Install this application on your home screen for quick and easy access when you’re on the go.
Just tap then “Add to Home Screen”
Install this application on your home screen for quick and easy access when you’re on the go.
Just tap then “Add to Home Screen”
Member rate £492.50
Non-Member rate £985.00
Save £45 Loyalty discount applied automatically*
Save 5% on each additional course booked
*If you attended our Methods School in Summer/Winter 2024.
Monday 8 to Friday 12 August 2016
Generally classes are either 09:00-12:30 or 14:00-17:30
15 hours over 5 days
This course is a more practical, hands-on course in using Process Tracing (PT) methods in one’s own research, complementing the more theoretical PT I ECPR Summer School course held in the first week, which focuses on the research design aspects of the method. The course requires that one has already had some form of introduction to PT, either by taking the week 1 course, the course at the ECPR Winter School, or another introductory course on PT.
This course focuses on how we can use within-case evidence to make causal inferences about mechanisms. The course starts with an introduction to how we can make causal inferences using Bayesian logic, i.e. when we have no variation upon which to make inferences. We then turn to the practicalities of empirical testing and making causal inferences in days 2 and 3, focusing on how we can strengthen the inferences we can make by improving the empirical tests that we employ in our research. We will work on this topic using a combination of analysis of existing work and tests developed based on your own research. Day 4 discusses inductive theory-building using PT. The final day discusses how we can utilize PT in practical case study research.
The course requires active participation. It is expected that participants are able to use parts of their own research in the exercises and group work during the course.
Derek Beach is a professor of Political Science at Aarhus University.
He has authored articles, chapters, and books on case study research methodology, international negotiations, referendums, and European integration, and co-authored Process-tracing Methods: Foundations and Guidelines (University of Michigan Press).
Derek has taught qualitative case study methods at ECPR, IPSA and ICPSR summer and winter schools, and numerous workshops and seminars on qualitative methods throughout the world. He is an academic co-convenor of the ECPR Methods School.
This course is a more practical, hands-on course in using Process Tracing (PT) methods in one’s own research, complementing the more theoretical PT I ECPR Summer School course held in the first week, which focuses on the research design aspects of the method. The course requires that one has already had some form of introduction to PT, either by taking the week 1 course, the course at the ECPR Winter School, or another introductory course on PT.
In comparison to other research methods such as large-N correlation-based analysis and comparative methods, process-tracing as a distinct method involves research where, ‘The cause-effect link that connects independent variable and outcome is unwrapped and divided into smaller steps; then the investigator looks for observable evidence of each step.’ (Van Evera 1997:64). The promise of process-tracing as a methodological tool is that it enables the researcher to study more-or-less directly the causal mechanism(s) linking an independent variable (or set of variables) and an outcome, allowing us to open up the ‘black box’ of causality itself.
The first day introduces the Bayesian logic of inference, followed by hands-on exercises for how we can develop and improve empirical tests in ways that enable strong causal inferences to be made, using an example from a Sherlock Holmes story.
Day 2 introduces recent developments in empirical testing in PT, focusing on the Bayesian underpinnings of two dimensions of test strength (certainty and uniqueness). We utilize Tannenwald’s well-known article to illustrate Bayesian logic and empirical tests.
Day 3 introduces source criticism and the practical challenges in working with empirical evidence in PT. We focus upon archival material, elite interviews and secondary historical sources. This includes questions such as how we should evaluate bias, what a ‘good’ source is, and how we deal with bias in secondary historical material. We will utilize a set of materials from the Cuban Missile Crisis to discuss the challenges relating to evidence in PT.
Day 4 turns to a discussion of how we can use empirical material to build theorized causal mechanisms, using Janis’ study of Groupthink as an example.
The course concludes with a discussion of practical challenges in using PT, drawing on the exercises participants will be drafting during the week.
The course requires that one has already had some form of introduction to Process-tracing, either by taking the week 1 ECPR Summer School course, the course in PT at the ECPR Winter School, or another introductory course on Process-tracing.
Day | Topic | Details |
---|---|---|
Monday | Making causal inferences using within-case evidence – Bayesian logic | |
Tuesday | Operationalization of tests | |
Wednesday | Working with evidence | |
Thursday | Building theorized mechanisms | |
Friday | Using PT in practice |
Day | Readings |
---|---|
Monday |
Making causal inferences using within-case evidence
|
Tuesday |
Operationalization of tests
|
Wednesday |
Working with evidence
|
Thursday |
Building theorized mechanisms using empirical material
|
Friday |
Using PT in practice Discussion based on exercises during the week. |
None.
None.
Beyond the above course literature, the following are cited above.
Process tracing methods II
Advanced Process tracing
Advanced Mixed-methods
Qualitative Comparative Analysis