1F Qualitative Methods: Process-Tracing and Mechanisms
Instructor TBC
8 -19 July (two week course / 35 hrs)
Detailed Course Outline [PDF]
Course Content
This course covers process tracing as a technique for causal inference in qualitative case studies. There is a particular focus on the importance of causal mechanisms and temporality for process tracing. We first reflect on the role of causal mechanisms for causal inference and introduce different conceptions of what a causal mechanism is. We proceed with the implications of different notions of mechanisms for actual process tracing. We then broaden our perspective and consider the function of time and temporality for process tracing. With regard to temporality, we extend the discussion to concepts central to Comparative Historical Analysis, which, in turn, is tied to Historical Institutionalism. However, it is crucial to understand that concepts of temporality extend beyond research that is anchored in Historical Institutionalism. This means that this course is relevant to participants irregardless of whether they do or do not position themselves in Historical Institutionalism. On a general level and with an emphasis on causal mechanisms and specific manifestations of temporality (e.g. sequencing and path dependence), the course covers all research design tasks that we face in empirical research and the role that process tracing plays for meeting these tasks: the formulation of hypotheses that are testable via process tracing (when the study is about hypothesis testing), the choice of cases, the collection of evidence, linkage of observations to concepts and theoretical expectations, and the generation of causal inferences based on the collected evidence. Finally, it is a goal of this course to illustrate key insights and methodological strategies with published research and to apply the course content to the research projects of the participants. .
Course Objectives
The course introduces the participants to the basics of process tracing and recent methodological innovations. They thereby gain from this course in three related respects. First, participants are equipped with knowledge that enables them to read empirical process tracing studies from a methodological perspective and to identify those studies’ strengths and weaknesses. Second, participants utilising process tracing in their own research learn how to craft and implement sound empirical research. As this course takes a comprehensive perspective on research goals one can pursue in qualitative research, it is relevant for participants who do exploratory process tracing and those that engage in the testing of hypotheses. The course is particularly well-suited for participants who are at the beginning of their research and still must make important decisions about their research design.
Course Prerequisites
Questions the participants should be able to answer before the course are (questions are specifically addressed at people engaged in empirical research): 1) What is or could be the causal mechanism in my study? 2) What role does temporality play in my study?.
Representative Background Reading
Bennett, Andrew (2008): Process-Tracing: A Bayesian Perspective. Box-Steffensmeier, Janet M., Henry Brady and David Collier (eds.): Oxford Handbook of Political Methodology. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 702-721.
Hall, Peter A. (2008): Systematic Process Analysis: When and How to Use It. European Political Science 7 (3): 304-317.
Required Reading
Matthew Lange (2012): Comparative-Historical Methods. SAGE (http://goo.gl/LkJcy)