COMPARATIVE SOCIAL WELFARE RESEARCH
Richard J. Estes(1)
University of Pennsylvania
Comparative welfare researchers have contributed significantly to an
understanding of the dynamics that inform welfare development across time
and cultures. Through their comparative analyses of social welfare trends
and patterns, social researchers have also influenced the direction that
improvements in national and international welfare efforts have taken.
Often, however, the efforts of comparative investigators have been impaired
by enormous conceptual problems and by problems of missing, incomplete, or
otherwise unavailable data sources. Comparative welfare researchers also
have operated within a research environment that, characteristically, is
charged with suspicion and distrust concerning the potential misuses to
which
politically sensitive welfare data might be put.
No problem, however, has hindered comparative welfare research more
than the continuing world-wide shortage of competently trained comparative
investigators. The current worldwide shortage of adequately prepared
comparative welfare researchers has reached critical levels; unfortunately,
only a few programs have been organized to respond to this pressing social
welfare personnel need. Further, published discussions on the substance
and organization of curricula leading to competence in comparative research
have been sparse. This has resulted in the relative lack of specific
guidance to curriculum builders wishing to enhance the level of comparative
research training available to their students. This chapter attempts to
address a variety of issues associated with the education of social welfare
personnel for comparative
research careers.
More specifically, this chapter responds to four sets of issues
concerning the organization of comparative welfare content in social work
curricula. First, comparative social welfare research will be defined and
its parameters will be specified. Second, selected reports of research in
the comparative welfare literature will be cited to illustrate both the
variety and richness of this literature. Third, three levels of research
competence in comparative research will be identified. Fourth, a
curriculum designed for proficiency at each level of research competence
will be proposed.
COMPARATIVE SOCIAL WELFARE
Comparative social welfare is a discrete field of research inquiry aimed
at understanding national and international patterns of social provision.
The patterns that are of greatest interest to comparative researchers are
those public and private systems of social care that emerge in response to
recurrent human needs, i.e., recurrent human needs that exist in all
societies regardless of their particular forms of social, political, or
economic organization. These needs include exposure to such recurrent
social risks as poverty, hunger, illness, disability, early death,
solitary survivorship,
and so on.
Comparative social welfare is also an interdisciplinary field of
inquiry that draws heavily on the knowledge and specialized methodological
bases of researchers trained in many areas of the social and behavioral
sciences (e.g., economics, history, politics, anthropology, etc). The
methodologies employed by comparative welfare researchers are varied and
complex and, again, reflect the full gamut of research approaches used by
social scientists working in fields of inquiry other than social welfare.
The Focus of Comparative Social Welfare Research
The focus of comparative welfare research is quite broad. Comparative
investigators study, for example, informal systems of welfare provision
developed by individuals, families, and groups of unrelated individuals and
families for themselves and others (e.g., informal systems of mutual aid,
self help, the emergence of cooperatives, the establishment of
special-purpose voluntary social insurance programs, etc.). Comparative
researchers are also interested in understanding the nature and dynamics of
more formal approaches to social provision, including those large scale
social insurance programs developed by governments to minimize the
economic dislocations associated with more or less predictable social risks
to which everyone in the society is exposed (e.g., accidents and injury,
unemployment, retirement, premature death, etc.). Comparative welfare
researchers also undertake research on the social welfare implications of
other, more broadly-based, phenomena that impact on the quality of life of
people living in particular societies or countries, e.g., the social
consequences of alternative macro-economic policies, the impact of
environmental pollution on the human health and social status, the impact
of urban development on rural social welfare needs, population trends, etc.
More typically, comparative welfare researchers seek to understand
the interplay of regional and international social, political, and economic
forces that influence patterns of welfare provision: e.g., "warfare" vs.
"welfare" expenditures, migration of refugees, economic transfers between
nations. They seek, too, to understand the nature of the complex
partnership that exists between individuals, voluntary organizations, and
governments which, over time, results in the development of formal systems
of specific social welfare, programs and services such as health care,
education, nutrition, sanitation, care of the aged. Comparative welfare
researchers also assess the efficiency (cost) and effectiveness (outcome)
of alternative approaches to social welfare provision, e.g., income
security, population control. Comparative studies also are conducted on
the transferability of solutions found to be effective in meeting the
welfare needs of one nation, or group of nations, to those of other
societies. Examples include tax-supported social insurance programs,
family allowances, remedial education, participatory approaches to social
development and other social "schemes."
Levels of Inquiry and Comparative Welfare Research
Comparative welfare research may proceed at multiple levels of inquiry.
That is, studies of a cross-cultural nature may be conducted among
sub-populations that reside within the same nation but who, by objective
criteria, differ culturally with respect to race, ethnicity, language, or
other relevant social characteristics. Comparative welfare inquiries also
may be conducted among nations that are socially similar or dissimilar,
i.e., in terms of political or economic systems, or that are geographically
close (within the same region) or distant from one another (located on
different continents). Comparative investigations also may be made across
nations characterized by contrasting levels of socio-economic development,
e.g., "developed" vs. "developing" nations. Whatever their particular
theoretical orientation, level of inquiry, or area of substantive interest,
all comparative welfare researchers share a common commitment to the use
of their research knowledge and skills for the improvement of the material
and social conditions of people
everywhere in the world.
