1. Unobtrusive Research 1.Content analysis - examine written documents such as editorials. 2.Analyses of existing statistics. 3.Historical/comparative analysis - historical records.

2. Comparative & Historical Analysis Historically grounded explanations of large-scale and substantively important outcomes Sources of Data: Newspapers, Literature Review, Govt. Docs., biographies, diaries, letters, etc. Long Tradition: Weber, Durkheim, Marx, Lipset, Skocpol

3. Types of Comparative and Historical Analyses –Historical events research: focus on events in one short historical period –Historical process research: traces a sequence of events over a number of years –Cross-sectional comparative research: comparing data from one time period between two or more units. –Comparative historical research: comparing data from more than one time period in more than one unit

4. Qualities of Qualitative Historical Research Case Oriented: focus on unit(s) as a whole Holistic: how various parts or conditions fit together. Temporal: taking into account related series of events. Narrative: researches a story involving actors & events. Inductive: develops an explanation for what happened

5. Historical Events Research Event-Structure Analysis: systematic coding of events/historical information Griffen (1993) – events leading to the lynching Oral History: produces written records that can be analyzed Pagnini & Morgan (1996) – 1170 life histories from the Great Depression

6. Historical Process Research Extends historical events research by focusing on a series of events. Can use quantitative data to examine variation over time. Example: Number of laws, spending, international agreements, voter turnout, etc.

7. Comparative Methods Cross-sectional Comparative Research Frequently quantitative/variable-oriented research Comparative Historical Research Comparisons between cases to highlight the particular features of each case or identify general historical patterns across units. Paige (1999) - the development of capitalism in various nations.

8. Lipset (1959)

9. Comparative & Historical Analysis Cautions: Can't trust the accuracy of records - official or unofficial, primary or secondary. Must be wary of bias in data sources. Rarely systematic in data collection

10. Aviles What is the research question? What is the theory? What is the research design? What is the evidence/data? What are the findings?