Process Tracing (PT) is a method. It is a systematic way of inquiry that allows us to draw inferences about how outcomes come about. As a method, it does not adhere to any specific ontology or epistemology; it does not come with a set of prescribed assumptions about the empirical world and our access to it. It is, in other words, methodologically agnostic.
Although predominantly developed as a positivist method, my personal interest lies in thinking through the applicability of mechanism and process-oriented approaches for both positivist and interpretative studies. How can mechanisms be conceptualized and understood? What conclusions can we draw on the basis of a PT? And to what extent (and how) can those conclusions be said to be portable or generalizable? Depending on a researcher’s ontological and epistemological assumptions, their answers to those questions would differ. And while the method is agnostic about the assumptions, research relies on a coherent and consistent implementation of the choices made. My aim is to further our thinking about PT as a method in each of these research traditions.
- Interpretive Process Tracing? I prefer to refer to it as analyticist PT for reasons I explain here (2026); here (2026); and here (2023).
- (Moderate) Positivist Process Tracing? The book manuscript with Patrick A. Mello is still in progress (but progressing!). Uncovering Causal Symptoms: Case Study Research, Process Tracing, and Qualitative Comparative Analysis, is on its (admittedly somewhat slow) way.
Initially as teaching assistant (2012 -2015) and later as lecturer (since 2016) I have offered numerous courses on case study methodology and PT throughout Europe. When I am able to combine it with my regular teaching obligations at Leiden University, I am happy to offer workshops or short courses on PT at other institutes. In case of interest, you can contact me. Below you can find two evaluations of previous courses: one form a one-week introductory course taught at the MethodsNet Summer School in 2025, one from a two-day workshop at the GIGA in Hamburg in 2018.
Hilde van Meegdenburg 