Contextualization in cross-national comparative research
- 1 January 1999
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in International Journal of Social Research Methodology
- Vol. 2 (2) , 93-108
- https://doi.org/10.1080/136455799295078
Abstract
The aim of this contribution is to provide researchers involved in quantitative and qualitative cross-national comparative projects with a rationale and practical guidance for analysing socio-economic phenomena in relation to their institutional and socio-cultural settings. The paper tracks the shift in cross-national comparisons in the social sciences away from universalistic culture-free approaches to culture-boundedness, which has placed the theory and practice of contextualization at the nexus of cross-national comparative studies. It draws on a wide range of multinational and interdisciplinary studies to address a number of recurring questions, covering the selection of appropriate contextual frames of reference, the impact of the researcher's own cultural traditions, issues of equivalence of concepts and interpretation.Keywords
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