This volume invites contributions from internationally renowned scholars deploying novel concepts and methodologies to grapple with contemporary empirical phenomena in educational research.

Chapter 1: Big Data and Even Bigger Consequences; Part 1 Impacts: Randomized Control Trials: League Leader in the Hierarchy of Evidence?; Chapter 2 The Strengths and Shortcomings of Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs): Reflections from REAP's Experiences in China; Chapter 3 Randomized Control Trials: Limitations for Explaining and Improving Learning Outcomes; Part 2 Patterns: In Search of Patterns: With Enough Data, Do the Numbers Speak for Themselves?; Chapter 4 Intimate Data Infrastructure: Emerging Comparative Methods of Predictive Analytics and Psycho-informatics; Chapter 5 Politicized Data and Spatial Methods: Generating Understanding of Contemporary Educational Policy Environments and Interventions; Chapter 6 Rethinking Cause and Effect: Analyzing Economic Growth and PISA Scores Over a Period of 15 Years; Part 3 Relations:Global Education Policy in Evolving Network Societies; Chapter 7 The Value of Network Analysis for the Study of Global Education Policy: Key Concepts and Methods; Chapter 8 Cartographies of the Digital Governance of Education; Chapter 9 Big Data and New Social Relations in Higher Education: Academia.edu, Google Scholar and ResearchGate; Part 4 Context: Contextualizing "Context"; Chapter 10 Comparing Platforms and the New Value Economy in the Academy; Chapter 11 Rethinking the Concept of "Context" in Comparative Research; Chapter 12 Making and mobilizing contexts in policy and research