ABSTRACT
The theme of this chapter is the need to plan and to be aware of the many practical problems and pitfalls of comparative research, and the purpose is to help researchers to plan and carry out a comparative research study. It will also be of use to those assessing research proposals or overseeing and managing research. It is primarily for a single researcher or a small team who are seeking to answer a question or test a hypothesis by making a com parison between items in one country or across countries, either by using available data or by collecting their own data. We also note practical issues in cross-area or cross-national collaborative studies involving researchers in different places.
