A Documentation Model for Comparative Research Based on Harmonization Strategies

This paper deals with studies of fixed design, where comparability is feasible either for culture or for time and culture. For the time dimension, studies are divided into cross-sectional and longitudinal, and for the cultural dimension they are divided into monocultural and cross-cultural. Since modern societies are mainly organised into nation-states, cross-cultural studies are carried out more often on country level. However this does not necessarily mean that the organisation of cross-cultural studies in the same country is not possible. Comparative cross-cultural studies follow strategies of data harmonization such as the «ex ante input harmonization», the «ex ante output harmonization», and the «ex post harmonization», as well as mixed strategies. These strategies of data harmonization are complex procedures for which success or failure is reflected in the final study product. In this paper, a documentation model is proposed for both longitudinal and cross-cultural studies, for which documentation is particularly difficult. All the remaining study types can be considered sub-cases of the longitudinal and cross-cultural study and consequently are covered by the proposed model. Three documentation models are proposed according to the different harmonization strategies examined. Finally, the different documentation models are integrated into one. All the models examined are drawn as entity relationship diagrams based on the harmonization methods that govern comparative research.