods of Social Research ( Oslo : Universitetsforlaget , 1967 ), p. 505 Google Scholar . The functions of deviant case analysis will be discussed below.

25 Mackenzie , W. J. M. , Politics and Social Science ( Harmondsworth : Penguin Books , 1967 ), p. 52 Google Scholar . I have been guilty of committing this fallacy myself. In my critique of Giovanni Sartori's proposition relating political instability to extreme multipartism (systems with six or more significant parties), one of my arguments consists of the deviance of a single historical case: the stable six-party system of the Netherlands during the interwar years. See Lijphart , Arend , “ Typologies of Democratic Systems ,” Comparative Political Studies , 1 ( 04 , 1968 ), pp. 32 – 35 CrossRef Google Scholar .

26 It is clearly incorrect, therefore, to argue that on logical grounds a probabilistic generalization can never be invalidated; cf. Guenter Lewy's statement: “To be sure, a finding of a very large number of … [deviant cases] would cast doubt upon the value of the proposition, but logically such evidence would not compel its withdrawal. The test of the hypothesis by way of a confrontation with empirical or historical data remains inconclusive.” Lewy , , “ Historical Data in Comparative Political Analysis: A Note on Some Problems of Theory ,” Comparative Politics , 1 ( 10 , 1968 ), p. 109 CrossRef Google Scholar .

27 Furthermore, unless one investigates all available cases, one is faced with the problem of how representative one's limited sample is of the universe of cases.

28 On the necessity of establishing general concepts not tied to particular cultures, see Smelser, op. cit. , pp. 104–09; Nadel, op. cit. , pp. 237–38; Oliver , Douglas and Miller , Walter B. , “ Suggestions for a More Systematic Method of Comparing Political Units ,” American Anthropologist , 57 ( 02 , 1955 ), pp. 118 –21 CrossRef Google Scholar ; and Frijda , Nico and Jahoda , Gustav , “ On the Scope and Methods of Cross-Cultural Research ,” International Journal of Psychology , 1 ( 1966 ), pp. 114 –16 CrossRef Google Scholar . For critiques of recent attempts at terminological innovation in comparative politics, see Sartori, “Concept Misformation in Comparative Politics”; Holt , Robert T. and Richardson , John M. Jr. , The State of Theory in Comparative Politics ( Minneapolis : Center for Comparative Studies in Technological Development and Social Change , 1968 ) Google Scholar ; Dowse , Robert E. , “ A Functionalist's Logic ,” World Politics , 18 ( 07 , 1966 ), pp. 607 –23 CrossRef Google Scholar ; and Finer , Samuel E. , “ Almond's Concept of ‘The Political System’: A Textual Critique ,” Government and Opposition , 5 (Winter, 1969 – 1970 ), pp. 3 – 21 CrossRef Google Scholar .

29 Haas , Michael , “ Comparative Analysis ,” Western Political Quarterly , 15 ( 06 , 1962 ), p. 298n CrossRef Google Scholar . See also Lewy, op. cit. , pp. 103–10.

30 Freeman , Edward A. , Comparative Politics ( London : Macmillan , 1873 ), pp. 1, 19, 302 Google Scholar . See also Gideon Sjoberg's argument in favor of global comparative research: “ The Comparative Method in the Social Sciences ,” Philosophy of Science , 22 ( 04 , 1955 ), pp. 106 –17 CrossRef Google Scholar .

31 Lazarsfeld and Barton, op. cit. , pp. 172–75; Barton, “The Concept of Property-Space in Social Research,” in Lazarsfeld and Rosenberg, op. cit. , pp. 45–50.

32 Smelser, op. cit. , p. 113. Holt and Turner refer to this strategy as the process of “specification” ( op. cit. , pp. 11–13). It is probably also what Eisenstadt has in mind when he mentions the possibility of constructing “special intensive comparisons of a quasi-experimental nature” ( op. cit. , p. 424). See also Scheuch , Erwin K. , “ Society as Context in Cross-Cultural Comparison ,” Social Science Information , 6 ( 10 , 1967 ), esp. pp. 20 – 23 CrossRef Google Scholar ; Mackenzie, op. cit ., p. 151; Eggan , Fred , “ Social Anthopology and the Method of Controlled Comparison ,” American Anthropologist , 56 ( 10 , 1954 ), pp. 743 –63 CrossRef Google Scholar ; and Ackerknecht , Erwin , “ On the Comparative Method in Anthropology ,” in Spencer , Robert F. , ed., Method and Perspective in Anthropology ( Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press , 1954 ), pp. 117 –25 Google Scholar .

