摘要：This article enters into contemporary debates regarding methodology andtraining in comparative and international education by addressing epistemological questions about whatcan be known of the world and howit can be known through comparative research. We contend that debates over qualitative versus quantitative methods or area studies versus cross-national studies miss the mark as they address only superficial differences in the field when much deeper divisions exist over the nature of comparative knowledge. Based on our view ofcomparative knowledge, weproposethe vertical case study as a means of comparing knowledge claims among actors with different social locations in an attempt to situate local action and interpretation within a broader cultural, historical, and political investigation. We also put forth a program of study that would enable students of comparative and international education to conduct research promotingfull and thorough knowledge of multiple levels of comparisonwithin a single vertically-bounded case
