An explanatory architecture is the organised structure through which a research programme explains its subject matter.
It includes the programme’s explanatory target, organising principle, explanatory priorities, conceptual organisation, interpretation of organisation, domains of explanatory strength, and explanatory scope.
Comparative explanatory methodology compares research programmes by examining these organisational features systematically rather than by evaluating isolated concepts or individual theoretical claims.
Key Point. An explanatory architecture is the organised explanatory structure through which a research programme determines what it explains, how its concepts relate, and where its principal explanatory strengths and limits lie.