Conferences

This bibliometric study examines and attempts to systematize the methodological approaches of crossnational studies based on ESS data. The objective is to identify tendencies and possible mismatches between theory, hypothesis, and statistical techniques.

The study analyses 150 journal articles selected from the ESS Bibliography Archive and bibliographic databases (ISI-Web of Knowledge, Science Direct, Scopus, and Proquest) that were published over a period of seven years, from 2003 to 2009. Only articles employing secondary analysis of ESS data for more than one country are considered, in line with Hantrais and Mangen’s (1996) definition of crossnational research as “studies particular issues or phenomena in two or more countries with the express intention of comparing their manifestations in different socio-cultural settings, using the same research instruments” (p.1).

Every article is classified according to:

a) the substantive domain covered (i.e., the corresponding ESS module);

b) the number of countries included in the analysis;

c) the typology of crossnational studies proposed by Van de Vijver and Leung (1997). Four types of crossnational studies are distinguished along two axis: they can be either exploratory or hypotheses testing and may or may not involve contextual information about the countries;

d) the nature of social mechanisms captured (Hedström & Swedberg, 1998): individual mechanisms (purely psychological), situational mechanisms (how macrolevel conditions affect the behaviour of individuals), or transformational mechanisms (how isolated individual actions generate collective outcomes);

e) whether hypotheses are level-oriented (focused on differences in magnitudes of average scores across cultures/nations) or effect-oriented (focused on the relationship between variables and the identification of similarities and differences in these relationships across cultures/nations); and

f) the statistical technique(s) employed (one-level or multi-level).

A multiple correspondence analysis elucidates the patterns of co-occurrence of types of social mechanisms, hypotheses, statistical techniques, and categories of crossnational research. Individual studies are described in order to illustrate particular points and methodological solutions. Limitations to the exploration of social mechanisms are discussed.