Abstract
Developing plausible explanations rooted in theory and supported by evidence is a challenge for comparative higher education studies. The purpose of this article is to consider how comparative studies in higher education might develop accounts that allow the research community to enhance explanatory power. Higher education studies can advance explanations about what is happening and why, as well as interpret the meaning of occurrences by drawing broadly on realist scholarly traditions. Rather than prioritising a methodology, the field should prioritise essential questions and address them with all appropriate empirical tools. Avenues for explanatory research include bounded case studies, multi‐method investigations into specific phenomena, mechanism‐based approaches and macro‐social analysis.
抽象
对于比较高等教育的研究来说，建立一个基于理论并有证据支持的合理解释是一项挑战。这篇文章的目的是思考高等教育中的比较研究如何能够促进学术群体，从而提升其解释能力。高等教育研究可以对正在发生的事件及其原因提出解释，也可以通过广泛借鉴现实主义学术传统来解释事件的意义。与其把研究方法论放在首位，该领域更加注重基本问题并运用一切适当的实证方法加以解决。解释性研究的途径包括有界案例研究、针对特定现象的多种方法调查、基于机制的方法和宏观社会分析。