What is comparative method of research? Discuss its importance and limitations.

This method does analysis of data collected from study of different groups and institutions and thus, similarities and differences are culled out while arriving at conclusion or report on overall research project.

Importance:

(i) We know that all sociological research involves comparison of cases or variables. These are similar in some respects while dissimilar or different in some other respects. A major methodological issue is whether or not, the units of comparison (viz. whole societies, major institutions, religions, groups and so on) and the indicators chosen to compare differences of similarities or degree of similarity, are generally comparable and can legitimately, be used outside their specific cultural settings.

(ii) Rates and belonging to same society are mutually compared in this method. Same variables may appear in different societies as we see same rate of social mobility in stratification but these are found different in society.

(iii) It is widely used in anthropological and ethnological research. An information continuously building up, can be stored and applied for study of same feature in other societies. Thus, it saves much labour that is done in case of information not collected. This is the reason for opening of a cross cultural survey at Yale University by George P. Murdock. A human relations area file has been developed now in almost all countries. It's a gigantic data bank for sociologists.

(iv) The same method was adopted by A.R. Radcliffe Brown of Britain. However, in stead of calling it comparative method, he named it as social anthropology.

It is worth noticing that the systematic use of comparison and contrast as methods of enquiry became widely accepted among sociologists and social anthropologists in the first half of the thirteenth century.

This method was used by A.R. Radcliffe-Brown in order to cull out difference in sociological totemism among the Australian aborigines and that of Andaman Islanders. He had also proposed that a relationship between ancestor worship and lineage structure can be substantiated through systematic comparative study carried upon them.