Choosing Not to Choose in Comparative Policy Research Design: The Case of the Research Network on Gender, Politics, and the State |
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| Authors: | Amy G. Muzur Janine Parry |
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| Affiliation: | Amy G. Mazur is associate professor of political science at Washington State University. Her most recent publications include: Gender Bias and the State: Symbolic Reform at Work in Fifth Republic France;(University of Pittsburgh Press, 1995);Comparative State Feminism, co-edited with Dorothy McBride Stetson (Sage, 1995);Gender, Policy, and Comparative Theory: Intersections Between Feminist Analysis and Political Science (Oxford University Press, forthcoming);and Making Democracies Work for Women: State Feminism, Women's Movements, und Job Training Policy, edited (Garland, forthcoming). She also is co-director of the Research Network on Gender, Politics, and the State. Janine Parry is assistant professor of political science at the University of Arkansas. Her research interests include women and public office, family-related public policies, federalism, and citizens' commissions. She is published in Review of Public Personnel Administration and Current Municipal Problems. |
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| Abstract: | This research note presents the research design for an in -progress comparative study on women's policy offices being conducted by the Research Network on Gender. Politics. and the State. The goal of this article is to examine how this project has been integrating a combined approach into its core research design. It argues that rather than conceptualizing the research design enterprise in terms of a zero-sum game, where a decision to use either quantitative or qualitative methodology compromises potential research findings, researchers may want to combine the strength of each approach in a single project. |
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