OBME 2235 - Comparative Macro Research: Principles and Design

This course teaches students to design comparative research projects across sociology, political science, and welfare state research. It blends theory, examples, and hands-on practice. The 12-lecture course has three modules:

• Foundations – epistemology, case selection, and databases for comparative social policy.
• Description vs. causation – we will study research using quantitative data, mixed methods, and examples like social capital and social revolutions.
• The part of the course is structured around the presentation of the comparative research project the students will elaborate. Each project will be briefly presented and discussed in class for feedback. The objective is to refine students’ original approach in order to prepare the final comparative research project that will be submitted for the exam.

Learning Outcomes

• Analytical skills: learning to understand how studies are conducted and the methodology they employ
• Project construction: learning how to structure a research proposal
• Critical writing: learning how to write a research project on the basis of an original idea and class feedbacks

Professional Skills

Although being focused on research, students will improve their analytical, project construction and writing skills. These are key learning objectives for people that want to engage in jobs with governmental agencies and NGOs.

None, but an interest in methods and research is a clear plus.

The course has a hybrid format. The first two parts of the course will offer theory and practical examples to then structure the personal comparative research proposal. These classes (2/3 of the course will be mostly thought). The third part of the course include the presentation of student proposals with the entire class and the provision of feedback for each project. Therefore, this part of the course will be more interactive and based on students’ proposal and an informed methodological class discussion plus feedback from the teacher.

The students will develop a comparative research design project. For this task they are free to choose something related to their dissertation or pick up a different example drawn from the comparative social policy and political economy literature presented in class. The characteristics of the project will be illustrated in lecture 2 and discussed at length during the students’ presentation in classes 9, 10, 11 and 12. The maximum length for the project should be 2000 words. The project must be submitted on Moodle by the 12 of December 2026. Specific information on the requirements and submission dates will be discussed on lectures 1 and 2.

Other than the final exam, students will have to prepare a presentation of their project to receive in class feedback. Although ungraded this step is fundamental to write the final research project (that carries 100 percent of the grade).

• In Class Presence: 2 hours a week / 24 hours a semester
• Reading and Preparation for Class: 3 hours a week / 36 hours a semester
• Research and Preparation for the presentation of the project: 2 hours a week / 24 hours a semester
• Research and Writing for Individual Assessments: 5 hours a week / 60 hours a semester