COMPETENCE IN COMPARATIVE WELFARE RESEARCH
The Council on Social Work Education Curriculum Study Committee on "The
Research Method" identified three levels of research competence in social
work: (1) the practitioner of a service method: (2) the research
practitioner; and (3) the research specialist. Drawing on the study
committee's general model, but modifying it somewhat to account for the
advanced nature of comparative research, three levels of competence can be
distinguished: (1) the comparative practitioner; (2) the comparative
specialist; and (3) the comparative expert. Examples of each level of
comparative welfare research competence can be found in the studies cited
throughout this chapter. In general, comparative research competence can
be identified through analysis of: (a) level of investigator educational
preparation (baccalaureate > doctoral); (b) investigator functional role
(data collector > decision maker); and (c) by the unit of analysis
selected by investigators to frame particular comparative inquiries
(national > international).
The relationships between the defining dimensions of comparative
welfare research competence are illustrated by the three-dimensional model
depicted in Figure 1. The model describes the interplay of roles,
functions, and research purposes assumed by investigators undertaking a
broad range of comparative inquiries. The model also helps to explain, at
least in part, the extraordinary variation found in the educational
backgrounds, substantive interests, and methodological approaches taken by
individual comparative welfare investigators. Note, for example, that the
functional role of comparative researchers is conceptualized as shifting
from that of a statistical data collector to the more integrative role of
research coordinator and decision-maker as level of investigator education
increases. Similarly, as level of investigator education increases, the
unit of analysis (referred to as "level of inquiry" in Figure 1 broadens
from a narrow focus on the social welfare concerns of only one or a few
countries (e.g., single case designs) to those that exist in many countries
(e.g., "regional" or "cross-national" designs) and, at the most complex
level, to studies of social welfare issues of concern to all - or at least
most - of the world's nations ("international" research). Conversely, the
functional role of the comparative investigator becomes more restricted as
level of investigator education decreases and the focus of research centers
on social welfare problems of only one country or sub-regions within a
country.
The model is also useful in suggesting the minimal educational
expectations that are associated with preparation for competence at each
level of comparative research.
Comparative Practitioners
Comparative practitioners constitute the first level of competence in
comparative welfare research. Practitioners carry primary responsibility
for data collection, organization, and processing. Comparative
practitioners rarely assume leadership roles in either the
conceptualization or the design of large-scale cross-national inquiries.
They may, however, serve as local "project directors" or "field
supervisors" in cross-national studies of a specialized nature, for
example, research on the incidence and prevalence of selected social
problems or patterns of social care that characterize particular societies.
Because of their narrow focus on data collection and statistical
compilation functions, comparative practitioners are not independent
researchers; instead, their research activities are supervised by either
comparative specialists or comparative experts. Comparative practitioners,
however, may be engaged in research at any level of analysis (i.e.,
national ==> international) and are employed by a great variety of
organizations that engage in international welfare activities.
The education of comparative practitioners may take place at
universities or within specialized comparative research centers or training
institutes. The focus of this training will depend mainly on the career
aspirations of individual practitioners and the personnel needs of
employing organizations and nations, or the auspices of the training
centers themselves. For example, the United Nation's Institute for
Research on Social Development (Geneva, Switzerland) and the European
Centre for Social Welfare Research and Training (Vienna, Austria)
contribute to the preparation of specialized personnel for the social
welfare disciplines. These organizations, and others, can serve as
suitable settings for non-university specialized training in comparative
welfare research, especially for persons who already possess at least
baccalaureate level training
in a social welfare-related discipline.
Whatever the center for education, the basic curriculum for
comparative practitioners should be the same; that is, emphasis should be
placed on education for competence in data collection, organization and
processing functions in comparative research. As reflected in Charts
19 and 20, this training must include Level I preparation in general
social science research methodology, social statistics, and content
specific to comparative social welfare. Insofar as possible, the education
of comparative practitioners should include carefully structured field
practica that are supervised by experienced comparative welfare researchers.
Comparative Specialists
Comparative specialists are among the most versatile of comparative
welfare researchers. They can, for example, perform many of the data
functions done by comparative practitioners, but specialists also
contribute significantly to the conceptualization and design of specific
comparative inquiries. They also frequently carry direct administrative
authority for the implementation of comparative studies within a specific
nation, or nations, or within a geographic region. These specialists also
carry greater responsibility for the supervision and continuing education
of comparative practitioners.
The majority of these specialists engage in research such as national
and international social surveys, cost-benefit analyses, the gathering of
program statistics, and often, in the evaluation of discrete welfare
programs and services (program effectiveness, efficiency, and adequacy).
The performance of these specialized technical/evaluative functions in
critical in comparative welfare research and requires rigorous educational
preparation. The training of comparative specialists should take place
only for persons pursuing post-graduate degrees in social welfare and within
universities.
Essentially, the comparative curriculum consists of both required and
elective courses in social research methodology, social statistics,
automated data processing, and extensive comparative welfare content (see
Charts 19 and 20). The length of this training normally will require
one-two years beyond the baccalaureate degree, and will include
participation in carefully structured, and supervised, comparative research
field practica. At the conclusion of their training, comparative
specialists should be able to demonstrate proficiency in the application
of comparative research principles to a broad range of comparative welfare
issues and problems.