33 Braibanti , Ralph , “ Comparative Political Analytics Reconsidered ,” Journal of Politics , 30 ( 02 , 1968 ), p. 36 CrossRef Google Scholar .

34 Mill , John Stuart , A System of Logic ( 8th ed., London : Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer , 1872 ) Google Scholar , Book III, chapter 8.

35 Nadel, op. cit. , pp. 222–23; Bock , Kenneth E. , “ The Comparative Method of Anthropology ” Comparative Studies in Society and History , 8 ( 04 , 1966 ), p. 272 CrossRef Google Scholar .

36 Mill, op. cit. , Book VI, chapter 7; see also Book III, chapter 10.

37 Durkheim, op. cit. , pp. 129–30. But he hailed the method of concomitant variations, which he evidently interpreted to mean a combination of the statistical and comparative methods, as “the instrument par excellence of sociological research” (p. 132). See also Bourricaud , François , “ Science Politique et Sociologie: Réflexions d'un Sociologue ,” Revue Française de Science Politique , 8 ( 06 , 1958 ), pp. 251 –63 CrossRef Google Scholar .

38 If the area approach is often preferable to research efforts with a global range in order to maximize comparability, the era approach may be preferable to longitudinal analysis for the same reason. Cf. the following statement by C. E. Black: “There is much greater value in comparing contemporary events and institutions than those that are widely separated in time. The comparison of societies or smaller groups that are concerned with reasonably similar problems is more likely to lead to satisfactory conclusions than comparisons between societies existing many centuries apart.” Black , , The Dynamics of Modernization: A Study in Comparative History ( New York : Harper and Row , 1966 ), p. 39 Google Scholar .

39 Heckscher, op. cit. , p. 88.

40 Macridis , Roy C. and Cox , Richard , “ Research in Comparative Politics ,” American Political Science Review , 47 ( 09 , 1953 ), p. 654 Google Scholar . See also Martz , John D. , “ The Place of Latin America in the Study of Comparative Politics ,” Journal of Politics 28 ( 02 , 1966 ), pp. 57 – 80 CrossRef Google Scholar .

41 Rustow , Dankwart A. , “ Modernization and Comparative Politics: Prospects in Research and Theory ,” Comparative Politics , 1 ( 10 , 1968 ), pp. 45 – 47 CrossRef Google Scholar . Area study may also be criticized on the ground that, in the words of Hitchner , Dell G. and Levine , Carol , in Comparative Government and Politics ( New York : Dodd, Mead , 1967 ) Google Scholar : “Its very method of delimitation puts emphasis on what may be particular to a limited group of states, as opposed to the universal generalizations which fully comparative study must seek” (pp. 7–8). This argument has been answered above in terms of the need for partial generalizations as a first step. See also Braibanti, op. cit. , pp. 54–55.

42 Russett , Bruce M. , “ Delineating International Regions ,” in Singer , J. David , ed., Quantitative International Politics: Insights and Evidence ( New York : Free Press , 1968 ), pp. 317 –52 Google Scholar . See also Russett , , International Regions and the International System ( Chicago : Rand McNally , 1967 ) Google Scholar .

43 Blanksten , George I. , “ Political Groups in Latin America ,” American Political Science Review , 53 ( 03 , 1959 ), p. 126 CrossRef Google Scholar . See also Neumann , Sigmund , “ The Comparative Study of Politics ,” Comparative Studies in Society and History , 1 ( 01 , 1959 ), pp. 107 –10 CrossRef Google Scholar ; and Schapera , I. , “ Some Comments on the Comparative Method in Social Anthropology ,” American Anthropologist , 55 ( 08 , 1953 ), pp. 353 – 361 CrossRef Google Scholar , esp. p. 360.

44 See Lipset , Seymour Martin , “ The Value Patterns of Democracy: A Case Study in Comparative Analysis ,” American Sociological Review , 28 ( 08 , 1963 ), pp. 515 –31 CrossRef Google Scholar ; Alford , Robert R. , Party and Society: The Anglo-American Democracies ( Chicago : Rand Mc-Nally , 1963 ) Google Scholar ; Lipson , Leslie , “ Party Systems in the United Kingdom and the Older Commonwealth: Causes, Resemblances, and Variations ,” Political Studies , 7 ( 02 , 1959 ), pp. 12 – 31 CrossRef Google Scholar .

