ABSTRACT
For many political science studies, comparison appears as the observation of events, behavior, or institutions exclusively drawn from the United States. As we saw in the last chapter, for political scientists to make significant strides toward building a general body of knowledge about politics, they must be able to observe events, institutions, and political behavior across more than one country, as well as across more than one culture. In political science the examination of data measuring political behavior or institutional authority in one country other than the United States, or in more than one country simultaneously, regardless of the nations involved, ordinarily falls within the subfield of comparative politics. However, when we test theories and hypotheses with quantitative data for the explicit purpose of formulating generalizations that extend beyond the particular countries and cultures included in the data set, we are employing a particular strategy of comparative political inquiry, namely, cross-national research. Understanding the strategies of comparative inquiry is essential to appreciating the epistemological principles of the science of comparing nations, and is necessary to properly orient one to the unique contribution of quantitative cross-national research. We begin with an overview of the three basic strategies of comparative political inquiry.
