Organisational research programmes frequently investigate different biological questions, adopt different organising principles, and emphasise different explanatory priorities.
Comparative explanatory methodology therefore does not seek to determine which programme is universally superior. Instead, it examines how each programme organises biological explanation and what distinctive explanatory contribution it makes.
Comparison aims first to clarify explanatory organisation before any broader theoretical evaluation is undertaken.
Key Point. Comparative explanatory methodology clarifies how research programmes organise biological explanation before evaluating their broader theoretical contributions.