45 Frye , Charles E. , “ Parties and Pressure Groups in Weimar and Bonn ,” World Politics , 17 ( 07 , 1965 ), pp. 635 –55 CrossRef Google Scholar . (The quotation is from page 637.) The postwar division of Germany also offers the opportunity of analyzing the effects of democratic versus totalitarian development against a similar cultural and historical background. See Dahrendorf , Ralf , “ The New Germanies: Restoration, Revolution, Reconstruction ,” Encounter , 22 ( 04 , 1964 ), pp. 50 – 58 Google Scholar . See also Thrupp , Sylvia L. , “ Diachronic Methods in Comparative Politics ,” in Holt , and Turner , , eds., The Methodology of Comparative Research , pp. 343 –58 Google Scholar .

46 Heckscher, p. 69; Eulau , Heinz , “ Comparative Political Analysis: A Methodological Note ,” Midwest Journal of Political Science , 6 ( 11 , 1962 ), pp. 397 – 407 CrossRef Google Scholar . Rokkan, too, warns against the “whole-nation” bias of comparative research (“Methods and Models,” p. 49).

47 Smelser, op. cit. , p. 115.

48 Juan J. Linz and Amando de Miguel, “Within-Nation Differences and Comparisons: The Eight Spains,” in Merritt and Rokkan, op. cit. , p. 268.

49 Naroll , , “ Scientific Comparative Politics and International Relations ,” in Farrell , R. Barry , ed., Approaches to Comparative and International Politics ( Evanston, Ill. : Northwestern University Press , 1966 ), pp. 336 –37 Google Scholar .

50 Braibanti, op. cit. , p. 49. In this context, “configurative” analysis is not synonymous with the traditional single-country approach, as in Eckstein's definition of the term: “the analysis of particular political systems, treated either explicitly or implicitly as unique entities” (“A Perspective on Comparative Politics,” p. 11.

51 Lasswell, op. cit. , p. 6.

52 See Snyder , Richard C. , Bruck , H. W. , and Sapin , Burton , eds., Foreign Policy Decision-Making ( New York : Free Press of Glencoe , 1962 ) Google Scholar .

53 LaPalombara , Joseph , “ Macrotheories and Microapplications in Comparative Politics ,” Comparative Politics , 1 ( 10 , 1968 ), pp. 60 – 77 CrossRef Google Scholar . As an example he cites Dahl , Robert A. , ed., Political Oppositions in Western Democracies ( New Haven : Yale University Press , 1966 ), esp. chapters 11–13 Google Scholar . See also LaPalombara , , “ Parsimony and Empiricism in Comparative Politics: An Anti-Scholastic View ,” in Holt , and Turner , , eds., The Methodology of Comparative Research , pp. 123 –49 Google Scholar .

54 Eckstein , , “ A Perspective on Comparative Politics ,” p. 30 Google Scholar .

55 Nadel, op. cit. , p. 228.

56 Rosenau , James N. , “ Private Preferences and Political Responsibilities: The Relative Potency of Individual and Role Variables in the Behavior of U.S. Senators ,” in Singer , , ed., Quantitative International Politics , pp. 17 – 50 Google Scholar , esp. p. 19. Rosenau adds that if “the findings are not so clear as to confirm or negate the hypotheses unmistakably, then of course the analyst moves on to a third comparable period” (p. 19). If such a third or even more periods can be found—which seems unlikely in the case of Rosenau's particular research problem—they should be included regardless of the outcome of the analysis of the first two eras (if the available resources permit it, of course).

57 See also the proposed use of “multiple comparison groups,” as an approximation of the experimental method, by Glazer , Barney G. and Strauss , Anselm L. , “ Discovery of Substantive Theory: A Basic Strategy Underlying Qualitative Research ,” American Behavioral Scientist , 8 ( 02 , 1965 ), pp. 5 – 12 CrossRef Google Scholar .

58 LaPalombara , , “ Macrotheories and Microapplications ,” pp. 60 – 65 Google Scholar .

59 See Curtis , Michael , Comparative Government and Politics: An Introductory Essay in Political Science ( New York : Harper and Row , 1968 ), p. 7 Google Scholar . See also Macridis , , The Study of Comparative Government ( New York : Random House , 1955 ) Google Scholar .

60 As Przeworski and Teune state: “The main role of a theory is to provide explanations of specific events. These explanations consist of inferring, with a high degree of probability, statements about particular events from general statements concerning classes of events” (p. 86).

