Σύγκριση μεθόδων

	Typological Theory	Most Similar Systems Design
Πεδίο	Political Science	Political Science
Οικογένεια	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Έτος προέλευσης	2005	1970
Δημιουργός	Alexander L. George & Andrew Bennett; Colin Elman	John Stuart Mill (method of difference); Przeworski & Teune (systems framing)
Τύπος	Configurational theory-building method for case studies	Small-N comparative case-selection design
Θεμελιώδης πηγή	George, A. L., & Bennett, A. (2005). Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ISBN: 9780262572224	Przeworski, A., & Teune, H. (1970). The Logic of Comparative Social Inquiry. New York: Wiley-Interscience. ISBN: 9780471701422
Εναλλακτικές ονομασίες	Typological theorizing, Explanatory typologies, Typological theory building, Configurational typologies	MSSD, Most similar cases design, Mill's method of difference, Comparable cases strategy
Συναφείς	4	3
Σύνοψη	Typological theory is a configurational approach to theory building in which the researcher specifies types — distinct combinations of the values of explanatory variables — and develops contingent generalizations about the outcomes associated with each combination. Codified by Alexander George and Andrew Bennett and refined by Colin Elman's explanatory typologies, it organizes cases into the cells of a property space defined by the interaction of variables, using case studies to populate and refine the types. It embraces causal complexity by treating combinations, not isolated variables, as the units of explanation.	The most similar systems design (MSSD) is a small-N comparative strategy that selects cases as alike as possible on many background characteristics but differing on the outcome of interest. By matching cases so that most potential confounders are held roughly constant, the design isolates the few factors that vary alongside the outcome as the candidate causes. Rooted in John Stuart Mill's method of difference and named by Przeworski and Teune, it is a cornerstone of comparative politics for drawing causal inferences from a handful of countries or cases.