On November 9th, 2024, Tom Sork, Hongxia Shan, Alexandra Ioannidou, & Katrin Kaufmann-Kuchta presented the following paper at the conference of the International Society for Comparative Adult Education in Florence, Italy: Case Study of Reflexive Analysis for Avoiding the Pitfalls of Comparative Research.
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to critically analyze the design of a soon-to-be-launched, three-year, comparative research project with the broad goal of understanding the role and contributions of adult learning and education in immigrant settlement and integration (ALE-in-ISI) in Canada and Germany. The project is an outgrowth of a partnership between the University of British Columbia (UBC) and the German Insititute for Adult Education (DIE) and has been funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) along with contributions from the DIE. In addition to the two primary partners (UBC and DIE), the project includes co-applicants and collaborators in several other universities and organizations in both countries that provide ALE programs focused on settlement and integration.
We are not suggesting this is an example of a “model” comparative research study, but rather as a project with considerable potential to experience some of the conceptual and methodological “pitfalls” identified by Bron (2008) and limitations enumerated by Reischmann (2024). After summarizing the critiques of Bron and Reischmann, the paper proposes a set of questions to guide a reflexive process that we believe can reduce the vulnerability of comparative research to criticism. We illustrate these questions with brief comments on how they relate to our specific project in the hope they may be useful to other comparative researchers.
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.