61 Hudson , Michael C. , “ A Case of Political Underdevelopment ,” Journal of Politics , 29 ( 11 , 1967 ), pp. 821 –37 CrossRef Google Scholar . See also Beer , , “ The Comparative Method and the Study of British Politics ,” pp. 19 – 36 Google Scholar .

62 Naroll , , “ Scientific Comparative Politics and International Relations ,” p. 336 Google Scholar . An example of such a case study is my analysis of the determinants of Dutch colonialism in West Irian. In most cases, both objective (especially economic) and subjective factors can be discerned, but the case of West Irian is unique because of the complete absence of objective Dutch interests in the colony. See Lijphart , , The Trauma of Decolonization: The Dutch and West New Guinea ( New Haven : Yale University Press , 1966 ) Google Scholar .

63 See Kendall , Patricia L. and Wolf , Katherine M. , “ The Analysis of Deviant Cases in Communications Research ,” in Lazarsfeld , and Stanton , Frank , eds., Communications Research: 1948–49 ( New York : Harper , 1949 ), pp. 152 –57 Google Scholar ; Sjoberg, op. cit. , pp. 114–15; and Lijphart , , The Politics of Accommodation: Pluralism and Democracy in the Netherlands ( Berkeley : University of California Press , 1968 ) CrossRef Google Scholar , chapter 10.

64 This process of refining generalizations through deviant case analysis is what Robert M. Marsh calls “specification.” See his article “ The Bearing of Comparative Analysis on Sociological Theory ,” Social Forces , 43 ( 12 , 1964 ), pp. 191 –96 Google Scholar . Specification should therefore definitely not be regarded as “the garbage bin” of comparative research; see Kottak , Conrad Phillip , “ Towards a Comparative Science of Society ,” Comparative Studies in Society and History , 12 ( 01 , 1970 ), p. 102 CrossRef Google Scholar . See also Gordon , Milton M. , “ Sociological Law and the Deviant Case ,” Sociometry , 10 ( 08 , 1947 ), pp. 250 –58 CrossRef Google Scholar ; and Köbben , André J. F. , “ The Logic of Cross-Cultural Analysis: Why Exceptions? ”, in Rokkan , , ed., Comparative Research Across Cultures and Nations ( Paris : Mouton , 1968 ), pp. 17 – 53 CrossRef Google Scholar .

65 Eckstein , , Division and Cohesion in Democracy: A Study of Norway ( Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press , 1966 ), esp. pp. 60–77, 177 – 201 Google Scholar . Part of the critique which follows is included in my review of this book in the Journal of Modern History , 41 ( 03 , 1969 ), pp. 83 – 87 CrossRef Google Scholar .

66 Truman , David B. , The Governmental Process: Political Interests and Public Opinion ( New York : Knopf , 1951 ) Google Scholar .

67 In one respect, it is not altogether correct to call the Norwegian case study a theory-confirming study. Because the congruence theory has a rather narrow empirical basis, consisting chiefly of only two cases (Britain and Germany), it is a hypothesis rather than an established theory. The case study of Norway is, of course, not a hypothesis-generating study either. Perhaps it should be called a “hypothesis-strengthening” case study or, as Eckstein himself suggests, a “plausibility probe” (oral comment at the IPSA Round Table Conference in Turin, September 1969).

68 Eckstein , , A Theory of Stable Democracy , Research Monograph No. 10 ( Princeton, N.J. : Center of International Studies , 1961 ) Google Scholar .

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• Volume 65, Issue 3
• Arend Lijphart (a1)
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1955513

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Computer Science > Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition

Title: exploring 3d face reconstruction and fusion methods for face verification: a case-study in video surveillance.

Abstract: 3D face reconstruction (3DFR) algorithms are based on specific assumptions tailored to distinct application scenarios. These assumptions limit their use when acquisition conditions, such as the subject's distance from the camera or the camera's characteristics, are different than expected, as typically happens in video surveillance. Additionally, 3DFR algorithms follow various strategies to address the reconstruction of a 3D shape from 2D data, such as statistical model fitting, photometric stereo, or deep learning. In the present study, we explore the application of three 3DFR algorithms representative of the SOTA, employing each one as the template set generator for a face verification system. The scores provided by each system are combined by score-level fusion. We show that the complementarity induced by different 3DFR algorithms improves performance when tests are conducted at never-seen-before distances from the camera and camera characteristics (cross-distance and cross-camera settings), thus encouraging further investigations on multiple 3DFR-based approaches.

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