The Use of Aggregate Data in Comparative Political Analysis

Abstract

IN RECENT YEARS the field of comparative politics has undergone a marked alteration both in terms of substantive content as well as methodology. In the process it has expanded far beyond its traditional concern with constitutions, government institutions and political party organization and activity, which were generally analyzed through legal and descriptive methods. This alteration has largely been the consequence of both the growth of the behavioral movement within political science, as well as the influence upon it of specific substantive concerns and research methods of related fields such as political sociology, social psychology and anthropology. Any attempt to catalogue the complete range of newer writings in comparative politics at this stage would be both difficult and of doubtful utility since the field is still in a state of flux. One broad distinction does emerge however, and it may be expected to continue in the work of those seeking to make cross-national comparisons in order to identify and explain uniformities and differences in political behavior. This is with respect to the types of data utilized and how they are handled in analysis.' More specifically, the newer writings may be classified into those which are characterized by the systematic use of quantitative data, where analysis often centers on measurement with a variety of statistical tests; as contrasted with those writings which rely largely upon qualitative data where analysis rests on a conceptual scheme or framework such as structural functional theory and ideal type analysis. The first of the newer group