1. The Comparative Method in the Social Sciences

2. GOALS OF SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH
IDENTIFYING GENERAL PATTERNS AND RELATIONSHIPS
TESTING AND REFINING THEORY
MAKING PREDICTIONS
INTERPRETING SIGNIFICANCE
EXPLORING DIVERSITY
ADVANCING NEW THEORIES

3. THEORY HYPOTHESES TESTING
The Scientific Method
THEORY HYPOTHESES TESTING

4. VARIABLES INDEPENDENT VARIABLES DEPENDENT VARIABLES
CONTROLLED VARIABLES

5. CASE STUDIES REPRESENTATIVE DEVIANT CRUCIAL HYPOTHESIS GENERATING
PLAUSIBILITY PROBE

6. THE COMPARATIVE METHOD
MOST SIMILAR SYSTEMS
MOST DIFFERENT SYSTEMS
CASE-ORIENTED APPROACH (SMALL N)
VARIABLE-ORIENTED APPROACH (LARGE N)