Comparative politics

a mapping of the debate between theoreticalproposals and alternative research methodologies

Abstract

Despite the popularization of studies in Comparative Politics, there still exists a considerable dissent in this field when it comes to research methodology. This article reconstitutes the key contentious issues of a debate that opposes two alternative views. On the one hand, there are the quantitative comparativists, to whom qualitative research based upon a small sample is, at best, a “second best” strategy. On the other hand, there are the so-called qualitative compara­tivists, who advocate that qualitative researches are better equipped, to understand and ap­prehend the specificity and complexity intrinsic to the social phenomena.