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Level
Level: IntroductoryLeads on to
Member rate £572.50
Non-Member rate £1,145.00
Early bird discount available until 14 December 2026.
Save £45.00 Loyalty discount applied automatically*
Save 5% on each additional course booked
* If you attended a qualifying previous Methods School in 2026, you qualify for £45.00 off your course fee.
Date: Monday 15 – Friday 19 February 2027
Time: 09:30 – 12:30 CET
This interactive course uses advanced pedagogical tools and is designed for master's-level students and above. It runs as three-hour live sessions on Zoom over five days, with course materials and pre-course readings available on our Learning Management System at least two weeks before the start. Office hours are also available for one-to-one consultations on your own project.
The course is limited to 18 participants, ensuring that the teaching team can address the individual needs of each participant.
This course covers the key elements of qualitative case studies and process tracing for making causal claims about effects or mechanisms. Before the course starts, you can watch a recorded introduction to each session, which sets the stage for the live online classes. In class, the course combines discussion of methodological principles and practices with a review of published case studies.
By the end of the course, you will have a solid understanding of the key concepts and techniques, as well as practical experience in applying them to your own research or professional work.
3 ECTS credits awarded for engaging fully in class activities.
1 additional ECTS credit awarded for completing a post-course assignment.
Ingo Rohlfing is Professor of Methods of Empirical Social Research at the University of Passau. His research and teaching, at both undergraduate and graduate level, focus on social science methods, with an emphasis on causal inference, qualitative and multimethod research, and research transparency and credibility.
The course combines asynchronous pre-class assignments, such as readings and watching pre-recorded videos, with daily three-hour live sessions on Zoom. To prevent Zoom fatigue, the course pedagogy includes small-group work, short, focused tasks and troubleshooting exercises using a range of online apps that support collective work and engagement with the course content.
The course covers a combination of introductions of selected topics with interactive live sessions.
Discover the key dimensions of qualitative research that help you understand the features and goals of a study, such as the distinction between exploring and testing hypotheses. You will apply these to selected published case studies and, if you have one, your own project.
Address the challenge of case selection and explore types of cases, such as the typical case and the most-likely case. Discuss what each type is good for and which case selection strategies it implies, drawing on multiple-case and process-tracing studies that use different types and strategies.
Explore process tracing and how it can be used to study mechanisms. Distinguish different ways of studying processes and weigh their pros and cons from practical and methodological perspectives. You will also compare two ways of theorising mechanisms, illustrated with two qualitative studies.
Learn about different types of comparison, how they relate to types of cases and case selection, and the benefits and limitations of informed pairwise comparisons. A single study that clearly shows the main elements of comparison illustrates the principles and challenges involved.
Discuss different types of sources (primary, secondary, etc.) and how to derive qualitative observations from them and turn these into evidence. You will also distinguish different modes of making causal claims, focusing, for example, on the ideas of ‘uniqueness’ and ‘likelihoods’.
The course concludes with a list of best practices you can use to review causal qualitative research and guide the development of your own study.
For the post-course assignment, you can apply what you have learned in one of two ways. You can write an exposé of your own project, using the course concepts and techniques to analyse and evaluate it. Alternatively, you can write a short, methods-focused review of a published case study, showing your understanding of the course material and how it applies in practice.
Prior training in research design is recommended but is not required.
To prepare for Day 1 and the following sessions, you should spend up to 10 hours watching videos and reading the required literature.
The course includes three hours of live teaching each day for five days, alongside readings and other learning activities.
Once you have registered and paid, you will receive access to our Learning Management System (LMS) approximately two weeks before the course start date. Course materials, including pre-course readings, will be available here. Allow approximately 20 hours per week before the course to review the materials and complete readings and any pre-course tasks.
During the course week, you should allow approximately two to three hours per day for preparation and assignments, in addition to the live teaching sessions.
The course offers the opportunity to earn three ECTS credits. To earn a fourth credit, you will need to complete a post-course assignment involving approximately 25 hours of work.
This course description may be subject to subsequent adaptations (e.g. taking into account new developments in the field, participant demands, group size, etc.). Registered participants will be informed at the time of change.
By registering for this course, you confirm that you possess the knowledge required to follow it. The instructor will not teach prerequisite items. If in doubt, please contact us before registering.