The promise and pitfalls of comparative research design in the study of migration

Abstract

This article contends that our ability to study migration is significantly enhanced by carefully conceived comparative research designs. Comparing and contrasting a small number of cases—meaningful, complex structures, institutions, collectives, and/or configurations of events—is a creative strategy of analytical elaboration through research design. As such, comparative migration studies are characterized by their research design and conceptual focus on cases, not by a particular type of data. I outline some reasons why scholars should engage in comparison and discuss some challenges in doing so. I survey major comparative strategies in migration research, including between groups, places, time periods, and institutions, and I highlight how decisions about case selection are part and parcel of theory-building and theory evaluation. Comparative research design involves a decision over what to compare—what is the general class of ‘cases’ in a study—and how to compare, a choice about the comparative logics that drive the selection of specific cases.