B0340 - LABORATORIO DI METODO COMPARATO E WELFARE

Learning outcomes

The workshop aims to provide students with soft skills that may prove helpful in their future careers. The goal is to improve students’ skills through practical exercises. The workshop explores the main elements of the comparative method and has a twofold objective: 1) to make students understand what it means to do research by adopting a comparative method; 2) to enhance students’ ability to develop a research design. The main topics addressed will be as follows:

• Defining comparison
• What to compare: the units of analysis;
• The dimensions of comparison: space and time
• Key mechanisms
• Emblematic research with particular reference to the welfare state field.

Course contents

The workshop is primarily intended for second-year students and is divided into four parts.

In the first part (lectures 1-4), students will familiarize themselves with the principle concepts of comparative research, with particular reference to the welfare state. Specifically, the following topics will be covered:

• What does “comparing” mean?
• Comparison in the social sciences.
• The objectives of comparison.
• Case selection.
• How to compare.
  
• Essential elements and critical issues in comparative welfare analysis:
• Challenges and problems in comparative welfare analysis.
• Typologies as a tool for classification.
•   A practical example of comparative welfare analysis: “The Three Words of Welfare Capitalism” by Gøsta Esping-Andersen.

In the second part (lecture 5), students will be introduced to some of the main databases and sources for welfare state analysis, including:

• Eurostat
• EU’s Mutual Information System on Social Protection (MISSOC).

Students will get familiar with the databases through exercises. 

In the third part of the workshop (sessions 6–7), students will be engaged in more autonomous and critical work. In the first session, they will work in class - in small groups - on selected emblematic studies from the comparative welfare state literature. The activity will focus on guided reading of the texts, identifying the methodological strategies and research designs adopted by the authors, and analyzing the main findings. In the following session, each group will present in class a short critical analysis of the study they examined (approximately 10–15 minutes), highlighting both methodological aspects and comparative results. The presentations will then be followed by a collective discussion aimed at comparing the different approaches and findings, thereby fostering a critical debate among all participants.

In the fourth part of the workshop (sessions 8–10), students -individually or in small groups - will conduct a comparative research project on a topic of their choice within welfare state analysis. The results will be presented during the final session, followed by a class discussion.

Readings/Bibliography

Morlino L. (2020), La comparazione. Un'introduzione metodologica,, Bologna, Il Mulino.

Additional teaching materials (i.e., mandatory readings for each lecture in addition to the text; additional background material) will be made available to students on the Course page on virtuale.unibo.it.

Teaching methods

Lectures will be alternated with group discussions, exercises and student presentations.

Assessment methods

The assessment will be based on active participation in the sessions (attendance of at least 80% of the classes is mandatory) and on the completion of the two in-class presentations.

Teaching tools

Slides and other teaching materials will be available in electronic format on the Virtuale platform.

Students with learning disorders and\or temporary or permanent disabilities:

please, contact the office responsible (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students ) as soon as possible so that they can propose acceptable adjustments. The request for adaptation must be submitted in advance (15 days before the exam date) to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of the adjustments, taking into account the teaching objectives.

Office hours

See the website of Giovanni Amerigo Giuliani