Methodological Problems of Quantitative Comparative Social Research

Abstract

The comparison between different countries and cultures constitutes the most important methodological tool of sociology and the social sciences. With the establishment of regular worldwide social surveys in the 1980s, international comparative research has accomplished a fundamental empirical and methodological breakthrough. The easy accessibility of these international comparative survey data and packages of statistical data analysis, however, may distract from some crucial questions: Can we use such methods anywhere around the world? Is the meaning of translations of concepts into different languages equivalent? Which methods are the most appropriate when analyzing these data? Are nation states the adequate units for comparative analyses? Shall we use all available countries or select a few? This introduction addresses these questions and also offers an overview of the contributions in this special issue on the use of quantitative methods in international comparative research.

Keywords:

• international comparative research
• ISSP
• quantitative methods
• World Values Survey

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Markus Hadler

Markus Hadler is a senior lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Macquarie University, NSW, Australia. His research focuses on international comparisons of individual attitudes and behaviors with a special interest in macro-micro-level influences. Recent publications have appeared in International Sociology, Sociological Forum, Sociological Quarterly, and other social science journals.

Anja Eder

Anja Eder is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Graz/Austria. She works in the fields of social inequality in international comparison and empirical methods of the social sciences. She is a member of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) and a founding member of the Center for Empirical Methods of the Social Sciences at the University of Graz.

Max Haller

Max Haller is a professor of sociology at the University of Graz and a member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. He was a cofounder of the ISSP und the European Sociological Association. His research areas include comparative social research, social inequality, and sociological theory. He has published extensively in German, English, French, and Italian scientific journals and publishing houses.

Franz Höllinger

Franz Höllinger is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Graz. He has been a member of the ISSP since 1986. His research focuses on cross-national comparative studies in the areas of sociology of religion and sociology of the family. Recent publications have appeared in Journal of Contemporary Religion, Berliner Journal für Soziologie, and other social science journals.