Realities of comparative research

1
Realities of comparative research

• Marilyn Taylor
• Chris Miller
• University of the West of England, Bristol, UK

2
Research aims

• How global trends translate into different
  cultural contexts
• How non-governmental actors navigate the
  tensions experienced in governance arrangements,
  e.g. autonomy, legitimacy
• Drawing on governance, governmentality and social
  movement theory

3
The research team

• Led from the UK
• in collaboration with
• the New Bulgarian University, Sofia and
• the University of Central America, Managua
• Informed by an Advisory Group made up of
  academics and NGOs

4
Primarily qualitative research methods

• National overviews
• Semi-structured interviews
• Documentary evidence
• City-based, organisational case studies
• Semi-structured interviews
• Inquiry groups
• Involving participants
• Web-based knowledge exchange
• Inter-site video conference

5
Communication via

• Email (with later attempts at Skype)
• 3 UK-based full team meetings
• UK contact visits to non-UK sites
• Additional sub-team visits to UK (Bulgaria only)

6
Emerging dilemmas

• Whose research? Power and discourse
• Building international understanding
• Developing a common approach
• Revisiting definitions and assumptions
• A participatory approach

7
Whose research?

• Unequal starting points
• Research design and application process
• Funding flows
• Western discourse
• English as the dominant language
• Western concepts
• Programme and Advisory Group based in England

8
Building international understanding

• Relevance of Western concepts
• NGO
• governance
• Different disciplines
• Applying the global to the local and the local to
  the global
• Country selection based on pragmatism
• Finding comparative frames
• The significance of similarities and differences

9
Developing a common approach

• Different local imperatives and styles of work
• Different expectations of cross-national research
• Approaches to research within and between
  sub-teams
• Case study selection locations and organisations
• Pragmatism and access
• Reflecting local context
• Software and analysis

10
Revisiting definitions

• The unit of analysis
• Blurring boundaries

11
A participatory approach?

• Engaging participants in the research
• Engaging participants with each other
• Practical difficulties
• Language
• Technology
• Time
• The Advisory Group