Abstract13 13 I would like to thank the ad hoc reviewers for the observations made, to my colleague Marcelo Parreira do Amaral for the careful reading and suggestions, as well as the participants of the V Colóquio Luso-Brasileiro de Sociologia da Educação (São Paulo, 2016) for the questions regarding the study presented in the event, who contributed to the writing of this article. :
Cultural comparison in social sciences was seen for a long time as a scientific procedure to uncover hidden structures behind the development of societies. Based on contributions from Friedrich Tenbruck and Joachim Matthes, the first part of the article comprises a critical analysis of this understanding of comparison and comparative methods. The second part presents two international research studies with an emphasis on the methodological procedures and the reasons for the development of both studies as well as the experiences gained from these projects. The significance of a comparative study is not only in the ability to understand unknown situations and realities, but also in finding out what we did not know about ourselves.
Keywords:
Comparison; Cultural Comparison; Comparative Education; Comparative Methods; Comparative Research