Category: process tracing

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Upcoming: MethodsNET Summer School on Process Tracing Methods

Another opportunity to learn Process Tracing presents itself in the form of the 2nd MethodsNET summer school in social research methods (3SRM). I’ll be offering an introductory Process Tracing course during the first week.

Dates: June 17-21
Location: Nijmegen, the Netherlands
Registration: here(!)
Costs: Early Bird Student & PhD’s: €629 (application deadline* April 1st)

Part of the Summer School in Social Research Methods (3SRM full program), this course is designed for those interested in qualitative case studies and studying “causal mechanisms”. We will discuss what causal mechanisms are, how they advance our understanding of (social) phenomena, how mechanisms can be traced, and what conclusions can be drawn on the basis of a PT.

The course takes a hands-on approach and encourages participants to apply theoretical insights to their own research projects. It provides all the basic skills to set-up and follow-through an independent PT-study.

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KOMEX – Introduction to Causal Process Tracing

This year new on my to-do-list: A fully online, one-week PT workshop for KOMEX: the Konstanz Methods Excellence Workshops.

Course dates: 26.02 – 01.03.
Location: online
Sign up now! Early bird rate (€390) until 4 weeks before the course commences.

This five-day online course provides you with the theoretical understanding and practical skills to conduct a full Process Tracing study from theory development, through defining a causal mechanism and data-gathering, to drawing inferences.

What we will do
Process Tracing (PT) is a within-case method that focusses on tracing causal mechanisms—the actual “link” between a trigger and an outcome. This five-day online course introduces you to the essentials of this method, its main underlying assumptions, and its applicability. Taking a hands-on approach, the course develops both the theoretical understanding and the practical skills to set-up and conduct a full-fledged PT-study and addresses causal mechanism, theory development, data-gathering and analysis, and drawing inferences.

Learning goals
By the end of the class, students will be able:

  • to explain to a peer the added value of conducting a PT-study,
  • to design a coherent and practicable PT-study in relation to your own research interests,
  • to develop a strategy to implement and execute that study,
  • to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of process tracing as a method.

Schedule
09:00 – 09:45 | Asynchronous | Watch video lecture (available 16:00 the night before)
10:00 – 10:45 | Synchronous (live) | Teaching session with questions and discussion
11:00 – 11:45 | Asynchronous | Independent learning activity

Lunch break

13:00 – 14:45 | Synchronous (live) | Supervised group work/discussion with instructor
15:00 – 16:00 | Synchronous (live) | Office hours

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Out now & open access: Process Tracing: An Analyticist Approach

I develop process tracing (PT) for actor-centered and interpretivist studies in a way that allows agency and contingency. For the full chapter, see here.

In the social sciences, cases are generally unique: people’s interpretations, (mis)calculations, understandings, assessments, meaning-making, emotions, creativity, and spontaneity matter for outcomes and so does the socio-institutional context within which agents act.

But that cases and processes, when studied holistically, are unique does not mean we cannot learn broader lessons from them. The question is just: how can we?  In this chapter, I suggest to treat mechanisms as akin to Weberian ideal types: abstract constructs that are adduced from multiple concrete, contextually embedded, and largely idiosyncratic instantiations.

In this conception, an instance or instantiation—the occurrence of a mechanism in empirical reality—is always rich, contextually embedded, and case and actor specific. The mechanism itself, then, is our (scholarly) abstraction. It is an analytical construct that defines, in abstract terms, how a given set-up or entity transfers motion in identical or closely similar ways over a variety of situations (partially adopted from McAdam, Tarrow, and Tilly, p.24).

So: whilst cases are always unique and actor and context specific, mechanisms, as ideal types or analytical constructs, are not! How this works in detail, and how actor-centered and interpretivist research may benefit from rethinking what mechanisms are and how they inform our understanding of processes and outcomes? See here.

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MethodsNET first #3SRM

June 20-25 was the first MethodsNET Summer School in Social Research Methods (3SRM) organised at Radboud University, Nijmegen. We had a fully-booked, wonderful course on Process Tracing with a very enthusiastic and engaged group of participants.

You can definitely expect me there again next year!

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Video now available

Click here for the video recording of the short online introduction to Process Tracing Methods that I offered together with Derek Beach (@Beach_MethodMan) on Feb 24, 2022.

Considering I discuss it in detail, I recommend you have a look at Winward (2021)* before you watch the video. But you can find other reading suggestions at the bottom of the video explainer still. Enjoy!

* Winward, M. (2021). Intelligence capacity and mass violence: Evidence from Indonesia. Comparative Political Studies, 54(3-4), 553-584.

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Free Online Course on Process Tracing

To the attention of all Process Tracing enthusiasts: Derek Beach (@beach_methodman) and I will offer a *free* short online course: “A short introduction to Process Tracing Methods”, Feb 24, online 14:00-15:30 CET.

For registration, simply send a short message to derek@ps.au.dk and we will send you the zoom-link. All information about this event can also be found at the MethodsNET website.

The aim of this short introductory session is to provide participants with an understanding of the core elements of Process tracing methods and how they can be used in practical research. Process tracing is a research method designed to learn how things work in real-world cases. Increasingly used across the social sciences and in applied policy evaluation, process tracing involves unpacking causal processes as they play out within cases and tracing them empirically, enabling within-case causal inferences about the processes that link causes and outcomes together.

The session begins with an introduction of the theory-side of what we are actually tracing, followed by a discussion of what types of empirical evidence can be used to trace causal processes (aka mechanisms). We will use the example of the article by Winward (2020) to illustrate what Process tracing can look like in practice. The final part of the session introduces principles of case selection and generalization. After this, there will be plenty of time for questions from participants.

Suggested readings:

• Beach (forthcoming) Process Tracing Methods in Social Science. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics. Revised edition.

• Winward M. 2020. Intelligence Capacity and Mass Violence: Evidence From Indonesia. Comparative Political Studies, 54(3-4):553-584.

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MethodsNET Summer School in Social Research Methods

I am happy to announce I will be part of MethodsNet ‘s first Summer School in Social Research Methods! In June, in person, in Nijmegen. I teach “Introduction to Process Tracing“, a course designed for those interested in qualitative case studies and studying “causal mechanisms”.

Over the course of five days we will discuss what causal mechanisms are, how they advance our understanding of (social) phenomena, what it means to study them, and what conclusions can be drawn on the basis of a PT. The course takes a ‘hands-on’ approach and encourages participants to apply theoretical insights to their own research projects. It provides all the basic skills to set-up and follow through an independent PT-study.

Venue: Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Regular course fee: €575
Early bird fee: €518 or €431
Application deadline: 1 May 2022
Course dates: 20-24 June 2022
More information and registration: here!

*Pro-tip*–combines well (very well) with @Beach_MethodMan ‘s course “Process Tracing Methods in Practice” offered in the 2nd week, June 27 – July 1. 

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Advanced Process Tracing workshop at BIGSSS, July 18-19

After a successful introductory course to Process Tracing in November 2018 at the Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS), I was asked to report back with a more advanced, yet also hands-on, practical, follow-up course. Which I was happy to do.

Reporting this after workshop only… which already took place on July 18-19… I will follow the BIGSSS course evaluation to claim a minor success for the follow-up course as well! If you are curious about how I got into giving workshops on Process Tracing, this page should provide somewhat of an answer.