This paper deals with the methodological problem of how to include material influences in comparative studies of research processes. Both Actor-Network-Theory and ‚Mangle-of-Practice‘ confirm convincingly enough that materiality must be taken into account in empirical investigations of research processes. However, it is not clear how material factors can be included systematically in comparative studies. In this paper, we use empirical examples from comparative institutionalist studies of research processes to discuss the difficulties that hinder comparative analyses. It turns out that neither Actor-Network-Theory nor ‚Mangle‘ support comparative analyses of material influences. As causes for this deficiency, we discuss the treatment of materiality as situationally emergent phenomenon, the absence of methodology and the theoretical models‘ level of abstraction. A methodological framework is proposed that should support systematic comparative analyses. This framework rests on an understanding of materiality as a cognitive condition of action. With the concept of cognitive conditions of action, materiality can be introduced into theories of action and into institutionalist approaches.
