TY - JOUR
T1 - An approach to the Development of Comparative Cross-National Studies of Street Level Bureaucracy
AU - Hill, Michael
AU - Møller, Marie Østergaard
PY - 2019/3
Y1 - 2019/3
N2 - Propositions about street-level bureaucracy run the risk of violating the scientific precept that a theoretical generalisation should be tested by replication in a variety of contexts. Many examples can be found of writings that simply indicate that street-level discretion is pervasive. This prompts the questions, ‘but how’, and under what conditions ‘may’ that happen? Comparison is needed to answer these questions, particularly cross-national ones. It will be argued that good cross-national comparative work must rest upon precise specification of the contexts to be compared and avoiding comparing tasks that seem similar, but in fact serve different functions in different contexts. To explore this one particular task–pre-school child care–is selected. The discussion of this specific example is examined as a model for similar comparative work.
AB - Propositions about street-level bureaucracy run the risk of violating the scientific precept that a theoretical generalisation should be tested by replication in a variety of contexts. Many examples can be found of writings that simply indicate that street-level discretion is pervasive. This prompts the questions, ‘but how’, and under what conditions ‘may’ that happen? Comparison is needed to answer these questions, particularly cross-national ones. It will be argued that good cross-national comparative work must rest upon precise specification of the contexts to be compared and avoiding comparing tasks that seem similar, but in fact serve different functions in different contexts. To explore this one particular task–pre-school child care–is selected. The discussion of this specific example is examined as a model for similar comparative work.
KW - Comparative studies
KW - child care
KW - street-level bureaucracy
U2 - 10.1080/21699763.2019.1593880
DO - 10.1080/21699763.2019.1593880
M3 - Journal article
SN - 2169-9763
VL - 35
SP - 177
EP - 193
JO - Journal of International and Comparative Social Policy
JF - Journal of International and Comparative Social Policy
IS - 2
ER -