1. EU Projects on Family and Welfare
ESRC/NCRM Training Seminar Cross-National Research Challenge, Cooperation and Compromise
Scientific and pragmatic rationales for choice of countries, cases and contexts
EU Projects on Family and Welfare
Linda Hantrais

2. Challenge, cooperation, compromise
Challenges of cross-national comparisons:
Methodological complexity
Crossing national, cultural and linguistic boundaries
Pragmatism and compromise
Cost in time, effort and money
Impact of methods and means on findings
Cross-national, cultural or societal?
Understanding of concepts and contexts
Rationales for choice of countries
Combining methods

3. EU policy reviews DG Research policy reviews (FP4, 5):
education, training, employment, quality of work, social inclusion, inequality, social protection, citizenship and identity, migration, regional policy, governance, enlargement, sustainability, F&W
linkages between research and policy
value for money
complementarity, critical mass, synergy
 policy solutions
observation of research process, policy interface

4. Setting and achieving objectives
How not to design a research programme
No consultation at the research design stage
Thematic coverage not a priority
Country coverage not determined by themes
Policy relevance not built into the research design
Post hoc justification for country mix, methods and policy relevance

5. From the theory of country selection…
Number  breadth vs depth:
Breadth  generalisation, limited variables,
Description, juxtaposition
Problems of comparability due to data inconsistencies
Depth  fine-grain analysis
subnational / regional variation

6. From the theory of country selection…
Mix  J.S. Mills’ method of
agreement (most similar for dependent variable)
difference (most different)
concomitant variation (association between variables)
Not a recipe for establishing causality
Problem of isolating independent variables
Different results from different combinations of cases

7. Nation as the unit of analysis
International organisations:
EU as policy-making framework for nations
Eurostat as statistical agency
Defined but shifting territorial boundaries
Recognised legal and administrative systems
Not necessarily common cultural, linguistic and ethnic identity
Changing membership of international bodies
Multilevel systems of governance
Common reference point + diversity
Material for cross-national analysis

8. …the practice of country selection
Political rationale:
geographical coverage
North, south, east + France, Germany, UK
? Representativeness and wider applicability
Scientific rationale:
exploring diversity
? Capturing and analysing diversity

9. …the practice of country selection
Pragmatic rationale:
partners with cultural/linguistic affinity
? Dealing with bias
F&W rationales:
Common research methods
Self-selection
Common mission
Cultural proximity

10. IPROSEC country rationale
1. EEC founder member states > France, Germany, Italy (continental welfare systems)
2. EC second wave member states > Ireland, UK (universal, residual welfare systems)
3. EC third wave member states > Greece, Spain (southern European welfare systems)
4. EU fourth wave member states > Sweden
(Nordic, social democratic welfare systems)
5. EU fifth wave member states > Estonia, Hungary, Poland (post-communist welfare systems)

11. IPROSEC research design
Aims and objectives:
Compare and contrast the policy process
Inform policy
Assess policy responses and outcomes
Methods:
Secondary data analysis
Policy context analysis
In-depth interviews with policy actors and family members
Intraregional heterogeneity

12. Implications of country mix
Policy reviews:
Validation through triangulation
Overlap/duplication
Patchy country coverage
Limited reliability and applicability
Concordant/discordant outcomes
Need to revisit assumptions
Awareness of diversity and complexity
Analysis of policy effects
Understanding what works and why in different policy contexts