1 - Introduction to the Handbook of Research Methods and Applications in Comparative Policy Analysis - B. Guy Peters and Guillaume Fontaine 1. Introduction: substance and methods in comparative policy analysis 2. Theoretical issues 3. Methodological issues 4. Research design and methods selection 5. Conclusion: the importance of method for comparative policy research and practice PART I - THE METHODOLOGICAL DEBATE 2 - The comparative method and comparative policy analysis - B. Guy Peters 1. Introduction 2. Modes of analysis in comparative policy studies 3. Sampling on the dependent variable 4. The comparative method and case studies 5. The possibility of hybrid designs 6. Several thoughts on small-N research 7. Conclusion: what, if anything, is special about comparative policy studies? 3 - The most-similar and most-different systems design in comparative policy analysis - Carsten Anckar 1. Introduction 2. The most-similar systems design 3. The most-different systems design 4. Deductive and inductive research strategies 5. Applying the most-similar systems design in deductive and inductive research 6. Applying the most-different systems design in deductive and inductive research 7. The most-similar and most-different systems designs compared 8. Criticism and response 9. The relevance of the most-similar and most-different systems in contemporary research 4 - Can a case study test a theory? Types and tokens in comparative policy analysis - Keith Dowding 1. Introduction 2. What is a theory? 3. Testing a theory as an invariant generalization 4. Testing a theory as an empirical generalization 5. Testing a theory as a mechanism 6. Unique cases 7. Conclusions PART II - THEORETICAL CHALLENGES 5 - Comparing policy processes: insights and lessons from the Advocacy Coalition Framework research program - Daniel Nohrstedt, Christopher M. Weible, Karin Ingold and Adam D. Henry 1. Introduction 2. Elements of comparison when applying the ACF 3. Comparative ACF research: guidelines, experiences and shortcomings 4. Insights and lessons 5. Conclusion 6 - Comparing agenda-settings: the Comparative Agendas Project - Laura Chaqués Bonafont, Christoffer Green-Pedersen and Henrik Bech Seeberg 1. Introduction 2. Agenda-setting models 3. Methodological developments 4. Political agendas 5. Measures of the agenda 6. Future direction of policy agenda research 7 - Comparing historical cases: advances in comparative historical research - Grace Jaramillo 1. Introduction 2. Comparative historical analysis 3. Maximizing process tracing results 4. Indexes as tools of organizing and validating results 5. Case study: assessing industrial policy using an index of intervention 6. Conclusions 8 - Comparing international policy transfers - Osmany Porto de Oliveira 1. Introduction 2. The comparative analysis of policy tranfers: a challenge, solution, and opportunity 3. Beyond comparative country analysis: transnational comparison 4. Issues, questions, and concepts for policy transfers comparative analysis 5. What and how should we compare in international policy transfers analysis? 6. Comparing transfer agents, instruments, and arenas 7. Conclusion PART III - MEASUREMENT AND EXPERIMENTAL METHODS 9 - Using experiments in comparative policy analysis: from policy evaluation to the policy process - Peter John 1. Introduction 2. What are experiments? 3. Causal inference 4. The history of experiments in public policy 5. Elite experiments 6. Conclusions: lessons for students of the policy process 10 - Measuring change in comparative policy analysis: concepts and empirical approaches - Jale Tosun and Julia Schnepf 1. Introduction 2. Conceptualizing policy change 3. The multi-dimensional approach to measuring policy change 4. The budget approach to measuring policy change 5. The diffusion approach to measuring policy change 6. The outcome approach to measuring policy change 7. Discussion and conclusion 11 - Using indexes in comparative policy analysis: global comparisons - Tero Erkkilä 1. Introduction 2. Background 3. Governance indicators and critique of raking 4. Towards second-generation measurements: transparency metrics 5. Measurement issues in regional and city-level indicators 6. Summary 7. Conclusions 12 - Using text-as-data methods in comparative policy analysis - Fabrizio Gilardi and Bruno Wüest 1. Introduction 2. Text-as-data applications in comparative policy analysis: an overview 3. Text-as-data in practice 4. Methods 5. New directions of text-as-data applications 6. Conclusion PART IV - MIXED METHODS AND MULTI-METHODS 13 - Critical multiplism for comparative policy analysis - William N. Dunn and B. Guy Peters 1. Introduction 2. Critical multiplism and mixed methods 3. Some mixed-methods designs 4. Bounding multiple triangulation 5. Conclusion 14 - Causal case studies for comparative policy analysis - Derek Beach 1. Introduction 2. Key terms 3. Variance-based versus case-based approaches to studying public policies 4. How to do case-based studies of policy processes 5. Conclusions 15 - Qualitative Comparative Analysis for comparative policy analysis - Eva Thomann 1. Introduction 2. QCA as a technique 3. QCA in comparative public policy analysis 4. Approaches to QCA in comparative public policy 5. A case-oriented or condition-evaluating mode of reasoning 7. Emphasizing substantively interpretable or redundancy-free models 8. Conclusions 16 - Process tracing for comparative policy analysis: a realist approach - Guillaume Fontaine 1. Introduction: a popular method 2. Methodology 3. A template for realist process tracing 4. Conclusion: process tracing for policy learning PART V - QUALITATIVE TECHNIQUES 17 - Using focus groups in comparative policy analysis - Patrik Marier, Daniel Dickson and Anne-Sophie Dubé 1. Introduction 2. Why use focus groups in comparative public policy? 3. The deployment of focus groups in Québec 4. Methodological advantages 5. Methodological disadvantages 6. Designing focus groups 7. Managing group dynamics 8. Conclusion 18 - Using ethnography in comparative policy analysis: premises, promises and perils - Raul Pacheco-Vega 1. Introduction 2. What is ethnography and how can it be applied in comparative policy analysis? 3. Ethnography in public policy, public management, and public administration research 4. Three modes of ethnographic engagement in comparative policy analysis 5. Comparative policy analysis and policy studies from a comparative perspective: the two faces of Janus? 6. Which policy issue areas use ethnography? 7. Doing ethnography for comparative policy analysis: an applied approach 8. Promises and perils of the application of ethnography as a research method for comparative policy analysis 9. Conclusion: embracing ethnography in comparative policy analysis? 19 - Using Q methodology in comparative policy analysis - Astrid Molenveld 1. Introduction 2. Philosophy 3. How to execute and analyze a Q-methodology study 4. Conclusion 20 - Using the Narrative Policy Framework in comparative policy analysis - Aaron Smith-Walter and Michael D. Jones 1. Introduction 2. The narrative policy framework 3. University of narrative 4. Traveling with the NPF 5. Limitations 6. Conclusion PART VI - ISSUES FOR FURTHER RESEARCH 21 - Trends in the development of comparative policy analysis - Iris Geva-May, David C. Hoffman and Joselyn Muhleisen 1. Introduction 2. Comparative policy analysis development as a distinct field of study 3. The importance and limitations of comparative policy analysis and comparative policy analytic studies 4. Trends in comparative policy analysis refereed articles: content analysis of EBSCO all academic database and the JCPA 1998-2016 5. The Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis 6. Conclusions 22 - Evolutionary theory in comparative policy analysis - Adrian Kay 1. Introduction 2. Evolutionary approaches 3. Evolutionary frameworks for institutionalist theory in comparative policy analysis 4. Evolutionary theory in comparative public policy: methodological issues 5. Conclusion Index