led by Professor Ian Greener
This workshop will take participants through a range of different comparison methods in social science, ranging from the use of analogy and metaphor, through to more systematic methods such as Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA). It will consider the role of comparison in literature reviewing, as well as in how data and be organised and analysed. It aims to be both conceptual – getting participants to do both conceptual and applied work.
The workshop will, to illustrate its ideas, incorporate data from the first two years of the pandemic to explore how we might compare the impact of the pandemic, as well as different governmental responses, across a range of countries. Participants will be asked to perform visual comparisons of the data from ourworldindata.org of the different countries (around 10) and try and explore what comparison can add to our understanding of the pandemic.
Who’s it for?
The workshop requires no prior learning, just a willingness to explore what comparison could add to their research. It will not be using quantitative techniques, but suggest possible approaches which might work well with the approach should students wish to explore the data in the workshop (or their own data) further.