Designing Comparative Case Studies: New Designs and Directions

Group Submission Type: Pre-conference Workshop

Description of Session

Comparative case studies are now used widely in Comparative and International Education. However, they are not always straightforward to design and employ, especially for emerging scholars. This workshop, designed specifically for graduate students, practitioners, and early career scholars, explains the value and utility of the CCS approach, exemplifies comparative case studies and their affordances, and examines the limitations and difficulties of conducting CCS research.

The CCS approach, developed by the workshop conveners (Vavrus & Bartlett, 2023, 2009, 2006; 2023; Bartlett & Vavrus, 2014, 2017, 2018), employs three intersecting axes: the horizontal axis compares how similar policies unfold in different, socially-produced locations that may appear, on the surface, to be either quite similar (e.g., three preschools) or fundamentally distinct (e.g., a refugee camp and a university classroom); the vertical axis attends to similarities and differences in policies and priorities at different scales, such as teacher education policy based on UNESCO guidelines developed by a ministry of education and employed in a rural school district; and the transversal axis historically situates the phenomenon in considering how it came to be in the first place owing to the conditions of coloniality, domestic or international political pressure, community-based mobilizing, and other processes that unfold over time.

This workshop will help emerging scholars plan and refine comparative case studies for their dissertations, field studies, and other research projects. The workshop will have three components: a brief overview of the comparative case study approach; small group sessions providing feedback on research designs; and a large group discussion of take-aways from the workshop and strategies for improving comparative case study designs.

In advance of the workshop, participants will fill out a form developed by the workshop organizers that asks for: a one-page, single-spaced document describing their study (one paragraph each about research questions, key concept(s), methods, and significance); a one-page visual representation of their research design; and an indication of their stage of research (initial, intermediate, or advanced stage of project development).

Sub Unit

• Pre-Conference Workshops, Book launches, and Visual Art Exhibits / Pre-Conference Workshop

Workshop Organizer

• Frances Vavrus, University of Minnesota

Presenter

• Lesley Bartlett, University of Wisconsin-Madison